It’s been a season of pain. Of doubt. Of seeing the court through blurred vision and gritted teeth.
Jaxson Robinson’s wrist twisted the wrong way, Kerr Kriisa’s foot snapped like the cruel punctuation mark of bad luck, and Carr and Garrison’s names have been as frequent on the injury list as they are on the roster. And Lamont Butler? His arms are held together by sheer willpower and athletic tape, looking like some DIY miracle in motion every time he steps onto the hardwood.
But that’s just it. They keep stepping. Keep fighting. Keep dancing.
For the first time since 2019, Kentucky basketball has marched into the second weekend of March Madness. And somehow, they’re doing it while staring down history.
Because, for all the wounds and wincing, the Wildcats have been firing like a battalion from beyond the arc. Koby Brea, a name that has quickly etched itself into the Big Blue Nation’s memory, has drained 92 threes this season. He’s now eighth on Kentucky’s all-time single-season list, sidling up next to names like Tony Delk, Malik Monk, and Jamal Murray.
The team, collectively, is threatening the all-time record for made threes in a single season. With 335 long-range daggers, they’re just five shy of the 1992-93 squad’s record of 340. Five more threes, and these battered and bruised Cats will have done something no other team in the program’s storied history has done.
And it’s not just the shooting. The passing has been poetry. Crisp, swift, and relentless. The 2024-25 Wildcats are ninth on the program’s all-time single-season assist list with 597. The names above them are titans of Kentucky history: the ’96 championship squad, the near-perfect ’97 team, the dominant ’98 national champions. Those teams were defined by talent and health. This team? By courage.
And the scoring—oh, the scoring. Kentucky’s 2,975 points this season have landed them tied for 10th all-time. But the season isn’t over. Not yet. The numbers keep climbing, the milestones flickering just ahead like mirages turning real.
Yet, for all the statistics and all the glory chasing, what strikes you most about this team is the resilience. How they rise every time the game knocks them down. How the faces of the sideline—gritting through injuries, wincing through minutes—keep finding ways to produce.
For all the chatter of the doubters and the roll call of the injured, Kentucky is still here. Still playing. Still winning.
And they’re not done dancing. Not yet.