1994 one of if not the craziest games in NCAA basketball History. LSU starts off on FIRE!, then up by 31 POINTS in the 2nd half they go cold, Kentucky puts up a comback for the ages.
As a Kentucky fan I can say Rick Pitino is my favorite coach ever. I was a young man when Pitino left Kentucky for the NBA. I remember that day as if it were yesterday. It broke all the hearts in Kentucky when Rick left. Yes I love John Calipari but Pition holds a special place in my heart. Pitino brought us back from disaster to make us Champions again. But then again I'm old. All the fans today are young and they don't remember the dark days! God Bless You Pitino!
Pitino was the very best at Kentucky. Can you imagine if he was smart enough to never leave. His only problem was it bothered him how people saw him and he wanted the NBA status and it ruined him. So sad
@@captainmarvel9610 Pitino could have about 8 national titles by now if he had stayed with Kentucky til now! Using report card terms: Rupp=A Hall=B- Sutton=D Pitino=A+ Smith=B Gillispie=F Calipari=B- (just a D since 2016)
I was not alive really for rupp or Hall. In my lifetime it’s been Pitino Calipari Smith Sutton Gillispie Ive soured substantially on Calipari the last several years. But he does seem like he’s finally adjusting. I think Mitch Barnhardt is part of the problem too. Barnhardt is reluctant to over commit to any one sport. And that elevates the rest of the sports programs at the university but ultimately puts a ceiling on the 2 breadwinners, basketball and football. /rant
I haven't revisited this game since I watched it live as a kid. I didn't know it then, but now I realize I'm witnessed one of the greatest miracles in the history of sports.
I will never forget this game. I almost turned the tv off and went to bed but decided that I was a true blue fan and, being in Michigan, hardly ever got to watch them play. So I stayed up and watched them from the edge of my bed and nearly woke my wife up a few times as they staged the greatest comeback of all time.
jcaudill6921 Almost exactly the same story for me. The only time I ever told my dad to shut up was when he shook me awake and told me they won. Thankfully he had taped it and we watched the second half before I went to school.
Turned out it was possibly the second best comeback of all time. I was living in KY and I kept watching when my dad and my friends had turned it off! (The greatest comeback in NCAA Division I history occurred on February 22, 2018 when Drexel overcame a 34-point deficit against Delaware.) Before 2018 it was Duke 40+ years earlier.
@@AllenFreemanMediaGuru by deficit it was the duke game. but i believe it’s the largest 2nd half deficit overcome. Which arguably makes it still the greatest comeback.
Man.....Does this bring back memories to an old man thats a life long cat fan. My dad and I turned the tv down and the radio up to listen to Cawood Ledford call this game. God I loved listening to Cawood. Nobody will ever call a game like he could. He was and is The Voice all others are measured by.
Sam I loved Cawood as much as I despise Dick Vitale. Cawood was Class Vitale is trash. I’ve watched silent games many times when he was commentating if that’s what he does is called. Can’t stand the sound of his voice. Can’t say enough good about Cawood. Off soapbox now.
I watched this again last night ,knowing the outcome I screamed and yelled as if it was being played right then and there .Honestly I remember watching it when it was played . Best game ,come back ,EVER !! Nothing like being in Ky and being a Kentucky fan !!
My grandfather introduced me to the cats when I was about six year old, all the men in my family and there were a ton of them, all of us have always been for Kentucky and whoever's beating Tennessee!!! Now even at forty I still get just as tore up as the players and coaches when something bad happens...
I will never forget this game as long as I live. Ever since this game I am never sure of the outcome of a game until the final buzzer. I even have this game on VHS, next to my wedding video.
@Jim Marcum It’s like playing the Yankees for every visiting team. They play their hearts and guts out and for Kentucky to keep winning vs everyone’s toughest efforts says a lot about players that choose Kentucky to play for. The 2020 Cats, don’t have the traveling circus of fans for support and they’re struggling bigtime.
those jerseys was one of my favorites we ever had i miss those jerseys and i miss rick pitino i love calipari to but rick pitino was special go BIG BLUE
God I wish this type of basketball was played more. No one out to make highlights, or do some trendy thing to show off for the cameras, no egos, just two teams trying to beat each other.
I was sharing a motel room with another soldier whom just happened to be an LSU fan, we were deployed working a snow storm as part of a NG team. He went to bed smug, thinking we had lost. I sat watching, thinking maybe, just maybe... Second half I was wide awake, knowing I had to get up and perform the next day, but lordy, my Cats were on the prowl. When we finally won, I was up and dancing in his bed, around 0100, screaming at him to get up and face it. I'll NEVER forget this game, it was truly amazing and one of the best college games I've ever seen. I did perform the next day, tired, but still riding the adrenaline of this game.
I remember watching the first half of this game when I was 16. couldn't believe how bad they were getting schooled. Then comes the most epic comeback of all time. These guys had heart and Pitino was a great coach, maybe the best coach ever. Interested to see what he does with Iona next season.
I remember watching this crazy game. It was unfrigginbelievable. I saw a similar giant turnaround in person, although it wasn't as big a deficit as this one. Florida had a 38-22 lead on Mississippi State with around 15 or 16 minutes left in the game. But State turned a blowout one way into a blowout the other way by outscoring Florida 48-9 the rest of the game and beating them 70-47.
They were amazing to watch. I absolutely loved it. The way they played defense and the way they shared the ball on offense was truly breathtaking. I still get sick thinking about losing in that game. If Bogans had not hurt his ankle we would have won the title, I have no doubt. The 03 team will ALWAYS be one of my favorites.
Last night's game with LSU reminded me of this. We may not have been down by a ton like we were in this game but we drained our first 7 three-pointers in the second half. Reminded me of how we were draining 3's in the second half in this game.
I've got this game on DVD. Just awesome! You can usually get it pretty cheap on Ebay. I was 15 years old and can remember watching this game live with my dad. He gave up and quit watching the game. I just said "You never know. Don't give up" I can remember running back and forth to his bedroom saying "They cut it to 15" "They cut it to 12" They cut it 8" "They cut it to 5" And with about 2 minutes left, I watched the ending sitting in the floor of my parents bedroom and going CRAZY! Only UK!
My grandfather used to come over to our house because he didn't have ESPN. He left and I went to bed when UK was down 25 or more in the 2nd half. When my dad woke me up the next morning he told me we came back and won, I couldn't believe it.
I remember this game, what great memories, what great defense unbelievable, greatest comeback in sports history second to Tom's comeback in the Super Bowl against the Falcons but this would be my pick next to it✌️💙
Pitino just belonged at Kentucky. He said leaving UK was the worst mistake he ever made,and I believe he meant it. After he left he is , he had very little success in the NBA and nothing but trouble in Louisville. He is a great coach, no doubt , but coming back to college coaching by taking the Louisville job is unforgivable. He left on the best of terms at UK, but when he sought and took the UL job, our most hated rival , that showed me and many in BBN that he is not very principled. I bet if he could turn the hands of time back, he would do it differently!
when someone asks 'what's the best team ever?" UK is the answer. if they ask, "who has won the most games?" UK is the answer. the most championships? we say,"We are 2nd best." best %? UK... and then ..best comeback ever!!!! UK LSU 1994 --GO BIG BLUE
Duke & North Carolina are the best teams since the John Wooden era as each have 5 Nat Champ after 1975. Kentucky & Connecticut have 4 since Wooden retired. Interestingly, Kentucky was the last team Wooden defeated, in the 1975 Nat Champ.
J KY Sad thing is if Wooden hadn’t announced his retirement, Kentucky would have won that game running away. The referees wanted to see John retire as a national champion. Underhanded , dirty, low down, sniveling puke of a representation of a man resorts to that level to win. And that’s the nice things I have to say about john wooden. JMHO
@@jky3889 lol i said NOTHING about the J.W. era.... i said BEST TEAM EVER!!! SCREW UNC and Puke Im talking about the ONLY school to have FINAL FOURS in the 40's 50's 60's 70's 80's 90's and 2000's! FIRST TEAM TO 2000 VICTORYS! most players in the NBA the list goes on and on....all the UK haters can hate, but it changes nothing! GO BIG BLUE!
I remember this game like yesterday. I was there with my friend and his Dad. We sat mid court right behind the announcers table wearing our UK hoodies. GOBBN! 💙💙💙💙
Miss these days I was only like 5 or 6 I remember this game though, but I wish college basketball was still this good and everyone wasn’t running off early for the nba,over seas, or g-league, and grown men were playing in college.
maybe the greatest game ever played by a team in regular season. LSU took it to them early but they never gave up. Jeff Bradsaw was unconscience!!!Delk, Mc Carty, Riddick, ALL of them were great!!
Kentucky score 57 points in the last 15 minutes down by 31 unbelievable!! Most Kentucky fans went to bed because this was the late game for the night. I went to work the next day telling everybody about it. Nobody could believe they pull off the biggest comeback in the history of the game.
I came home from somewhere and turned on this game to find Kentucky down 31 in the second half. Decided to watch it anyway because train wrecks can be enjoyable on some level. Surprise of a lifetime!
Kentucky was trailing LSU 68-37 with a little under 16 minutes remaining in the game, and outscored LSU 62-27 for the remainder of the game. This game does not resemble an absolute, classic choke - as LSU scored at a respectable clip while Kentucky just went totally on fire. A classic choke would be the UNC-Miami game where UNC went on a 27-6 run in the last 10 minutes of the game, and never had the lead until the very end of the game. In that game, Miami just totally imploded. But make no mistake, I have watched tons and tons of these kinds of games, and in EVERY one of them there is that moment where the team whose lead is eroding displays a certain body language and/or there is a single moment that can be spotted where you know they are starting to have some doubt. In this game, a big moment was at 72-61 LSU with about 10 minutes to play, but when the score went to 82-74 LSU, that was when the noose was getting very tight around LSU's neck.
Straight Truth....UK also did Duke the same way in 98 Can back from a 17 point deficit with 10 mins left to play! Duke didn’t choke either...UK just started walking on water so to speak lol
LSU scored 47 points in the second half. and 23 points in the last 10 minutes. really, they did not go cold. Kentucky got extra possessions with the press and drained a boat load of threes. It took a while to elapse but LSU didn't help as much as you think. Kentucky still made mistakes.
coming from a uk fan, I think last years team should have watched this video after the injury to nerlens noel. they lost their fight and will to win, started becoming selfish, and they acted like their season was already over. Im too young to remember pitino but from vids of his coaching days he was a tremendous coach. That press is unbelievable, my highschool coach was a huge pitino fan and we ran the same press.
Not no more! Drexel holds the record now. 2018 Drexel came back after being down by 34 points against Delaware. Drexel was down 53-19. Historical comeback.
I was in 5th grade when this game happened. I remember my dad going to bed in disgust when the 'cats were down 31. He came back down to the TV after hearing me yelling and saw (in disbelief) the ending of this game. I have a lot of love for Pitino (besides the title & final fours) because of games like this. And for all the UK fans who can't understand liking Rick, listen to his coaches show on 84whas during the season. Rick seems to reminisce about his years @ UK all the time. go cats
LSU didn't go cold in the second half. UK got extra possessions and hit a boat load of 3's is what happened. LSU scored 27 points the final 15 minutes. that's not cold at all. take henderson's dagger inside of 3 minutes to put LSU up 9 for example. both teams were scorching for long stretches and then UK finally forced some turnovers.
Although you can pick any arbitrary period of time and points scored in a game, after watching the game again I noticed that the score went from 68-37 LSU to 72-61 LSU rather quickly. That's a 24-4 run by Kentucky in about six minutes on the onset of the comeback still with "half of a half" to go. The rest of the game Kentucky would outscore LSU 38-23. This is why I feel that this discrete point is an important one.
@shelnino Haha, there are so many stories like that. I was listening on the radio and I couldn't stand it. My dad called me and told me to find a TV and turn it on. Absolutely an amazing moment.
I want a Tiger or Bulldog or elephant to fight with me that big blue owns the southeast? A volunteer? Big blue owns the sec in basketball. You guys have fun playing football and we Will just keep owning you in basketball
