Kentucky guard Hamidou Diallo dunks against Buffalo during the second half of a second-round game in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament Saturday, March 17, 2018, in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Otto Kitsinger)BOISE, Idaho – It will take more than experience, grit and a double-digit dream to knock these kids from Kentucky out of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Namely, it will take someone to slow down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his fellow freshmen, who are zeroing in on the finer points of the John Calipari Hoops School at precisely the right time.
Kentucky put an end to any upset talk on its watch Saturday, getting 27 points, six rebounds and six assists from Gilgeous-Alexander in a 95-75 pullaway from scrappy, veteran 13th-seeded Buffalo in the second round of the South Region.
Gilgeous-Alexander, a former Hamilton Heights Christian Academy star, went 10-for-12 and made both of his 3-point attempts to send the fifth-seeded Wildcats (26-10) on to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season.
“We are inexperienced and all that stuff,” Kentucky coach Calipari said. “But I’ve got good players.”
Coming into the day, the basketball world was still reverberating from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s stunner over overall No. 1 seed Virginia in a first-round upset for the ages night before. Duke and Villanova rolled in their games early; the evening slate started with Kentucky, and the Wildcats, with their all-freshman starting lineup, trailed only once: 2-0.
“We hear about those upsets,” said Wenyen Gabriel, one of Kentucky’s rare sophomores, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. “It just tells us to lock in some more and focus.”
Kentucky didn’t turn the game into a runaway until the final seven minutes. Buffalo (27-9), which advanced via a 21-point blowout over No. 4 Arizona in the first round, twice trimmed a double-digit lead to five midway through the second half.
Gilgeous-Alexander answered both times – once with a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to eight, then again a few minutes later with a three-point play that started a 12-2 run and put the game away.
“We didn’t have an answer for him,” Bulls coach Nate Oats said. “He was a major problem for us defensively.”
And not the only one. Hamidou Diallo also went off, going 9-for-12 and scoring all but four of his 22 points in the second half while the Wildcats were beginning to cruise.
Kentucky has won nine of 10 since snapping a four-game losing streak in February.
“There’s a reason three of those guys are supposed to go in the first round, and a couple more are going to be pros,” Oats said of Kentucky’s NBA draft prospects. “Cal’s got them playing really well at the right time of year.”
And about that UMBC win – it could impact Kentucky more than you know. When Tennessee lost a one-point game to Loyola-Chicago shortly after Kentucky wrapped up Saturday, the Wildcats found themselves seeded behind only No. 2 Cincinnati in the South.
There’s a possibility they could make the Final Four without having to face even one single-digit seed.
“Coach has been telling us this whole week that you never know what can happen in this tournament,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We don’t focus on any other team. We just try to get better every game and put it on the next opponent.”