Wisconsin wrecks Kentucky’s perfect season, faces Duke in final

INDIANAPOLIS — Approaching entry into the conversation of the greatest teams of all time, Kentucky finally collapsed.

Freefalling from immortality to the massive crowd of ultra-talented teams who fell short of their potential, the No. 1 Wildcats' undefeated season ended on Saturday night in an all-time classic and stunner, as Wisconsin advanced to the national championship for the first time in 74 years with a 71-64 win over the nation's top team at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Avenging last year's one-point, last-second loss in the national semifinals, Wisconsin (36-3) will face No. 1 Duke (34-4) in Monday night's national title game, having ended Kentucky's quest to complete the first perfect season in 39 years, the Wildcats losing in the same city where UNLV also saw the last undefeated season end in the Final Four.

National Player of the Year Frank Kaminsky made up for last year's no-show performance, scoring a game-high 20 points, while Sam Dekker added 16 crucial points. Kentucky was led by Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 16 points in what was likely his final college game.

After an atrocious undercard — a Duke 81-61 blowout win over Michigan State — Kentucky and Wisconsin lived up to the billing of their main event status, making the rematch worth every dollar scalpers exchanged it for outside the stadium. After the first TV timeout, both sets of fans stood and applauded, enjoying a matchup that took place one round too early.

Kentucky opened with a 5-0 lead, with the overwhelming Big Blue crowd already celebrating after Willie Cauley-Stein's alley-oop, but Wisconsin wouldn't fold like so many against the Wildcats, unafraid of the younger team it nearly knocked off one year ago.

For all of the talk about Kentucky's never-ending supply of NBA talent, Dekker and Kaminsky showed the nation why they will be first round picks, too. Dekker settled the Badgers with an early 3-pointer, then got the offense going by attacking the larger Cauley-Stein, while Kaminsky relived last year's putrid performance, going scoreless through the first six minutes.

But Kaminsky shook off the slow start, shaking off the rotating Kentucky defenders, none faring better than the one which came before. Kaminsky finished the half with nine points, hitting four of five shots from the field.

A Kaminsky 3-pointer and Dekker drive gave Wisconsin its biggest lead, 23-14, with just over nine minutes left in the first half, part of a 14-3 run, as Wisconsin dominated the glass, converting 11 second-chance points.

Kentucky could have seen the deficit grow even larger, after Towns came out with 5:11 left and the team down seven after picking up his second foul, but Andrew and Aaron Harrison displayed the clutch gene passed down to them again, playing with controlled aggression and combining for 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting, as the team shot 60 percent from the field in the half.

Kentucky briefly took the lead back on a Trey Lyles fast-break dunk with 27 seconds left, but Bronson Koenig tied the game at 36 at halftime, with a deep jumper just before the buzzer.

The teams traded multiple leads to start the second half, the responses so rapid they could have been choreographed. Kaminsky made every matchup a mismatch, bringing Madison and most of America along for the ride, opening 7-of-8 and doing everything he could to make sure this game wouldn't be his last game.

The most efficient offense in the nation was patient against the most efficient defense in the nation, cutting and spacing their way to a 9-0 run and 52-44 lead with 14:41 left, hitting six of their first seven shots of the second half.

But Kentucky's smothering defense soon locked down, holding Wisconsin without a point for more than three minutes, as Aaron Harrison put Kentucky up 58-56 with less than eight minutes remaining.

The Wildcats remained in front until Nigel Hayes' putback just before the shot clock expired, tying the game at 60 with 2:40 remaining, with Dekker giving the Badgers back the lead on a step-back 3-pointer with 1:41 left. Dekker stretched the lead to four on a free throws with 1:06 left, with Aaron Harrison cutting it with a 3-point play 10 seconds later.

Kaminsky drew a foul on Cauley-Stein with 24.5 seconds left, making both, while Towns missed one free throw on the next possession. Josh Gasser then hit two free throws, putting Kentucky down four with 10 seconds left, with Aaron Harrison finally falling flat in the clutch, air-balling a 3-pointer to cement the reality that the flawless season would not be.

One night, one game, is all it takes to kill perfection — one amazing game.

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