The most iconic NCAA Tournament games in Kentucky basketball history
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The Magic of Madness
The 2020-21 men’s basketball season did not go Kentucky’s way, but the Wildcats have delighted Kentuckians with peak postseason performances for decades. As the Final Four plays out this weekend in Indianapolis, the Herald-Leader has produced a 20-page, full-color commemorative special section inside Sunday’s newspaper celebrating Kentucky’s most memorable moments in the NCAA Tournament. Click below to read the stories from that section in digital form.
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The most iconic NCAA Tournament games in Kentucky basketball history:
1966
Kentucky loses to Texas Western in NCAA finals: This game has become known as the “Brown vs. Board of Education” game in which Texas Western’s all-Black starting five defeated UK’s all-white starting five 72-65 for the title on March 19, 1966, at Cole Field House in College Park, Md.
Known as “Rupp’s Runts” whose tallest starter was only 6-foot-5, Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky team had beaten Duke 83-79 in the national semifinal game. But the No. 1-ranked Wildcats couldn’t match the quickness of the No. 3 Miners, coached by Don Haskins and led by Bobby Joe Hill’s 20 points. Long after it was played, the game was considered a watershed moment for college basketball.
1975
UK beats the unbeaten Hoosiers: Indiana had smacked — figuratively and literally with IU Coach Bobby Knight giving UK Coach Joe B. Hall a smack on the back of the head — the Cats 98-74 in Bloomington on Dec. 7, 1974. More than three months later, the two border rivals met again, this time in the Mideast Region finals in Dayton, Ohio, on March 22, 1975.
Much had changed since the first game. Hall’s team had matured. And though IU was unbeaten, its star player, Scott May, was playing with a cast because of a broken arm. And in one of the more intense games in UK tournament history, the Wildcats pulled off the upset, beating the No. 1-ranked Hoosiers 92-90.
1978
Kentucky ends a 20-year drought: The Wildcats won their first national championship since 1958 and first of the post-Adolph Rupp era when Joe B. Hall’s team defeated Duke 94-88 on March 27, 1978, in St. Louis to cap off a 30-2 season.
Finding a soft spot in the middle of the Duke zone, UK’s Jack Givens scored 41 points, the third-most in an NCAA Tournament championship game, behind only UCLA’s Bill Walton’s 44 points in the 1973 finals and UCLA’s Gail Goodrich’s 42 points in the 1965 championship game.
1983
The first “Dream Game”: Following a tradition that dated back to the Rupp days, UK had refused to schedule Louisville before the two teams met in the Mideast Region finals on March 26, 1983, in Knoxville.
The first meeting since 1959 did not disappoint. Jim Master’s basket with one second left sent the game to overtime, but the Cardinals dominated from there, outscoring the Cats 18-6 in the extra period. Lancaster Gordon led Louisville with 24 points as U of L overcame a seven-point halftime deficit.
1992
The Christian Laettner game: Rick Pitino’s band of upstarts nearly pulled off the upset of the defending champion Duke Blue Devils in the NCAA East Region finals on March 28, 1992, in what is regarded by many as the greatest college basketball game ever played.
Sean Woods’ basket off the glass with 2.1 seconds left gave UK a 103-102 lead in overtime. After a timeout, Duke’s Grant Hill, left unguarded on the baseline, fired a three-quarters court pass to Christian Laettner, who turned at the foul line and made his 10th shot of the game in 10 attempts — maybe the most iconic shot in the sport’s history — to give Duke the 104-103 victory. The Blue Devils went on to win their second consecutive national title.
1996
Pitino beats Calipari in the Final Four: Ranked preseason No. 1, Rick Pitino’s Kentucky team had lost to John Calipari’s UMass team 92-82 at Auburn Hills, Mich. on Nov. 28, 1995. Four months and 29 games later, the two teams staged a rematch on March 30, 1996, at the Final Four in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
This time, Kentucky came out on top, winning 81-74. Tony Delk scored 20 points, Antoine Walker 14 and Walter McCarty grabbed 10 rebounds as UK overcame Marcus Camby’s 25 points for UMass. Two nights later, Kentucky defeated Syracuse 76-67 for the school’s sixth national title, and first since 1978.
1998
Kentucky gets revenge on Duke: Six years after the Christian Laettner game, Tubby Smith’s “Comeback Cats” earned a bit of payback by beating Duke 86-84 on March 22, 1998, in the finals of the South Region in St. Petersburg, Fla.
UK overcame a 17-point Duke lead in the second half. Cameron Mills’ three-pointer with 2:15 left gave Kentucky its first lead, 80-79. From there, it was a seesaw affair, with Scott Padgett nailing a three-pointer with 39.4 seconds left that proved to be the game-winner.
2012
UK vs. U of L in the Final Four: Since that first “Dream Game,” Cats-Cards had become an annual affair, but March 31, 2012, was the first time the two teams met in the Final Four. John Calipari’s Wildcats defeated Rick Pitino’s Cardinals 69-61 to earn a spot in the national championship game.
On his way to being named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player, UK’s Anthony Davis scored 18 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked five shots as Kentucky outlasted Louisville in the New Orleans’ Superdome. Two nights later, UK defeated Kansas 67-59 for the program’s eighth national championship.
2014
Kentucky defeats undefeated Wichita State: It had been a disappointing season for the Wildcats, a No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region when they met the top-seeded and unbeaten Shockers on March 23, 2014, in a second-round game of the Midwest Region in St. Louis.
In an early-round classic, Kentucky got 39 points from the Harrison twins — Andrew scored 20, Aaron 19 — as UK rallied from a two-point halftime deficit to pull out a 78-76 win when Fred VanVleet’s three-point attempt missed at the buzzer.
2015
Not quite 40-0: Kentucky’s dream of being the first team to go 40-0 died when the Wildcats lost 71-64 to Wisconsin in the Final Four on April 4, 2015, in Indianapolis.
Frank Kaminsky scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Badgers handed UK its first loss in 39 games, avenging a Final Four loss to the Wildcats the previous season.
This story was originally published April 4, 2021 at 5:11 AM.
