INDIANAPOLIS — Kentucky's kids are all grown up. And Rick Pitino is no longer the King of the Sweet 16.
In a rough, sloppy and often agonizing game that turned into a classic at the end, No. 8 seed Kentucky once again made all the big plays down the stretch to knock off No. 4 seed Louisville, 74-69, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
In a virtual repeat of its thrilling 78-76 victory against No. 1 seed Wichita State in the Round of 32, Kentucky trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half but kept grinding away until its collection of talented freshmen and big frontcourt players wore the defending national champions down.
BOX SCORE: Wildcats 74, Cardinals 69
Now, the narrative of a disappointing season for Kentucky has been rewritten, with a chance Sunday against No. 2 seed Michigan to advance out of the Midwest Regional and into the Final Four.
"It was the fun thing to do to attack these kids individually and they took it on and pushed it aside and kept trying to get better," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "They kept believing in each other, but I wasn't going to give up on this team. Thank goodness we had enough time with all freshmen to get it right before things ended."
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Like nearly all their baskets on Friday, the most important was engineered by two freshmen were struggling just a few weeks ago to deal with the fishbowl of Kentucky basketball and the weight of tumbling from preseason No. 1 to out of the top-25.
Trailing 68-67 after a runner by Louisville senior Russ Smith with 1:10 remaining, freshman Julius Randle spun out from a wall of defenders and delivered a pass to Aaron Harrison in the corner. Harrison drilled the 3-pointer with 39 seconds left, putting a Kentucky team that trailed virtually the entire game in position to win.
For Calipari, that play personified why the Wildcats are a different team now than on March 1 when they melted down in a road loss to woeful South Carolina.
"Three weeks ago (Randle) would have shot a hook to try to get that at the basket," Calipari said. "Now he's just playing the game as it comes and they finally have surrendered and lost themselves in the team. It's just taken us a long time."
Kentucky Wildcats center Dakari Johnson came up big with 15 points.(Photo: Bob Donnan, USA TODAY Sports)
Even after Harrison's shot, Louisville had chances at the end to tie. Louisville's Wayne Blackshear drew a foul with 14 seconds remaining but made just 1-of-2 at the foul line. Then, after Randle's free throws gave Kentucky a 72-69 lead, Louisville senior Russ Smith missed a 3-pointer off the dribble with three seconds remaining, allowing Kentucky to close out the victory.
The Wildcats out-scored Louisville 15-3 over the final 4:10.
"They outhustled us for loose balls, beat us on the back board," Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell said. "We gave up second-chance shots. We didn't do everything on defense to a 'T' and they hit big-time shots. For us to be that close and have the lead and give it right back just hurts."
It will be a particularly bitter loss for the Cardinals, given how thoroughly they controlled stretches of the game, and how quickly they came unglued as little things began to pile up.
Louisville made just 13-of-23 from the foul line and allowed 18 second-chance points, including a couple key putbacks down the stretch that helped Kentucky make a final push. The Wildcats did it, too, without the defensive presence of forward Willie Cauley-Stein, who played just four minutes before suffering an ankle injury and going almost immediately to the locker room. Though Kentucky didn't release specifics, Calipari said it was "not a good ankle injury," indicating Cauley-Stein would be unlikely to play against Michigan.
Without Cauley-Stein, Kentucky turned to freshman Dakari Johnson and Alex Poythress, who both delivered big performances against Louisville's small front court, which fought foul trouble throughout the game. Johnson went 7-for-10 from the field, complementing Randle's 15-point, 12-rebound effort, and Poythress made one of the game's biggest plays.
After Louisville had successfully pushed back every one of Kentucky's attempts to tie or take the lead, Poythress grabbed a Randle miss, stuck it back, drew a foul and made the free throw to tie it at 66-66 with 2:11 left.
LOUISVILLE: Loss ends more than a season
"In a way I think we have just had to kind of put the past behind us and leave it where it was," Randle said. "This is a new season, and that's all we could worry about."
Whereas Kentucky struggled much of the season with late-game execution against good teams, it has now shown more poise in close games than two older, more experienced teams during the NCAA tournament.
Even after Kentucky had gotten within 34-31 at halftime and appeared ready to mount a charge, Louisville punched back repeatedly. It appeared the Cardinals landed a decisive blow when Luke Hancock, the Most Outstanding Player of last year's Final Four, made 3-pointers with 7:12 and 6:11 remaining to give the Cardinals a 62-55 lead.
But Calipari kept telling his team they were only down a couple baskets and to keep playing. Louisville couldn't extend its lead, giving Kentucky an opening around the four-minute mark.
"Then we got it to (66-63) and all the sudden it gets a little crazy and (the pressure's) back on their plate," Calipari said.
And though Louisville shot 49 percent for the game, executing its offense almost perfectly, the Cardinals made just 4-of-15 from the 3-point line. Though Smith scored 23 points, he struggled all game with his shot, going 1-of-7 from the arc and 4-of-10 from the foul line. He also forced up a questionable jumper with 2:02 left and threw a pass into the Louisville bench with 1:47 remaining after dribbling into trouble.
It was too many late mistakes against a Kentucky team that shot 56% in the second half.
"We ran our offense beautifully most of the night," said Pitino, who lost in the Sweet 16 for the first time in 12 attempts. "Just a couple down the stretch we just went one-on-one a little bit too much.
"They're going to be very tough to beat because you've got to play great defense, like we did tonight in the first half, to beat them. I don't know how many teams are capable of doing that."
"Three weeks ago (Randle) would have shot a hook to try to get that at the basket," Calipari said. "Now he's just playing the game as it comes and they finally have surrendered and lost themselves in the team. It's just taken us a long time."
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