CLEVELAND — Invincibility is gone, but the undefeated season remains.
No. 1 Kentucky faced its toughest test of the season in its biggest game of the season, avoiding an all-time NCAA Tournament upset with a last-second, 68-66 win over No. 3 Notre Dame in the Midwest Region final on Saturday night to advance to the Final Four for the fourth time in the past five years.
Andrew Harrison's free throws with six seconds left broke a tie, while Jerian Grant's game-winning 3-point attempt from the corner sailed long.
With jaws scattered all across the floor at Quicken Loans Arena, Kentucky trailed with less than two minutes to play and looked like its seemingly inevitable coronation would have to be canceled, but freshman Karl-Anthony Towns (25 points) carried the Wildcats, hitting all eight of his shots in the second half, including a game-tying shot with 1:12 remaining.
Kentucky (38-0), now two wins from completing the first undefeated season in 39 years, will play No. 1 Wisconsin in the Final Four on Saturday in Indianapolis in a rematch of last year's national semifinal, which the Wildcats won by one point on a last-second 3-pointer by Aaron Harrison.
While Notre Dame (32-6) missed out on reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1978, Kentucky reached the final weekend for the 17th time in school history.
Kentucky kept the tape rolling from its mauling of West Virginia, opening the game with an alley-oop to Trey Lyles and an Irish turnover, but Notre Dame refused to curl up in the fetal position like so many of Kentucky's previous opponents.
With great passing and even better cutting away from the ball, the Irish soon took the lead, remaining competitive on the boards through Kentucky's tremendous size advantage. Despite the sometimes comical mismatches — Kentucky 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein guarded 6-foot-4 Pat Connaughton — Notre Dame hit eight of its first 13 shots and equaled Kentucky's production in the paint, carried by Zach Auguste (20 points) and Connaughton, who had seven rebounds in the half.
As the teams traded leads, the Kentucky-dominated crowd produced more cheers, while Notre Dame's smaller contingent created more noise, the kind of outbursts that can only occur when exhilaration dances side by side with surprise.
Towns scored eight of Kentucky's first 21 points, following a one-point outing the Sweet 16, while Lyles added seven in the first half. Going against an offense averaging nearly 80 points per game, the Wildcats refused to surrender an inch on the outside, holding the nation's second-best shooting team to just one 3-pointer in the first half.
Grant epitomized the team's lack of intimidation against the younger opponent, scoring five straight points to give the Irish a 26-22 lead with less than three minutes left in the first half. Following 13 lead changes and 10 ties, the entertaining first half ended with the teams knotted at 31.
Kentucky took its biggest lead of the game, 38-33, early in the second half, but Notre Dame responded with a 13-4 run, capped with a Connaughton dunk with 14:24 remaining, the Irish showing no fear and no fatigue despite four players playing nearly the entire game.
The game that started with one locker room believing in the improbable had brought millions more to their side, as the Wildcats disregarded the platooning and sharing that brought them to the brink of perfection, feeding Towns on nearly every offensive possession. Still, Kentucky trailed 59-53 after a Steve Vasturia 3-pointer with 6:14 remaining.
Aaron Harrison reached back a year and reenacted one of his clutch 3-pointers from last year's tournament run, finally putting Kentucky ahead, 64-63, with 3:10 left, but Grant grabbed the lead back on the next possession, hitting a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring.
After Towns tied the game with 1:12 left, the teams remained scoreless until Andrew Harrison's drew a foul on his drive in the final seconds.
The season remains perfect. After seeing it all almost come to an end, Saturday night felt the same.
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