LAS VEGAS — It was exactly 43 years earlier on Dec. 18, 1976, that the Utah basketball team last defeated Kentucky in basketball when Jeff Judkins and Jeff Jonas led the Utes to a 70-68 upset victory in the finals of the Kentucky Classic.
“I’m just proud of the guys. For our guys to stay in the fight, that was pretty cool.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak
In the long stretch of time since, there were a succession of frustrating defeats to the Wildcats — eight in a row — including a 27-point whipping last year at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Utes also lost to the Wildcats in the NCAA championship game in 1998, the Elite Eight in 1997, the Sweet 16 in both 1996 and 2005 and two other times in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
All those frustrations went poof in a stunning 69-66 victory over the No. 6-ranked Wildcats Wednesday night in front of a pro-Kentucky crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
Somewhere Rick Majerus must be smiling.
The former Ute coach, who endured six of those losses to Kentucky, once said the Utes just couldn’t beat Kentucky, but the long curse was finally lifted Wednesday night.
Coach Larry Krystkowiak had said before the game that the Ute coaches and players believed they could win and they didn’t look the least bit intimidated as they jumped ahead in the opening minutes and never trailed after a brief 2-0 deficit.
“I’m just proud of the guys,” Krystkowiak said. “For our guys to stay in the fight, that was pretty cool.”
Krystkowiak said he took a cue from the Utah football team, which was known all season for its toughness and physicality and he challenged his players to play that way.
“The first thing I wrote on the board in the locker room was that we needed to bring a level of toughness we hadn’t displayed this season,” he said. “Nobody was talking about our physicality, how we were on the soft side, the young side, all of those things.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari also thought the Utes were the tougher team Wednesday.
“How about they had three sophomores and two freshmen and they punched us in the mouth?” he said. “They weren’t beasts that way. What they did was they physically fought, they fought for position, they fought for rebounds.”
The Utes also shot 54.8% from the field, the highest percentage a Kentucky opponent had shot all year, and were led by sophomore Timmy Allen, who scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Both Gach scored 14, Rylan Jones had 12 points and six assists and Riley Battin added 10 points.
Gach scored Utah’s first 10 points as the Utes led 10-4. The lead got as high as 12 at 35-23 before the Wildcats finished the half on an 8-0 run to make it 35-31 at the half.
Calipari said he was happy to be that close, saying it felt more like a 20-point deficit at the break.
Kentucky clearly had the momentum, but the Utes came out strong in the second half and actually increased their lead to as many as 17 at 54-37 with 12:05 left before the Wildcats started chipping away.
Part of the reason was that the Utes got a little too careful, letting the shot clock run down and either getting a poor shot or a violation.
When Battin knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner at the shot clock buzzer with 2:25 left, the Utes led 66-60. But two backcourt turnovers gave the Wildcats easy baskets and they tied it at 66 with 1:43 left.
Allen hit a huge basket, a fadeaway 12-footer, to put the Utes back on top for good, and the Utes got a big break when a foul call on Battin with 22 seconds left was overturned after a review that showed Battin outside the restricted area under the basket.
Jones made one of two free throws with 15 seconds left and two 3-point tries by the Wildcats, the latter with one second left, bounced away and the Utes celebrated the victory with a mob scene at midcourt.
Jones had missed much of the past 10 days of practice after suffering a rib injury against Central Arkansas and he was just cleared to play this week. He went down hard with 4:52 left, holding his ribs, and had to be replaced at the foul line by Lahat Thioune. However, a minute later, Jones came back in the game and played the rest of the way.
“I wasn’t going to stop him,” said Krystkowiak, who added that he didn’t know of many college players who would have played under those circumstances.
Now it’s off to Los Angeles, where the Utes will play in the Hall of Fame Classic doubleheader against unbeaten No. 20-ranked San Diego State Saturday at 4:30 p.m. MST at the Staples Center.
With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 8-2 on the year and will certainly drop out of the top 10. Calipari said his team has “issues” and will try to get some things solved before playing Ohio State on Saturday night, also at T-Mobile Arena.
“They deserved it. Larry outcoached me. The way they did it — they outplayed us,” he said. “It’s disappointing, but they deserved to win the game.”
GAME NOTES: More than 60 representatives from NBA teams requested credentials for the game and among those on hand Wednesday were executive vice president Dennis Lindsey, general manager Justin Zanik and executive director of international scouting Richard Smith from the Utah Jazz. ... This marks the seventh year the Coaches vs. Cancer event has been played in Las Vegas. This was the third year at the T-Mobile Arena and the other years it was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Utah played in the event in 2014 when it defeated UNLV 59-46. Last year BYU lost to UNLV 92-90.