All that stood between Kentucky and its 18th Final Four was a team that entered the NCAA Tournament ranked 53rd in RPI (Kansas State) and an undersized mid-major team (Loyola). The Wildcats were also playing in something of a second home, backed by a Philips Arena crowd perhaps 80 percent in its favor.
With that in its pocket, Kentucky picked a bad time to play miserably. The South region’s No. 5 seed scored its fewest points of the season, shot 38.1 percent from the field and 62.2 percent from the free-throw line. The end result was a 61-58 loss to No. 9 seed Kansas State Thursday night at Philips Arena in an NCAA regional semifinal.
It was, in fact, Kentucky’s lowest point total since a 58-43 win over South Carolina in January 2015. A team with perhaps two lottery picks and three first-rounders has joined the heap of high-profile losers in this upset-drenched event – two of the four top seeds (Virginia and Xavier) and trendy teams like Arizona, Michigan State and North Carolina.
“I’m proud of my team,” coach John Calipari said. “Had our chance to win, didn’t play particularly well for us, but still had a chance to win.”
Point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 points on 2-for-10 shooting with five assists against five turnovers. He missed a 3-pointer as time expired that would have sent the game to overtime. It followed a missed 3-pointer one possession earlier by guard Quade Green when Calipari elected to not call timeout when Kentucky had the ball with about 19 seconds left while facing a 60-58 deficit.
“I should have called that timeout with 19 seconds to go, but we had worked on something, and I thought we could catch them off guard,” he said.
Forward P.J. Washington, a 63 percent free-throw shooter, was 8-for-20 from the line, though he still scored 18 points and collected 15 rebounds.
“We lost,” Washington said. “I didn’t play good at all.”
Starting guard Hamidou Diallo scored two points while playing only 13 minutes with foul trouble, well below his 10.3 points-per-game average. Kansas State absconded with 11 steals that contributed to 24 points off turnovers. It was just the fourth game in Kentucky’s season that an opponent had double-digit steals.
Kentucky had won nine of its past 10 before Thursday’s loss. The 9-1 run followed a four-game losing streak in early February that raised the possibility that the Wildcats would miss the NCAA Tournament altogether.
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