Kentucky Rarely Loses NCAA Tournament Rematches

For more than 100 years, Kentucky and Tennessee have played twice a year, with very few exceptions. The stakes are even higher for Friday night’s matchup when the Wildcats and the Vols meet in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

That’s not unusual. If you’d like to take a longer walk down memory lane, Kentucky’s 1986 NCAA Tournament altered the rules for March Madness. After facing multiple SEC foes for the fourth time, the selection committee created a new process to avoid rematches.

Although rematches are rare among conference foes, that’s not entirely the case for the Cats in the NCAA Tournament. Dating back to 1975, the year the field expanded to 32 teams, Kentucky has a 15-6 record in 21 regular season rematches in the NCAA Tournament (.714 winning percentage).

Almost half of these games were played with John Calipari coaching on the sideline. In nine NCAA Tournament rematches, he won six. The Cats got blown out by UConn in the Maui Invitational, then narrowly lost in the 2011 Final Four. The two most recent NCAA Tournament rematches were losses, the Luke Maye buzzer-beater and Auburn’s 2019 Elite Eight victory in overtime.

Those Elite Eight losses share something in common with this week’s matchup with Tennessee. Kentucky was 2-0 in the regular season against the Vols. Only four teams avenged regular season losses to UK in the NCAA Tournament: 2019 Auburn, 2017 North Carolina, 1986 LSU, and 1981 UAB.

Kentucky in NCAA Tournament Regular Season Rematches

Year	Team	Regular Season	Rematch W/L	Round
2019	Auburn	82-80 Win, 80-53 Win	77-71 OT Loss	Elite Eight
2017	UCLA	97-92 Loss	86-75 Win	Sweet 16
2017	North Carolina	103-100 Win	75-73 Loss	Elite Eight
2014	Louisville	73-66 Win	74-69 Win	Sweet 16
2012	Indiana	73-72 Loss	102-90 Win	Sweet 16
2012	Louisville	69-62 Win	69-61 Win	Final Four
2012	Kansas	75-65 Win	67-59 Win	National Championship
2011	North Carolina	75-73 Loss	76-69 Win	Elite Eight
2011	UConn	84-67 Loss	56-55 Loss	Final Four
1999	Kansas	63-45 Win	92-88 OT Win	Second Round
1996	UMass	92-82 Loss	81-74 Win	Final Four
1992	UMass	90-69 Win	87-77 Win	Sweet 16
1986	Alabama	Three Wins	68-63 Win	Sweet 16
1986	LSU	Three Wins	59-57 Loss	Elite Eight
1984	BYU	93-59 Win	93-68 Win	Second Round
1984	Louisville	65-44 Win	72-67 Win	Sweet 16
1984	Illinois	56-54 Win	54-51 Win	Elite Eight
1983	Indiana	62-59 Win	64-59 Win	Sweet 16
1981	UAB	61-53 Win	69-62 Loss	Second Round
1980	Duke	82-76 OT Loss	55-54 Loss	Sweet 16
1975	Indiana	94-78 Loss	92-90 Win	Elite Eight

Memorable Rematches

Take all the stats and trends out of the equation for a moment. It feels great to beat a team in the Big Dance you already saw in the regular season. Every member of Big Blue Nation knew De’Aaron Fox was going to cook Lonzo Ball, and that’s exactly what he did.

Indiana fans have never had enough self-awareness to realize the Wat Shot they celebrate so much was in a season that was ended by the same Kentucky team in the NCAA Tournament. That run to a National Championship also included a Final Four victory over Louisville. That win was sweet, but it didn’t rip out their souls as much as Aaron Harrison did in 2014.

Rick Pitino avenged an early loss to John Calipari and Marcus Camby by handling UMass in the 1996 Final Four. For a certain generation, revenge tasted its sweetest in Dayton in 1975. Bob Knight smacked Joe B. Hall on the sideline during their regular season match, a 20-point blowout of the Cats. A few months later, the two teams nearly threw hands on the court before Kentucky handed the undefeated Hoosiers an L.

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