It all comes down to this, Kentucky traveling to Indianapolis to exorcise some recent demons while also juggling the sweet emotions of magical runs over the years. To say that city is complicated would be an understatement.
On one hand, you’re going in with a four-game losing streak dating back to 2018. That run features the 118-84 blowout loss to Duke in ’18, the COVID game against Kansas in the Champions Classic in ’20, Saint Peter’s in ’22 and the double-overtime loss to Michigan State just eight months later.
For me personally, I was there for those last three — 0-3 in the city as a full-time employee of KSR. Hell of a run, right?
Before that, Kentucky won five of six games in Indianapolis dating back to 2014. That stretch features the start of Aaron Harrison’s historic run in ’14 with wins over Louisville and Michigan inside Lucas Oil Stadium. They returned the following season and destroyed Kansas by 32 points for the first time inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Then came Wisconsin in 2015 — arguably the most heartbreaking loss in Kentucky basketball history. That was also inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
They got back to winning games in the city a few years later, the Wildcats starting their run at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in 2017 with back-to-back wins over Northern Kentucky and Wichita State en route to the Elite Eight.
Talk about the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
What’s it like going back to that city for the Sweet 16 in Mark Pope’s first season as head coach, especially when the first matchup is against Tennessee for a third and final time this season? KSR tried breaking down the emotions of a return to Indianapolis with the good, bad and everything in between.
