Ashton Hagans didn’t have a great night. But when it mattered most ‘there was no fear.’

There’s no way around it. Ashton Hagans struggled for most of Kentucky’s 62-58 nail-biter of a victory over Houston on Friday night.

On the biggest stage yet — two wins away from a trip to the Final Four — UK’s freshman point guard didn’t have much of anything go his way.

He played just nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Two traveling violations — within a couple of minutes of each other — earned him another spot on the bench midway through the second half. He attempted just two shots from the floor. He had one assist to four turnovers, his worst ratio in 36 games this season.

Yet, when the moment was the biggest, he answered the call.

After PJ Washington came up with a huge block and Tyler Herro buried a three-pointer with 25 seconds left to give the Cats a 60-58 lead, UK called its final timeout of the game. Houston would get the ball back, down two, with a chance to tie or take the lead. The thought in the huddle was that the ball would eventually find its way into the hands of Corey Davis Jr., the Cougars’ leading scorer.

Reid Travis, the Cats’ veteran leader, described the scene in that UK huddle.

“Coach was just asking assistants, ‘Who has Davis?’ … And Ashton said, ‘I got him.’ There was no fear. No looking around. He was pretty content with it,” Travis said. “That was who he was going to have to stop.”

Not only did the Cougars put the ball in Davis’ hands, they gave him the entire court.

Houston’s senior guard dribbled up the floor — Hagans hanging right off him — and stopped briefly near the Cougars’ bench. All four of his teammates cleared all the way to the other end of the court. It was Davis vs. Hagans. One-on-one basketball. Houston’s best scorer against Kentucky’s best defender.

Davis crossed over to his right and started his drive, but it was Hagans who drove him all the way near the baseline, below the block, making him take an extreme angle to the basket. Davis went up with an off-balance shot, and Hagans stayed straight up, careful not to foul. The ball glanced off the side of the rim. Hagans chased down the rebound and had the wherewithal to immediately get the ball to Herro, one of the best free throw shooters in UK history. He made them both, and that was that.

Kenny Payne confirmed what Hagans had said in the huddle before that play: “I got him,” the UK assistant recalled, a big smile on his face. “He did a great job on that possession. You win championships with defense. And he did a hell of a job on that play.”

Hagans said he figured he would have to make a play in that situation. He didn’t necessarily know it was going to turn into a game of one-on-one.

“I wouldn’t think he would have tried it on me,” he said. “I wouldn’t think that. But, you know, he tried to do what he did. We just tried to get a big-time stop and move on from that.”

As a result, the Cats will move on to the Elite Eight and a date with Auburn.

Despite a subpar showing for most of the night, Hagans turned out to play a key role in that.

“I told them I knew I was making some bad offensive plays,” he said. “I was turning the ball over. I told the guys, ‘If I don’t do nothing on offense, I got y’alls back on defense.’ … I just tried to make the big-time stop.”

Payne talked about the “dogfights” that college basketball teams see this time of year. Victories rarely come easy, and freshmen haven’t seen anything like it. “That’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “And they stand up to it. And they embrace it. And they do great things.

“He just hung in there, man, and just kept fighting. And we believe in him. And we didn’t go away from him. … This game, you’re going to have adversity. It’s just what it is. It’s life. But, how you get through those hard times — you stick with it and keep fighting — that’s what makes champions.”

This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 2:03 AM.