Back in December, the UCLA Bruins handed the Kentucky Wildcats a rare home loss at Rupp Arena. John Calipari’s team wasn’t about to let it happen again. Kentucky locked down on defense and shot the lights out on offense to secure a 86-75 win over UCLA and advance to the Elite Eight.
NCAA bracket update: Kentucky silences UCLA to advance to the Elite Eight
The Wildcats now face North Carolina in the Elite Eight.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
The pregame hype centered on the individual matchup between freshman point guards Lonzo Ball and De’Aaron Fox. Fox came away with a clear victory. The Kentucky guard went for 39 points and four assists in the win. He dominated the individual battle all night. For his part, Ball threw some nice passes and ended up with 10 points and eight assists.
Fellow five-star freshman Malik Monk was also fantastic for Kentucky. After a slow start to the NCAA tournament, Monk finished with 21 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range. The Wildcats needed a big effort from Monk in this game and he came through.
Kentucky now faces North Carolina is what will surely be the most anticipated game of the Elite Eight. The winner gets a matchup with either top-seeded Kansas or No. 3 Oregon. There are no easy games on the right side of this bracket, but the Wildcats have to feel good about knocking off one of the biggest opponents left standing in their way.
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