In the face of adversity, Kentucky's freshmen accepted the challenge

Kentucky could have easily lost to Florida on Saturday afternoon. If most fans are being honest, they probably thought it would end in heartbreak. The last few seasons of Kentucky basketball have altered the perception of the program from outsiders. No one would blame you for thinking that way.

After all, Kentucky didn’t play all that “great” against the Gators. Yes, the Wildcats still dropped 87 points but finished with just six assists and shot 5-20 from beyond the arc. Kentucky led for less than six total minutes and even trailed by eight at halftime. A team loaded with freshmen isn’t supposed to find a way to win that kind of game, especially in front of a sold-out, orange-coated crowd filled with rowdy Florida fans.

But that’s exactly what they did. And they had to do it with a limping version of Tre Mitchell, one of just two veterans on the roster, who was dealing with severe cramps in the closing minutes. Reed Sheppard hit six clutch free throws to ice the win. Aaron Bradshaw drilled the biggest shot of the night to put Kentucky up by three with less than 90 seconds left. A dozen of DJ Wagner‘s 14 points came after the halftime break.

That’s three freshmen performing at a high level in the first true road game of their college careers. It wasn’t always pretty, but they found ways to overcome the odds.

“We was down the whole game but we all kept telling each other, ‘keep fighting, keep fighting’, and that’s what the game’s all about,” Wagner said. “Every game we’re gonna have to fight through some adversity.”

“We learned we got to stick together,” Sheppard added. “There were multiple times in that game where we could have continued to play one-on-one iso ball and just try to take over the game by ourselves, but we all stayed together and kept sharing the ball and doing what we needed to do to get the win.”

All three of Wagner, Sheppard, and Bradshaw reached double-figures in scoring for the afternoon, combining for 38 points on 11-21 shooting. 31 of those points came in the second half after the young trio started off sluggishly.

These aren’t your typical college rookies though. It takes a ton of mental toughness to pull out a win of this caliber against a conference foe. Not once did they panic.

“(We) stayed together as teammates. Just be brothers,” Bradshaw said. “That’s our main thing, just staying together and locking in and playing defense and doing what we do best: getting out in transition. We’re not always going to hit 3s, gonna have to find some other way to score.”

This won’t be the last time that Kentucky faces adversity this season, but they couldn’t have asked for a better outcome in the first go-around. It should only help the rest of the team moving forward.