Kentucky treated fans to one of the best "neutral site" games in history

Ever since neutral site regular season games became en vogue, Kentucky fans have witnessed some great ones. From John Wall hitting a game-winning shot in Madison Square Garden back in 2009 to Malik Monk going for 47 in Las Vegas in 2016, to this year when the Wildcats pulled off an upset over Duke in Atlanta, these games have generated some unbelievable contests. Call it recency bias if you will, but this might have been the best one of them yet.

It is hard to call Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle a neutral site environment, as the PA announcer made it a point to refer to the Zags as, “YOUR Gonzaga Bulldogs” but it technically qualifies as one as the game was not in Spokane.

Whatever you want to call it, it was awesome.

Slow start had Kentucky fans down

Kentucky tied a school record for the biggest halftime deficit win, down 16 at half, but if we are being honest, a blowout looked inevitable. There’s some games you just know are over from the opening tip and this felt like one of them. In the first half, Gonzaga outmatched the Wildcats at every possible position in every possible way. They were out-manned, out-coached, out-executed, out-hustled, you name it. All of the outs were there for Kentucky in all the worst possible ways.

This isn’t exactly expert analysis, but Kentucky just looked out of place on the court. In the most non-disparaging way I can say it, if you covered up the names on the jerseys, it looked like a mid-major team versus a national title contender out there.

The arena’s mood matched the happenings on the court. The crowd was about 80 percent Gonzaga fans and the Washington natives were rowdy. Their passion is different than those fans of the SEC in that they are much more civil with their fanaticism but no less intense. Kentucky fans, on the other hand, were considering their life choices for making the long trip and dreading the flight back home.

But then, the second half happened.

Kentucky fans came alive alongside their team

The Kentucky locker room served as a phone booth as Clark Kent entered at halftime and Superman emerged. Credit Kentucky’s defensive switch up, credit Gonzaga missing some bunnies, credit whatever you want, but Kentucky pulled off what looked impossible, and the crowd lived and died on every moment.

Go Big Blue chants erupted on multiple occasions and at one point Kentucky fans were so loud with the chant late in the game during a timeout, the arena turned up the loudspeaker to try and drown them out. Gonzaga fans did what they could to curb Big Blue Nation’s excitement, often intentionally amping up their own cheering to flex their numbers advantage, but the 20 percent of fans who were wearing a more royal shade of blue made their presence felt.

Ultimately, it all led to one of the most remarkable regular-season wins in recent memory. Gonzaga head coach Mark Few called it similar to a Sweet 16 or Elite Eight game and he wasn’t wrong. Having been to a lot of these games over the years, I can tell you firsthand this was one of the best if not the best we’ve ever seen.

For the Kentucky fans who made the trek to the Pacific Northwest, it was worth the trip. And as for the fans watching at home, as Mark Pope said after the game, “The people who went to sleep at halftime will be so sad.”