LEXINGTON, Ky. — John Calipari had a simple and direct objective for Saturday’s game. After losses in three of the first four contests, he said he just wanted Kentucky to look “different.”
He got what could be called a Christmas wish.
Maybe UK overdid it by veering toward unprecedented territory in the first half. But after trailing by as many as 24 points, Kentucky evoked memories of the Mardi Gras Miracle of 1993-94 in which the Cats rallied from a 31-point second-half deficit to win at LSU.
But this time there was no miracle as Olivier Sarr’s shot in the final seconds bounced off the rim.
Notre Dame defeated Kentucky, 64-63. It was the first time the Irish had beaten Kentucky in Lexington.
More difference: Kentucky’s record fell to 1-4, which marked only the second time since 1927 that the proud program has lost four of the first five games of a season.
Sarr led Kentucky with 22 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds. Brandon Boston and Terrence Clarke added 14 points each.
Nate Laszewski led Notre Dame (2-2) with 21 points, 19 of which came in the first half.
There was no doubt the second half was “different” from the first.
Kentucky took charge in the final 20 minutes.
Rebounding and defense got the Cats back in the game. Notre Dame made only three of its first 22 shots after the break.
Kentucky closed with 55-51 on Sarr’s jump shot with 4:40 left.
Prentiss Hubb’s 3-pointer with 4:11 left broke the spell. It was Notre Dame’s second basket in more than 12 minutes.
After a Clarke turnover, Notre Dame took a 60-51 lead on Juwan Durham’s put-back dunk.
As Calipari has repeatedly requested, Kentucky fought back.
Notre Dame, the veteran team on the floor, looked shaky as Kentucky twice reduced the deficit to one point inside the final 90 seconds.
Kentucky had trailed 48-26 at halftime. Several of the numbers justified that score.
Kentucky made only 1of 13 3-point shots. And the shot that went in had the look of a fluke. Clarke banked in a 3 from the top of the key. It reduced UK’s deficit to 40-22 with 4:11 left in the half.
Another familiar bugaboo put Kentucky in a comeback mode. The Cats had five turnovers before the second television timeout. By then, Notre Dame led 28-9.
The Irish twice expanded the lead to 24 points.
Kentucky actually got off to a promising start. The Cats seemed intent on establishing Sarr in the post. He touched the ball on each of the first three possessions, and cashed in by drawing a foul and scoring twice.
But Laszewski was too much. Taking advantage of matchups with freshmen Boston and later Isaiah Jackson, he scored 19 points in the first half.
Rebounding helped Kentucky close the gap in the second half. A put-back by Sarr closed the deficit to 53-40 with 10:20 left.
The board work brought to mind something coach Mike Brey said after the Irish lost to Ohio State earlier in the week.
“Can we deliver enough ‘umph’ against Power Five bodies to get enough defensive rebounds?” he asked.
Kentucky also turned up the defense. Notre Dame went scoreless for more than nine minutes. In that time, UK scored 16 points to reduce the deficit to 53-49 and set up another possession-by-possession test of nerves.
