Perfect! Wisconsin Badgers knock off unbeaten Kentucky
By Phil Watson
It was a victory 364 days in the making.
The last time the Wisconsin Badgers faced the Kentucky Wildcats, it was in the national semifinals and it was Kentucky that walked off with a 74-73 victory to reach the national championship game.
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That loss is what compelled center Frank Kaminsky to return to Madison for his senior season. It drove Sam Dekker not to explore his draft options after his sophomore year.
The payoff came Saturday night in Indianapolis, where the Badgers (36-3) closed the game on a 15-4 run to stun the previously unbeaten Wildcats (38-1) 71-64 to advance to Monday’s national final.
Wisconsin, which extended its school record for victories in a season, squandered a nine-point lead in the first half and was up by as much as eight in the second half before Kentucky roared back.
Karl-Anthony Towns hit a jumper for Kentucky with 6:37 to go that gave the Wildcats a 60-56 lead and it appeared at that point that the Badgers may have been spent.
But Dekker canned a jumper to close the game back to 60-58 before—in a game that had both coaches on the verge of having their heads explode from the shoddy officiating—Wisconsin got the biggest break of the night from the guys in the stripes.
Late in the shot clock, after Bronson Koenig’s 3-point attempt was deflected out of bounds by Willie Cauley-Stein, Nigel Hayes took an inbounds pass and had his first attempt stuffed by Towns.
But Hayes got the ball back and, despite the shot clock reading zero, was credited with a layup that tied the game at 60-60 with 2:35 remaining.
Kentucky coach John Calipari took a timeout and railed at the officials for a review, but with the clock still reading more than two minutes, a review was not an option.
Out of the timeout, Kentucky settled for a wild driving jumper from Andrew Harrison and Wisconsin corralled the rebound.
That set the stage for Dekker’s biggest shot yet.
The junior from Sheboygan has turned the NCAA tournament into his personal breakout party and with 1:44 remaining, he hit a step-back 3-pointer that gave Wisconsin the lead back at 63-60.
But Dekker wasn’t done.
He held his ground against bulky Trey Lyles at the other end, drawing a charge and forcing a Kentucky turnovers with 1:06 to go.
From there, the Badgers made their free throws as the Wildcats showed their youth too many times in the closing seconds.
Aaron Harrison made a layup and converted a three-point play with 56 seconds to go to trim the Badgers’ lead to 64-63, but Kaminsky put a move on Cauley-Stein at the other end to draw a foul.
The senior who was named The Associated Press Player of the Year on Friday hit both free throws, but was called for a foul against Towns at the other end.
The highly touted freshman hit the first foul shot, but missed the second with 17 seconds to go.
Koenig then hit a pair to make it a two-possession game.
Kentucky’s answer was a 3-pointer from somewhere outside of West Lafayette by Aaron Harrison that missed everything.
Koenig made one of two at the line and Towns, attempting a long inbounds pass, threw the ball out of bounds near midcourt.
Kaminsky’s two foul shots with four seconds left sealed it.
The senior finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots—on his 22nd birthday.
“Best birthday present I’ve ever had,” Kaminsky told TBS Sports after the game.
Kentucky lost for the first time this season and the first time since last year’s championship game, taking little consolation in setting a record for the most victories in a season by a team with one loss.
Apr 4, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Wisconsin Badgers forward Sam Dekker (15) shoots a three-pointer during the second half of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship semifinal game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Badgers advance to a rematch with Duke—one of three teams to beat Wisconsin this season—on Monday night.
Duke came to the Kohl Center on Dec. 3 and laid an 80-70 loss on the Badgers—the biggest loss of the season for Wisconsin.
The X-factor may be Dekker, who was still recovering from a severely sprained ankle sustained in October and had just five points in 24 minutes in the first meeting.
Dekker had 16 points in the win over Kentucky, running his five-game total for the tournament to 103. Hayes and Koenig each scored 12 points for the Badgers.
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Towns paced the Wildcats with 16 points and nine rebounds, Andrew Harrison added 13 points and four assists and Aaron Harrison scored 12 points. Cauley-Stein had just two points on 1-of-4 shooting, but did block two shots.
Kentucky was just the third team since Indiana posted the last undefeated national championship season in 1976 to reach the Final Four without a loss. Indiana State lost to Michigan State in the title game in 1979 and UNLV was beaten by Duke in a national semifinal in 1991.
Duke (34-4) reached the final with an 81-61 pasting of Michigan State (27-12) in the opening semifinal game Saturday night.
For Wisconsin, it will be the first time in 74 years—since the Badgers beat Washington State in just the third NCAA tournament in 1941—it has been in the national championship game, the longest period between title game appearances ever.
Duke will be gunning for its fifth national title under coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils won the championship in 1991, 1992, 2001 and 2010.