Texas A & M 68 - 72 Kentucky (Overtime) (No. 2,105)

The last time we saw the Texas A & M Aggies, they had just charged to an 83-71 win over the Wildcats in Rupp Arena.  Their shooting guard, Elston Turner, had scored 40 points in a performance worthy of Kobe Bryant, and the Aggies were off to a 2-0 start in SEC play with thumping wins over Arkansas and UK.  Here's what happened to them afterward (home teams listed first):

Texas A & M 47 - 68 Florida (E. Turner scored 4 points)
Alabama 50 - 49 Texas A & M (E. Turner scored 13 points)
Louisiana St. 58 - 54 Texas A & M (E. Turner scored 5 points)
Texas A & M 52 - 59 Georgia (E. Turner scored 19 points)
Mississippi St. 49 - 55 Texas A & M (OT) (E. Turner scored 11 points)

That's a record of one win (over a last-place MSU team in overtime) and four losses.  In none of these games did A & M score more than 55.  In the five games, Elston Turner averaged 10.4 points.

I suppose the Aggies of those five games must have looked like the Aggies we saw in the first half yesterday -- slow, plodding, obsessed with stopping transition baskets, and firing away aimlessly from the outside.  TAMU went 0-9 from three-point range, and 7-29 overall in the first half.  For most of the half, UK couldn't do much better, and the game was tied at 13 with 6 1/2 minutes to go before the half.  But then the Cats had a very nice spurt in which they outscored the Aggies 17-4 to take a 30-17 lead, and they still led 30-21 at the half.

But so far in SEC play, spurts of this type have simply spurred UK's opponents to greater heights, and so it proved here.  Once the second half opened, it soon became clear that A & M had shaken off their lethargy of the last five and one-half games, and they were once again the joyous, exciting, attacking team we had seen at Rupp.  Even Elston Turner (who had 21 points) started scoring again.  Plus TAMU was making all their free throws -- they went 17-17 in regulation.  In their last 11 halves of basketball, TAMU had averaged 24.5 points per half.  But in the first 10 minutes of the second half yesterday, they scored 25 points to cut UK's lead to 47-46.  Once again, the Cats had blown a big lead.

However, the Cats are used to blowing big leads, so they didn't panic.  Instead, they kept running their half-court offense.  Of course, the Cats are not a great half-court team, mainly because a lot of their players (Harrow, Goodwin, Poythress, and Cauley-Stein, for example) simply just don't shoot well enough to be much of a half-court threat.  What UK wants to do is what it did so often against Ole Miss -- get out in transition and give Poythress, Goodwin, and Harrow a chance to attack the basket in the open floor.  The Cats play the 48th-fastest pace in the country this year -- they rank even higher than the John Wall team in that regard -- and when they get their transition game going, it can be devastating.  But that was never going to happen against an A & M team that ranks 340th in tempo, and was determined to stop transition baskets.  So the Cats were forced to run their half-court set -- which put a lot of pressure on Julius Mays, the only Cat other than Wiltjer who is a major threat more than three feet from the basket.  Against Alabama, Mays only scored 12 points, mainly because Harrow and Goodwin -- who combined to take 22 shots -- didn't give him much of a chance.  But Goodwin and Harrow took only 13 shots yesterday, and Mays flourished -- making 4-6 three-pointers and scoring 19 points.

With 3:47 left, and one second on the shot clock, Mays fired in an NBA-range 3-pointer to put UK up 60-52, and I breathed a big sigh of relief.  When the half started, my goal had been for UK to get to 60 points.  A & M would have to score 39 points in the half to reach 60, and I figured that would be too much to ask from a team that was scoring around 50 points per game.

But I was wrong.  If you worry that America's young poeple have lost the never-say-die spirit that made this country great, you need only watch SEC teams fighting to come from behind against UK.  Here's what happened down the stretch:

3:31 left (UK leads 60-52):  Noel misses two free throws
3:10 left (UK leads 60-52):  K. Roberson makes a lay-up for TAMU
2:45 left (UK leads 60-54):  Goodwin misses a layup
2:26 left (UK leads 60-54):  TAMU turnover
2:07 left (UK leads 60-54):  Wiltjer called for a charge
1:54 left (UK leads 60-54):  E. Turner makes a jumper for TAMU
1:37 left (UK leads 60-56):  Harrow commits a turnover
1:18 left (UK leads 60-56):  TAMU turnover
1:10 left (UK leads 60-56):  Wiltjer loses the ball (I think this was a terrible lob to Noel that went out of bounds -- I have no idea what Kyle was thinking on that play)
0:59 left (UK leads 60-56):  R. Turner makes a layup for TAMU

So now it was 60-58, and UK had to get serious again.  The Cats ran a great play, with Harrow hitting a wide open Poythress, who was fouled at the rim.  Alex made both free throws, and the Cats were up 62-58 with only 34 seconds left.

But TAMU still wasn't done.  Elston Turner missed a shot, but the rebound went to TAMU's point guard, Fabyon Harris, who scored in traffic to make the score 62-60 with 19 seconds to go.  After a lot of timeouts and substitutions, Goodwin inbounded the ball to Wiltjer, who waited for the foul call.  But that's not an easy call to get on the road.  Instead, the Aggies simply swarmed Wiltjer and created a jump ball -- which went to the Aggies.  So now it was back to Elston Turner.  UK wouldn't let him shoot a three, so he drove, put up an 18-footer that banged off the front of the rim, flipped up into the air, and went into the basket. Somehow, the Aggies had scored 41 points in the second half, and we were going to overtime.

The Cats hadn't played an overtime game since February 23, 2011, when they lost at Arkansas.  But they are used to blowing big leads, so their swoon down the stretch didn't effect them.  They stopped the silly turnovers and bad shots that had plagued them at the end of regulation, and had a 69-63 lead with only 2:09 left.  Of course, at this point Elston Turner poured in a three-pointer, ensuring another nail-biting finish.  With 15 seconds to go, Mays hit two huge free throws (the Cats made 15-24 FT's in regulation, but they made 8-10 in overtime) and UK was up 71-68.

So the game ended as it was probably meant to all along, with Elston Turner shooting a three-pointer for the tie.  It was a long shot, but it was better than the one he took at the end of regulation.  That one had been short, and he was fortunate it went in.  But this one looked good all the way, and just happened to bounce out.  After all that had happened in this very, very long game, UK was finally due for a lucky break.

The message boards reflected a lot of angst from UK fans unhappy with all the blown leads.  But I was very pleased.  A week ago, Ken Pomeroy had given UK less than a 20 percent chance of winning road games against Ole Miss and Texas A & M.  But the Cats won them both, and all of a sudden their outlook has improved dramatically.