Last week Cats Illustrated writers shared their thoughts on the best Kentucky basketball wins of the 2010's.
The national championship victory against Kansas at the end of the 2011-12 season was the unanimous choice but there was little agreement after that.
What do those same CI writers see as the worst UK basketball losses of the decade?
Travis Graf
1.Wisconsin 71, Kentucky 64 (2015 Final Four)
2. Evansville 67, Kentucky 64 (2019 regular season)
3. North Carolina 75, Kentucky 73 (2017 Elite Eight)
Jeff Drummond
1. West Virginia 73, Kentucky 66 (2010 Elite Eight)
2. Wisconsin (2015 Final Four)
3. Kansas State 61, Kentucky 58 (2018 Sweet 16)
Justin Rowland
1. Wisconsin (2015)
2. West Virginia (2010)
3. Robert Morris 59, Kentucky 57 (2013 NIT)
Kentucky's loss to Wisconsin in the 2015 Final Four was the Badgers' revenge for the Wildcats' dramatic win in the same game one year earlier. But it was one of the most infamous losses in UK basketball history. UK was 38-0 entering the game with an opportunity to become the first team in around four decades to run the table through the entire college basketball season. Wisconsin wasn't chopped liver, winning 36 games and losing three that entire season, Frank Kaminsky's 20 points and 10 rebounds led the way for Wisconsin.
The loss to Evansville was very different in nature. As an early-season game it didn't spoil anything in terms of the season. But it was an enormous upset. The Wildcats were more than 20-point favorites and had just ascended to the No. 1 spot in the polls after defeating then-No. 1 Michigan State in the Champions Classic. It was the first time in 26 years that a No. 1 team had lost to an unranked mid-major at home.
UK's loss to North Carolina in the 2017 Elite Eight was one of the most excruciating losses in the history of the program, like the Wisconsin defeat. Luke Maye's shot at the end of regulation gave the Tar Heels the lead, a spot in the Final Four, and eventually propelled them to the championship. Many believe those two teams were the best in the nation. UK had won a game that was arguably even more thrilling against UNC in the CBS Sports Classic, when Malik Monk went for 47 points.
The loss to No. 2 seed West Virginia in the regional final of the 2015 NCAA Tournament prevented the team led by Patrick Patterson, John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe from reaching the Final Four after compiling a 35-2 record before that game.
Kentucky's loss to Robert Morris in the 2013 NIT was one of the more embarrassing moments during the John Calipari era. Had Nerlens Noel not gone down with an injury the season likely would have gone much differently but that UK team, which finished 21-12, found itself playing against an obscure program in a 3,000-seat gymnasium, but unable to even close that out. That game didn't cost Kentucky something like the Wisconsin, WVU, or North Carolina losses, but like the Evansville loss, it was a big hit to the pride of many Kentucky fans.
