Done in as much by late missed free throws as Christian Watford's buzzer-beating three-pointer in the first meeting, Kentucky (35-2) sank 16 in a row at the line in the final five minutes this time to advance to Sunday's Elite Eight matchup with Baylor in the South Regional final.
The Cats did it despite getting just six first-half minutes from its National Player of the Year, freshman Anthony Davis, who got in early foul trouble. Davis scored just nine points all night, but freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, sophomore Doron Lamb and senior Darius Miller took up the slack.
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Kidd-Gilchrist had 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Lamb scored 21 points and Miller dropped in 19. Miller opened the second half on fire to give Kentucky some breathing room. He buried a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws in the span of 91 seconds to stretch a three-point halftime lead to 64-56 with 15:42 to go.
Lamb, a shooting guard, also took advantage of a quickness mismatch against IU point guard Jordan Hulls - who did not defend the Cats' speedy point guard, Marquis Teague, for that very reason. Lamb was plenty capable of beating Hulls off the dribble, too. He slashed and scored and drew fouls.
He also sank 8 of 8 free throws, redemption for the key shot he missed at the line with five seconds left in the last meeting. Kentucky hit an astonishing 35 of 37 free throws Friday night to avoid another upset by the Hoosiers (27-9).
Lamb drove and dropped one in to make it 72-64 with 11:32 remaining, then drove again and missed - but Davis corralled the miss and was fouled, which was a critical play. The foul was the fourth on IU's Victory Oladipo, who'd scored 15 points prior to that whistle.
Davis sank the free throws to make it a 10-point lead with 10:26 to go and Oladipo fouled out five minutes later. The Cats pushed it to 79-66 on a three-point play by Kidd-Gilchrist and a put-back by Davis. But the Hoosiers wouldn't break.
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