Best of UK in the NCAA: Thursday First Round Highlights

MrsTylerKSR

kentucky-ncaa-tournament-highlights-thursday-first-round — 16 Mar 2000: Tubby Smith head coach of the Kentucky WIldcats cheers his team as they defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 85-80 in triple overtime in round one of the Midwest Region of the 2000 NCAA Men''s Basketball Championship at Goodman Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Photo: Doug Pensinger / Staff

The 2023 NCAA Tournament begins in earnest today. Let’s tip things off by taking a trip down memory lane with highlights from Kentucky’s Thursday First Round games from the past 30 years.

1995: No. 1 Kentucky 113, No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s 67

Thursday, March 16, 1995

Five Wildcats finished in double figures, led by Tony Delk with 20 points and Walter McCarty with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Cats shot 57% from the floor.

Sadly, no video footage of this one on YouTube.

1996: No. 1 Kentucky 110, No. 16 San Jose State 72

Thursday, March 14, 1996

San Jose State stuck with Kentucky in the first half, even leading at times, but the Cats were just too good, outscoring the Spartans 63-31 in the second half. You can see some clips of the first half below.

1997: No. 1 Kentucky 92, No. 16 Montana 54

Thursday, March 13, 1997

Wayne Turner and Cameron Mills scored 19 points each to push the Cats past Montana in the first round. Thanks to BTI, we have a few blurry highlights.

2000: No. 5 Kentucky 85, No. 12 St. Bonaventure 80 (2OT)

Thursday, March 16, 2000

Kentucky needed double overtime to knock off the Bonnies in Cleveland. Tayshaun Prince forced overtime with a three with seven seconds left in regulation. He finished with 28 points, Keith Bogans with 19. St. Bonaventure rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit, and according to the game recaps, earned a standing ovation from Kentucky fans once the game was in hand.

2001: No. 2 Kentucky 72, No. 15 Holy Cross 68

Thursday, March 15, 2001

Holy Cross gave Kentucky quite a scare in the first round, but Tayshaun Prince scored 27 points, including two free throws with 7.2 seconds left, to make sure the Cats survived.

No highlights I could find, but ESPN still has its recap up in the early 2000s website format, which is pretty trippy.

2002: No. 4 Kentucky 83, No. 13 Valparaiso 68

Thursday, March 14, 2002

Valpo over “Team Turmoil” was a trendy upset pick, but the Cats banded together to play one of their best games of the season, led by Keith Bogans, who scored 21 points off 6-10 from the floor, 4-5 from three.

I can’t find highlights of this game, so here’s a picture of Tayshaun Prince from the always-reliable BigBlueHistory.net:

2005: No. 2 Kentucky 72, No. 15 Eastern Kentucky 64

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Chuck Hayes and Kelenna Azubuike each scored 16 points to push the Cats past the Colonels.

2008: No. 6 Marquette 74, No. 11 Kentucky 66

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley combined for 54 of Kentucky’s 66 points, but it wasn’t enough to beat Marquette. No need to relive the highlights of this one.

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2010: No. 1 Kentucky 100, No. 16 ETSU 71

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Eric Bledsoe hit eight threes in Kentucky’s blowout of ETSU, breaking the UK record for most three-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game previously held by Tony Delk, who hit seven in the 1996 national championship game.

2011: No. 4 Kentucky 59, No. 13 Princeton 57

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Brandon Knight’s layup with two seconds remaining gave the Cats the win, which is even more remarkable when you remember those were the only points he scored the entire game.

2012: No. 1 Kentucky 81, No. 16 Western Kentucky 66

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb led the way, scoring 22 and 16, respectively. Anthony Davis chipped in 16 points, nine rebounds, and seven blocks.

2015: No. 1 Kentucky 79, No. 16 Hampton 56

Thursday, March 19, 2015

After a slow start, the undefeated Cats ran away from Hampton thanks to a double-double from Karl Towns (21 points, 11 rebounds) and 14 points from Andrew Harrison.

2016: No. 4 Kentucky 85, No. 13 Stony Brook 57

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Five Kentucky players scored in double figures, led by Jamal Murray, who had 19 points.

2018: No. 5 Kentucky 78, No. 12 Davidson 73

Thursday, March 15, 2018

My Wildcats vs. my other Wildcats. This game was an emotional roller coaster for me, but Kentucky pulled off the win despite not hitting a single three, snapping the 1,047-game streak. A freshman Kellan Grady had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal for Davidson.