Kentucky 59 - 57 Princeton (Final) (NCAA Tournament) (Number 2,049)

SURVIVE AND ADVANCE!

If you had told me that Brandon Knight would only score 2 points in this game, I would have been much more worried before tip-off. If you had told me that UK would score only 59 points, I would have assumed that we lost. As it is, I am glad that our bad luck from earlier in the year is finally evening out, and that we finally made the last shot of the game. That's the first time we've won on the last shot all year -- and only the second time we've won a game in which we never had a double-digit lead.

This game looked exactly like all those games we lost on the road in the SEC. UK jumped out to a good start, and looked like it would take control of the game, but then the air went out of our offense and the other team started making big shots from everywhere. When Princeton jumped out to a 42-37 lead in the second half, we were all having flashbacks to Alabama and Ole Miss.

But this time, UK's veterans -- particularly Miller and Harrelson -- kept the Cats in the game. Miller finished with 17 points, Harrellson had 15 (and 10 rebounds), Liggins chipped in 8, and those guys held the fort. Eventually, UK went on a 16-6 run to take a 53-48 lead with about 5 and one-half minutes to go. Then the game turned into the Vandy game, where UK almost blew a late lead. Princeton outscored UK 9-4 to tie the game at 57. (And here let me give Princeton enormous credit, because the last three shots made by Princeton were some of the hardest shots I've seen anyone make against UK all year. A hurried runner in the lane, a turnaround jump shot, and a step-back jumper -- all shots that college players normally miss.

And so that set up the last possession of the game. Given UK's struggles on offense down the stretch, I was not feeling very optimistic. And I certainly didn't feel good when Knight started going down the lane. I kept thinking about all the last shots that we missed against Arkansas. But he made a spectacular play -- so that for the only time in the whole game, the Princeton players finally got to see why he is regarded so highly.

So Kentucky finally catches a break, and we move on for another round. A lot of folks will be angry that we didn't thrash Princeton, but this team just isn't good enough to thrash a team like Princeton -- especially when Princeton plays as well as it did today. I'm just happy the season will last for at least two more days.