With the NCAA tournament in full swing and as teams fight to stay alive, the sweet sixteen came, and it has been one to watch for the ages. On Thursday, the second-seeded Arizona Wildcats were knocked out by 11th seeded Xavier Musketeer's 73-71 in one of the best upsets in this year's tournament. While that game was impressive, the game that had a lot of people gluing their eyes onto was the southern region match-up between second seed Kentucky Wildcats and third seed UCLA Bruins, which was pictured to be a contest between two dominant forces. In the end, the Wildcats came on top with an 86-75 win and advancing to the elite eight for the 37th time in school history.
Wildcats prove they are strong
With head coach John Calipari returning for his eighth straight season, the Wildcats were expected to have a great 2016-17 season and make a big run in the upcoming tournament. They did just that, going 26-5 overall, and 16-2 in conference play. The Wildcats offense was led by strong players like freshman shooting guard Malik Monk, who's currently averaging 20.1 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.6 Rebounds Per Game, and De'Aaron Fox, who averages 16.8 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.9 rebounds. The Wildcats proceeded to coast through the SEC tournament, beating Georgia and Alabama respectively, and winning the tournament championship 82-65 against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Starting off March Madness by defeating Northern Kentucky and Wichita State easily, it gave them a bigger challenge on their next opponents in the sweet sixteen, the Bruins of UCLA
Bruins show off their dominance
After finishing the previous year with a lackluster 15-17 record the Bruins had a lot of high expectations coming into the season, mainly because of the recruiting class, which included point guard Lonzo Ball, from Chino Hills High School, power forward T.J.
Leaf, who came from Foothills Christian High School, and center Ike Anigbogu, from Centennial High School. Under head coach Steve Alford, the Bruins proceeded to dominate the Pac-12 conference, going 28-3 overall, and 15-3 in conference play. Leading the way for the Bruins were Ball, who averaged 14.6 points, 7.6 assists, and 6.0 rebounds and is expected to be a top pick in this year's NBA draft, and Leaf, who averaged 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Though losing in the conference semifinals 86-75 to Arizona, nonetheless they got an invitation to the tournament. The Bruins managed to get through first and second rounds easily with victories against Kent State and Cincinnati before being scheduled to play the Wildcats.
The Game
The Wildcats faced off against the Bruins on Friday at FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN to see who would advance to the elite eight. The game started off with both teams going back and forth for the entire first half. The Wildcats were the first to get on the board on a jumper from Fox, followed by a shot from behind the arc from Ball to get UCLA on the board. With the action going back and forth, it seemed like this game would live up to its hype.
With 11 seconds left in half, and the Wildcats leading 34-33, Fox made another jump shot to go up 36-33 and end the first half with the lead.
Starting in the second half, the Wildcats managed to maintain their lead and showed no signs of slowing down. With 12:26 left, after Leaf made a jumper to bring the Bruins within four, the Wildcats proceeded to go on a 12-7 run over the next six minutes of the game. With great defense and not letting the Bruins offense get great shots off in time, the Wildcats pulled away with the 86-75 victory. Fox came out as the star of the game, scoring 39 points and grabbing three rebounds. Monk also had a strong game with 21 points and three rebounds. With the win, the teams next opponent will be against the number one seed North Carolina Tar Heels, which will take place on Sunday.
