GREENSBORO, N.C. — A ninth national championship and an 18th Final Four for Kentucky are on hold for another season.
The Wildcats’ 2022-23 campaign ended Sunday afternoon at Greensboro Coliseum, felled by Kansas State 75-69 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
It brought an end to an underachieving season for UK (22-12), which started the year as a top-five squad and the odds-on favorite to win the SEC — with the return of reigning unanimous player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe, experienced complementary pieces around him and another stellar recruiting class.
But things never came together for this group, which battled injuries all season and suffered stunning losses — to South Carolina at home and at Georgia — along the way.
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It’s yet another disappointing early exit for Kentucky.
Last season, it lost to Saint Peter’s in a 15-over-2 upset in the first round. And UK failed to qualify for the Big Dance during the 2020-21 season. The last time Kentucky appeared in the Sweet 16 was 2019. (The NCAA Tournament was canceled in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.)
Kansas State (25-9) began 2022-23 at the opposite end of the spectrum — led by a first-year coach, picked to finish last in the 10-team Big 12 — but proved to be the better club Sunday.
K-State fended off salvo after salvo from Kentucky, with star Markquis Nowell posting game-highs in points (27) and assists (nine).
K-State’s victory clinched a spot in the East Region’s Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday against the winner of Sunday’s Michigan State-Marquette game.
Nowell stole the show from Tshiebwe — who finished with yet another double-double: 25 points and a game-high 18 rebounds — and freshmen Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston.
Wallace, who had 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, in the second half showcased his NBA talent. Livingston had 11 points and seven rebounds, scoring seven of his points in the final 20 minutes.
A projected first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft, Wallace sparked UK’s 13-0 run in the opening minutes of the second half, turning what had been a three-point deficit (29-26) into an eight-point advantage (39-31). He accounted for more than half of Kentucky’s points during the run, going 3 for 3 from the field and knocking down a free throw on a three-point play — which came just after he poked the ball away from K-State and went coast to coast for a basket.
K-State didn’t flinch, though.
It advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018 — when it met Kentucky in Atlanta, beating UK for the first time ever to clinch a spot in the Elite Eight.
Kentucky trailed at the half, 29-26, despite K-State missing all 12 3-pointers it attempted in the opening 20 minutes.
But UK struggled immensely on offense in the final 5:22 of the half. It connected on just one of its last 10 field goals, with a streak of nine straight errant attempts. The drought finally ended when Tshiebwe grabbed his own miss in traffic and threw down an emphatic dunk while being fouled. After he made the subsequent free throw, Kentucky led 26-25.
K-State ended on a 4-0 run, with Nowell playing a starring role in both buckets: on the first, he drove to the basket and laid it in to give his team a 27-26 lead. And with just three seconds remaining, Nowell had a no-look, razzle-dazzle assist for an alley-oop completed with a thunderous slam from Tomlin.
Sunday marked K-State’s second straight victory against Kentucky. Prior to Kansas State’s Sweet 16 win in 2018, UK had won the first nine meetings between the two schools.
This story will be updated.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @RyanABlack.
