Kentucky shocks the basketball world with massive upset over Duke

Kentucky, with a brand new roster and a new coach in their third game of the season, did something unthinkable to so many in the basketball world, upsetting the #6 Duke team with a final score of 77-72. A team with some of the top prospects in next year's NBA draft. On the backs of their veteran team and the depth of their lineup, Kentucky outlasted and outpaced Duke.

It came down to the final seconds of a huge State Farm Champions Classic game. Otega Oweh grabbed the missed free throw from Lamont Butler to seal it. Mark Pope was able to coach his team to this victory after some big half-time adjustments. Kentucky was down 46-37. Kentucky held Duke around 30% in field goals in the second half. That may have been the biggest difference in this game. A game that looked like it may get away from Pope and Kentucky was pulled out by a huge defensive performance by the Cats.

Not many outside of Big Blue Nation predicted a Kentucky win in this game. ESPN BPI even had a 70% chance that Kentucky would lose in this early-season game. Some even predicted Duke would win by more than 20 points. The talent of the big freshmen three was going to be the difference: Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach.

To be fair, those three freshmen were very impressive. Flagg had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and 2 assists. He even added 2 blocks. Knueppel struggled from behind the arch with only 1-7 from three but was effective on the defensive end and found other big ways to contribute. Maluach was also impressive, with a big 10 points and 2 big blocks.

For the Kentucky Wildcats, Andrew Carr led the way with 17 points. He may be the MVP with his defense on Flagg and his ability to control the paint. He even played the 5 spot for Kentucky for a lot of the second half to help control the defense. HUGE WIN FOR THE CATS!