SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Tune-up time ended for Kentucky at Notre Dame on Saturday night.
After disposing of seven straight nondescript opponents in Rupp Arena, Notre Dame gave UK the kind of test of nerves and resolve Coach John Calipari had said was looming.
Kentucky lost when freshman Blake Wesley hit a jumper in the lane with 11.7 seconds left to give Notre Dame a 64-62 lead.
UK freshman TyTy Washington tried to tie it. But he drove and missed a contested shot. Dane Goodwin capped the game with a dunk at the buzzer for a 66-62 Notre Dame victory.
That lowered UK’s record to 7-2, improved Notre Dame to 4-4 and sparked a flood of green-clad fans out of the stands and onto the court in celebration.
Kentucky trailed 61-56 with three-plus minutes left. That matched the largest lead either team had.
Davion Mintz drove the baseline and scored while being fouled. His three-point play reduced UK’s deficit to 61-59 with 2:47 left.
After Notre Dame turned it over, Kentucky got the lead on its second three-pointer in 18 attempts. Kellan Grady made it on a second-chance opportunity as the shot clock buzzed with the ball in the air.
The three-pointer put Kentucky ahead 62-61 with 1:49 left.
Oscar Tshiebwe was largely responsible for putting Kentucky in position to win. Posting up and hitting mid-range shots, he scored a career-high 25 points. His getting only one rebound in the second half had seemed irrelevant.
Kentucky showed in the first half how to be leading despite not making a three-point shot or even shoot a single free throw.
It helped that Tshiebwe scored 12 points and grabbed six boards.
A 60-second flurry by Tshiebwe late in the final minutes enabled Kentucky to lead 30-28 at halftime.
It began with his post-up basket. During the opening 20 minutes, he showed versatility by scoring on post-ups and also mid-range jumpers.
Tshiebwe ended Notre Dame’s next possession with a steal and a gallop over more than half the court to an emphatic dunk in transition.
Tshiebwe then ended Notre Dame’s next possession by stealing a feed into the low post.
This helped Kentucky survive missing all 10 of its three-point shots. Six UK players shot from beyond the arc. Sahvir Wheeler, Grady, Mintz and Bryce Hopkins each missed twice.
Notre Dame got the encouraging start its coach said it needed to build confidence. The Irish made three of their first four shots. But Notre Dame made only nine of 24 the rest of the half.
Tshiebwe’s post-ups suggested free throws would ensue.
Yet, neither team shot a free throw in a first half that saw only three fouls called on Kentucky and three on the Irish.
The first half suggested the kind of possession-by-possession late-game test that Calipari had said he had the team work on. UK’s largest first-half lead was four points. Notre Dame’s largest lead was two points.
By the first television timeout (14:21), there had already been four ties and two lead changes in the second half.
Kentucky shot its first free throws with 17:53 left. Keion Brooks was fouled on a post-up attempt (after walking, many Notre Dame fans let it be known).
Twenty-one seconds later, Notre Dame shot its first free throws. Wheeler committed his third foul trying to defend a cut to the basket and went to the bench with 17:32 left.
Kentucky finally made a three-pointer when Grady connected with 13:27 left. A pass in transition from Wheeler set up the shot and made UK 1-for-14 from beyond the arc.
Grady’s shot put UK ahead 43-39, which matched the game’s largest lead.
Heading into the final 10 minutes, that remained the largest margin. Wheeler making three of four free throws after being fouled on successive possessions helped Kentucky maintain that margin with exactly 10 minutes left.
Brooks making one of two free throws with 8:07 left gave the game its first lead of more than four points. It put Kentucky ahead 53-48.
The distinction lasted 18 seconds. Freshman Blake Wesley, who had made five of 22 three-point shots this season, hit his second of the game to reduce UK’s lead to 53-51.
That started an 11-1 run that gave Notre Dame its first five-point lead: 59-54 with 3:50 left.
Twice in that span, Notre Dame players beat UK defenders (Wheeler and Washington) on cuts to the basket for layups. Goodwin beat Washington to cap the 11-1 run and set up a climax to the basketball drama.
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