Kentucky vs. Louisville: Best games from the last decade of the rivalry

By Joey Loose | Dec 27, 2018

NEW ORLEANS, LA - MARCH 31: Anthony Davis #23 of the Kentucky Wildcats and Gorgui Dieng #10 of the Louisville Cardinals go after the opening tip to start the National Semifinal game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on March 31, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – MARCH 28: Andrew Harrison #5 of the Kentucky Wildcats shoots the ball over Montrezl Harrell #24 of the Louisville Cardinals in the first half during the regional semifinal of the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 28, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

2. (8) Kentucky 74, #5 (4) Louisville 69 (March 28, 2014)

These two teams play each year, usually in late December, but it’s very hard to top a match-up that takes place in late March. While Kentucky had won the regular season match-up, Louisville had been the better team for much of the season. As the Wildcats settled for an 8-seed after a 24-10 regular season, the Cardinals were plopped onto the 4-seed, and were almost certainly under-seeded. Louisville marched to the Sweet Sixteen with relative ease while Kentucky pulled off a major “upset”, knocking off undefeated 1-seed Wichita State along the way. 2-seed Michigan awaited the winner, but this was no typical 4 vs. 8 match-up.

Early on, this was certainly looking like a great day for the defending champs from Louisville. They burst out to an 18-5 start and held on for a 3-point halftime lead. However, despite Kentucky’s youth, they were not going away and clawed their way back into the game. With 90 seconds left, Kentucky grabbed their first lead since 2-0, but Russ Smith (who scored 23 points for the Cardinals) hit a jumper to take back the lead. The Wildcats weren’t done, and Aaron Harrison hit a clutch 3-point with 40 seconds left to give Kentucky the lead for good. Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson and Aaron Harrison all scored 15 points while the Wildcats were a solid 22-27 from the free throw line. Smith’s 23 points weren’t enough for Louisville, and he didn’t shoot well from the 3 (1-7) or the free throw stripe (4-10).

Louisville’s bid for a repeat championship died to their bitter rivals in the Sweet Sixteen, handing Rick Pitino the first loss of his career in that round of the NCAA Tournament. This very talented Kentucky team wasn’t done either, knocking out Michigan in the Elite Eight and Wisconsin in the Final Four in the coming week before losing an exciting title game to UConn. This game was this rivalry’s most recent Tourney game (they’ve met six times in March), but there’s one more match-up with much higher stakes.

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