Kentucky ends Wichita State’s perfect season
Wichita State’s unbeaten run crashes to halt vs. preseason No. 1
While he didn’t take a direct jab at his team’s No. 8 seeding, Kentucky coach John Calipari said it really wasn’t a Round of 32 game he watched as his scrutinized, criticized and now comingof-age team loaded with highly touted freshmen knocked off previously perfect and No. 1-seeded Wichita State on Sunday.
“I would say this was an Elite Eight (game), that the winner should have gone to the Final Four. That’s how good they are and how good we’re playing right now,” Calipari said after his Wildcats beat Wichita State 78-76, ending the Shockers’ season at 35-1.
Kentucky, 26-10 in a season that hasn’t been perfect, advances to play defending champ Louisville in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Indianapolis.
Kentucky was the preseason No. 1 with heralded recruits such as twins Andrew and Aaron Harrison and Julius Randle. They led the way Sunday and have a shot to finish where they started: No. 1.
“All of the adversity we have been through all season, just to see us coming together as a team and getting better each game and finally get a big win like that, just enjoyed it,” said Randle, who is 6-9 and one of Kentucky’s five freshman starters.
You can debate whether Kentucky’s seeding was too low, creating a distorted matchup between teams that shouldn’t have crossed paths this early in the tournament.
But the matchup was there in the Midwest bracket. It wasn’t decided until Wichita State guard Fred VanVleet missed a threepoint try at the buzzer.
“We have the ball in the air from the MVP of our league (Missouri Valley Conference), who is a clutch performer. So it didn’t go this time,” Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said.
Marshall’s team made the Final Four last season. Might this have been the greatest Round of 32 game ever?
“I hope it goes down as a great one,” Marshall said. “I am not ashamed to come out on the losing end. I just feel badly that these guys ... I can’t coach them anymore this season.”
Senior forward Cleanthony Early led Wichita State with 31 points. Guard Ron Baker added 20.
“We all wanted more,” Baker said. “At the end of the day, you know somebody’s got to go home. I thought we had a great year, and it’s just unfortunate we won’t be playing well.”
Kentucky, which won it all in 2012 and lost in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament last season, advanced.
“I feel like if they (the Wildcats) continue to play like that throughout the tournament, they will be tough to beat,” Baker said.
Andrew Harrison, the 6-6 freshman guard who wore a sleeve on the right elbow he injured here in the second round, led Kentucky with 20 points. Calpari said it was iffy whether Harrison would play.
“Without him obviously you know now it would have been a different game,” Calipari said. “We couldn’t have won the game.”
Said Harrison, “Once you get the adrenaline flowing, it felt fine, but it was still a little painful.”
His brother, Aaron, who scored 19 points, said it wasn’t iffy at all.
“I’ve known him for a while,” said Aaron, drawing laughs. “He wasn’t going to sit out this big of a game.”
Now Andrew Harrison can get more rest and ice in advance of the coming test against Louisville.
On Dec. 28, Kentucky played at home when it beat Louisville 7366. This Kentucky team of March looks better than the team of December.
“Here’s what happened with this team,” Calipari said. “They are now putting themselves in a position where they’re now accepting roles how they have to play.
“So we’re becoming a better team. Individuals are losing themselves into the team, so they’re playing better and more confident.”
The Wildcats came here on the heels of a run in the Southeastern Conference tournament that ended when they lost by a point to Florida, the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA field. And they kept it going in two games here.
“They have been attacked; they have been bludgeoned: ‘They can’t play, they’re not a team, you can’t do it this way,’ ” Calipari said.
“But they stayed together. It makes you strong. It makes you tough as nails. And we just hung around.” For at least another game. “We just felt good beating a great team,” Andrew Harrison said. “Even in this tournament, we’re still getting better.”
Was this weekend a relief for Calipari?
“If wins are relief, it’s time for me to retire,” he said. “This was great joy in seeing a group of young men come together and start figuring this out. It took longer than I’d hoped.”