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KSR's favorite moments from Kentucky's blowout win to begin March Madness

Jack PIlgrimby:Jack Pilgrim•about 12 hours
0D6A8273
Mont Dawson, Kentucky Sports Radio

One down, five to go. At long last, Kentucky is back in the win column in the NCAA Tournament, running away with a 76-57 victory over No. 14 seed Troy to get things rolling in Milwaukee.

How did the Cats get it done inside Fiserv Forum, the home of the Milwaukee Bucks? KSR has the top moments from the 19-point win.

Mark Pope gets the monkey off his back

“The more experience you have, the more you experience.”

Pope was talking about Lamont Butler there and the 11 NCAA Tournament games he had under his belt going into this run, but it actually applies to the first-year coach, too. One of the biggest knocks on him when he got the Kentucky job was that he had never won a postseason game in two separate March Madness appearances in 2021 and 2024. There wasn’t anything he could do about it until this moment, forced to take those talking point lumps before proving himself on the big stage.

He brushed off questions about it on Selection Sunday —  “If, in my mind, I make this about me or make it about one person, we’re missing out on the greatness of what Kentucky is,” he said — but his players still stood up for him and made it clear they wanted to win this one to get that monkey off of his back. Then they could rack up those team accolades, together.

“We’re not just winning a game, we’re winning a game for him at the University of Kentucky,” Koby Brea told KSR. “We know how much this means to him, just being back at his alma mater. There might have been a lot of doubt, a lot of people that maybe didn’t believe he could do it. What can they say now?”

Whether Pope liked it or not, the postseason conversation was there. Now it’s gone, earning win No. 1 in blowout fashion.

Freshmen change the game for Kentucky

Troy had cut Kentucky’s lead to just one point with 3:17 to go in the first half, offense grinding to a halt with points seemingly impossible to come by. The Cats had been 1-8 from three with the Trojans gaining confidence, tension growing in the building with every passing minute. Stepping up when the blue and white needed anything to get going? None other than the Mountain Mamba himself, Trent Noah drilling a big-time three to start a 10-0 run, leading to an 11-point lead and some much-needed breathing room at the half.

Kentucky found itself in a similar situation in the second half, a 13-point lead shrinking to just six with 13:07 to go. Who steps up? Another rookie, this time Collin Chandler hitting a massive three just 12 seconds later, followed by six more points to go up by 17. That was part of a 15-0 run that put the Cats up 22 with 8:04 to go.

It’d get back down to 13, but the cushion was too much to overcome, leading to the 19-point victory. That doesn’t happen without the freshmen stepping up for their own March Madness moments.

Brandon Garrison has his best game as a Cat

Noah and Chandler had the flashy individual moments, but Brandon Garrison was right there in the mix as the sneaky bench MVP. After a slow start that saw two missed threes — one being an airball — he got cooking with two quick buckets when Kentucky needed them in the first half, then scored six in that 15-0 second-half run to put Troy away.

All in all, he finished with 13 points on 5-7 shooting — no misses after those two early 3-point attempts — but more impressively, he added six tough rebounds, two assists and two steals in 15 minutes. Amari Williams was a freak on the glass with 13 total rebounds, but it was Garrison emerging as the high-energy difference-maker off the bench — 25 combined bench points, all split between BG, Chandler and Noah.

March Madness playing time for the walk-ons

Any game that includes walk-ons earning some run is a good one. Any NCAA Tournament game that includes walk-ons earning some run is a great one.

That was the case when Kentucky pushed the lead to 20 points with 42 seconds to go — again, on a Garrison second-chance and-one. With the big fella at the line, Walker Horn, Grant Darbyshire and Zach Tow all entered the game for their first-ever March Madness minutes (or seconds, but the point remains).

It may not seem like much with zero combined stats between the three, but considering the countless hours of work they put in throughout the year, those 42 seconds put them in a box score that is forever. It’s cool to be a Kentucky basketball player and help make an impact for the winningest tradition in the history of college basketball. Now, they’ll be able to tell their grandkids one day they were active participants in March Madness.

Otega Oweh and Andrew Carr carry the team

There were other top standouts and key moments that will look good on the highlights and box score, but there is nothing like having two go-to pieces you can lean on to keep the ship from sinking. Carr led the way with 11 first-half points while Oweh added 10, starting the game scoring 18 of the team’s first 21 points together. Kentucky was never in danger territory — Troy’s biggest lead was three points less than a minute into the game — but it was certainly uncomfortable and could have been worse. Instead, the upperclassmen were there to hold down the fort until the young pups were able to get their legs underneath them.

Before the game, Carr walked in wearing pajama pants and a hoodie — the exact same outfit he’s worn before every game, all year long. Totally unfazed by the moment.

Talking to Oweh in the locker room after the game, he was totally nonchalant about the win — happy about the performance, but focused on what’s to come on Sunday.

“I feel good, glad we were able to go out there, compete and win,” he told KSR. “We got the first win out of the way. We’ve got many more to do.”

Lamont Butler is still navigating his shoulder injury — his ‘LaMarch’ moment is coming — while Koby Brea was 3-4 from deep in the second half after a slow shooting start, but Oweh and Carr were the stable forces until everything else worked itself out.

Amari Williams goes coast-to-coast

There was no bigger pop than Kentucky’s 7-foot, 262-pound point guard, Williams going coast-to-coast during the Wildcats’ first-half run for a dunk in traffic.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think the fifth-year senior was unleashing his inner Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Greek Freak’s home floor.

“That was crazy. I had a perfect angle, too. I was in the corner and I didn’t think he could take off like that,” Oweh said. “I knew he could dunk, but I didn’t know he could take off like that. He felt like Giannis a little bit, wanted to take off.”

Guys his size aren’t supposed to move like that, folks.

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2025-03-21