2012-13 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Season Review: Save Our Season

Mar 9, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Archie Goodwin (10) dunks the ball against the Florida Gators in the first half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Florida 61-57. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

A shot at redemption

If there was a shot at redemption for the Kentucky Wildcats, it came on Senior Day in the form of the #11 Florida Gators.  Aside from saving their NCAA chances, it was a way to say “we are still here” against the team that Nerlens Noel went down against.  Memories are made on Senior Day though and from the onset, it appeared Kentucky was destined for a happy memory.  Ryan Harrow and Alex Poythress combined for seven early points and that helped UK take a 11-2 lead.  Even when the Gators rallied and tied it at 11, a Harrow three-pointer put Kentucky back on top.  Each team answered big plays with plays of their own and the teams went in at halftime, tied at 31.

Kentucky emerged unified at the half and jumped on Florida again, taking a 42-24 lead.  Kentucky eventually went cold and Willie Cauley-Stein picked up his fourth foul.  Back to back three pointers by Erik Murphy and Scottie Wilbekin highlighted a Florida rally and gave Florida a 57-50 lead with 7:36 remaining.  On most nights this season, that would have been it, but the Rupp Arena crowd would not let Kentucky go down on Senior Night.

Archie Goodwin scored five straight points and a Harrow jumper knotted the game at 57 with  4:07 left.  The next few minutes had all the beauty of a rugby scrum, byt Kentucky played their best defense of the year.  Although shaky at the line, Kentucky had got a couple of points from free throws from Cauley-Stein and Goodwin.  Then, Julius Mays demanded the ball, got fouled, and hit both free throws to seal a 61-57 win.

While it wasn’t pretty at times, it was a statement win.  And it was a complete team effort.  The overall numbers were not pretty as UK shot 39.3% from the field, 59.1% from the charity stripe, and hit just 23.5% of their three pointers.  But they showed the will to win that had been missing all season and showed a mental and physical toughness that had been lacking.  Even the most negative of NCAA bracketology experts agreed that Kentucky was in the  NCAA  tournament with just one win in the SEC Tourney.

Mar 15, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores guard Kyle Fuller (11) drives against Kentucky Wildcats guard Ryan Harrow (12) during the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

 Crash and burn

Perhaps it was expecting too much for Kentucky to build on the Florida win and move forward.  For whatever reason, the nightmare finish happened and Kentucky found itself getting pushed around and blown out by 15-16 Vanderbilt in their first game of the SEC Tournament.  Kentucky was dazed and confused and never in the game as the Commodores jumped on them early and often in taking a 37-23 halftime lead.  The second half showed no further signs of life as Kentucky never contended and fell 64-48 in a loss that would snuff their NCAA Tournament dreams.  A season that started with NCAA Title hopes and a #3 national ranking was ending with an embarrassing loss and being taunted by Vanderbilt fans chanting “NIT. NIT”.

Only Archie Goodwin and Kyle Wiltjer scored in double digits as the usual scenarios played out.  Alex Poythress shot just three times in 29 minutes and had just 6 points.  Ryan Harrow went 2-15 and had four turnovers and four points and broke down in tears after the game, saying it was all on him.  John Calipari did nothing after the game to negate that sentiment:

"“We had an opportunity. It was in our hands to take it out of everybody’s hands, and we didn’t take care of business.   We laid an egg.” ********** “They had more energy than us.” Calipari said. “I told my team for three days that the hardest thing in tournament play is to have a bye and have a team that’s playing well play a game and then come up against you. ” “So it was a combination of everything. I don’t want to take anything away from Vandy. They played great. We laid an egg. We had one guy go 2-for-15 and miss 12 layups.”"

Two days later on Selection Sunday, the nightmare scenario for a Kentucky season came true as Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament but accepted a big in the NIT.