FINAL FOUR!!! Kentucky Wildcats end long drought, hold back North Carolina Tar Heels 76-69

Seeing how the NCAA tournament has been going, John Calipari had to be thankful his Wildcats got a number four seed as the top seedings had been falling with almost predictable regularity.  Kentucky faced yet another familiar foe on this “Redemption Tour” called the NCAA/SEC Tournament and the lastest foe was the North Carolina Tar Heels who  beat Kentucky by two points some 30 games ago.

Kentucky came out with a game plan in this game and stuck to it. Seeing that North Carolina was not a great shooting team, Calipari decided to double team in the paint and make the Tar Heels beat them from the outside. On offense, Kentucky was content to play the half court game but looked to run whenever they could get into transition. Doron Lamb gave Kentucky an early 11-6 lead just five minutes into the game.

The Tar Heels would rally and tied the game on a couple of occasions, but the Kentucky defense was clearly controlling the flow of the game. Kendall Marshall was the only Tar Hell connecting from outside and he was keeping UNC in the game, along with Tyler Zeller. Kentucky got a big opportunity to break the game open when John Henson picked up his third foul with UK leading 25-18 with 6:39 left in the first half.

Kentucky got threes from Jones and Knight, but Zeller started to take over the game, scoring seven points the rest of the first half. Kentucky went in at half with a 38-30 lead, but UNC had to feel like they dodged a bullet. Kentucky had balanced scoring with Jorts leading the way with 10, while Knight and Lamb had 8 and Jones had 7. Tyler Zeller had 11 and Harrison Barnes 8, and John Henson had 7 rebounds despite missing the last 6:00 or so.

They key was Kentucky holding it’s own in the paint. North Carolina had 22 points in the paint and Kentucky had 20. Kentucky harassed UNC into 35% shooting and just 25% from the 3-point land.

The Tar Heels came out determined and forced turnovers on the first three Kentucky possessions while Dexter Strickland and Tyler Zeller got layups to cut the lead to 38-34. Unfazed,  Liggins and Knight drained threes to give UK a 10 point lead at 44-34. Both teams are to resilient to give up at this point however. UNC would cut the lead to 6, but Harrellson and Knight hit jumpers to stretch it to 10 again. Justin Knox and Strickland would cut it to 6, but hello Darius Miller with a three pointer. You have to give UNC credit though as they were staying in the game even with John Henson on the bench with four fouls. So you had to think UNC dodged another bullet when Henson came back into the game with 7:43 remaining and UK holding a 59-55 lead.

What happened next was probably the longest four minutes of basketball since mid February for Calipari’s Cats. Harrison Barnes went on personal eight point run for UNC with a three pointer, a three pointer of the and one variety and a layup. Barnes missed the opportunity to convert a second “and one” opportunity but he missed the free throw. Regardless, when the dust cleared, Kentucky was clinging to a 67-65 lead with 3:18 remaining. Tyler Zeller sank two free throws to knot the score.

Brandon Knight made a trey and Zeller answered with a layup. The Tar Heels had a chance to take the lead but DeAndre Liggins blocked the shot and then answered with another dagger in the back trey to put the Cats up 73-69 with just :35 remaining. Darius Miller blocked a Barnes trey, Jorts grabbed the rebound, and Knight calmly sank two more FT’s to make it 75-69 and start the biggest celebration in 12 seasons. Knight sank another free throw for the final point and to make John Calipari only the second coach to take three teams to the Final Four.

Brandon Knight led the charge with 22 points and 5 treys. Deandre Liggins and Josh Harrellson both had 12 points and Jorts grabbed 8 boards and had four assists. Terrence Jones and Darius Miller both had 11 points.

I have to admit, this is a moment that I had reserved for next year … especially after the Kanter mess. But if John Calipari does not get some coach of the year notice ….. you know what … don’t give Calipari his due and keep snubbing us.

These Cats like the disrespect card.

For complete game stats, go here.

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