The Most Outstanding Individual Performances in Kentucky First Round NCAA Tournament Games

The road to the Final Four is paved by memorable performances from individuals who make winning plays when it matters most. We all remember Aaron Harrison‘s heroics that got Kentucky to Dallas, but they would never have gotten that far if Julius Randle hadn’t posted 19 and 15 against Kansas State in a 7-point opening round win.

After taking some early lumps in recent years, Kentucky could use an electric performance against Troy to get the monkey off of Big Blue Nation’s back. Before Mark Pope’s NCAA Tournament debut, let’s look back at some of the best individual performances from Kentucky Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky Wildcats Who Made History

John Calipari’s first NCAA Tournament game was a 29-point blowout win over East Tennessee State. It was never close, thanks to Eric Bledsoe. He set the school record for made three-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game by knocking down 8-9 in a 29-point performance. Ironically, poor three-point shooting is ultimately what led to this team’s demise in the Elite Eight against West Virginia.

Speaking of three-point shooting, Kevin Knox had 25 points in a 78-73 win over Davidson in 2018. The Cats survived in Boise despite shooting 0-for-6 from three-point land, ending a streak of 1,047 consecutive games with a made three-pointer. The longest streak in college basketball lasted from 1988 to 2018.

Great Games in Losses

I hate to bring it up, but we gotta bring it up. Kentucky wasted a 30-point, 16-rebound performance from Oscar Tshiebwe in the loss to Saint Peter’s. Antonio Reeves went 5-9 from three-point land in two first round games. The Wildcats survived against Providence, but fell to Oakland after Reeves tallied 27 points.

Tshiebwe is one of only five Kentucky Wildcats who have scored 30+ points in an NCAA Tournament game since 2000. Joe Crawford went 5-8 from three and scored 35 points in a 74-66 loss to Marquette in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

A Forgotten Kentucky Game-Winner

If you play a name-recognition game with Brandon Knight, your brain probably goes to his game-winner against Ohio State or his 30-point night vs. West Virginia. Those games would not have happened if he didn’t deliver when his team desperately needed him.

He was 0-7 from the field when John Calipari told Knight to go win the game. Knight had multiple opportunities to do it on the road in SEC play, and those shots came up short. This time he came through for the Cats, burying a contested layup with 2.0 seconds to go to beat Princeton 59-57.

Cats Avoid Upsets, Thanks to Tayshaun Prince

In consecutive seasons, Kentucky was on the ropes against a double-digit seed in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Fortunately, Tubby Smith had a lengthy lefty to put the team on his back down the stretch.

Facing No. 12 seed St. Bonaventure in 2000, Tayshaun Prince scored 11 of Kentucky’s final 12 points in regulation, including the game-tying three. He finished with a career-high 28 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots in an 85-80 double-overtime victory over the Bonnies.

A year later, the All-American delivered yet again. He scored 10 of his 27 points in the final six minutes of the game. No. 15 seed Holy Cross cut the deficit to three when Prince iced the game away with a bucket in the final 20 seconds of the 72-68 win.

While we’re in the early 2000s, shout out to Gerald Fitch. The games weren’t close when he had 25 points (five made threes) in 2003 and 26 points the following year in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky Basketball Classics

Let’s throw it way back to the 70s and 80s for a few special Kentucky basketball performances. In 1988, Ed Davender went 12-16 to score 30 points, while Rex Chapman was 10-13 for 23 points in a 15-point win over Southern.

Kentucky faced Detlef Schrempf‘s Washington Huskies in Salt Lake City back in 1985. Schrempf had 16 and 7, but Kenny Sky Walker was the star of the day. He scored nearly half of the Cats’ points, tallying 29 and grabbing 10 rebounds in a 66-58 victory.

Kentucky started an unforgettable run to the 1975 Final Four by playing a Top 10 team. Marquette was ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, but Al McGuire’s team didn’t look like that against the Cats. Kevin Grevey had 19 points and seven assists in an eye-opening 22-point win.

In the 1973 NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats faced a foe who is cemented in basketball folklore, Fly Williams. Leonard Hamilton recruited the street-hooper from New York to Austin Peay, where he averaged nearly 30 points per game as a freshman. Fly Williams had 26 points against the Cats, but Jim Andrews was better, sinking 15-19 shots to score 30 points in a 106-100 overtime victory.

Thanks to that game, I will never be able to hear the name Austin Peay without thinking of the Governor’s favorite cheer during that time: “Open the Fly, now let’s go Peay!”