JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The No. 7 seed Wofford men's basketball team had the best season in program history come to an end on Saturday, falling to the second-seeded Kentucky Wildcats in the second round of the NCAA Tournament 62-56.
The game came right down to the wire, with Keve Aluma pulling Wofford to within two points with under 40 seconds to play, but Kentucky held on, hitting four free throws to take the game.
"I'm struggling here, pardon me, said Wofford head coach Mike Young of the game. "I applaud Coach Calipari and the Wildcats. They fought, and they were incredibly well prepared. Needless to say, they have very, very good players."
As a team, Wofford led for nearly 19 minutes, shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and holding Kentucky without a field goal in the last 5:12 of play.
"I see some of the things we led for 18 minutes, they led for 16," said Young. "We had 56 shots, they had 52. We've been so fortunate in a number of situations, we've made our good fortune in a lot of cases. We couldn't get one break today to get us over the hump. But I do, I applaud a really fine Kentucky team."
Nathan Hoover finished his season in strong fashion, leading the Terriers with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Cameron Jackson scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Fletcher Magee totaled eight and Aluma added seven, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds in the process.
The Terriers complete their season with an overall record of 30-5, setting the program record for wins in a season and regular-season wins (26), while picking up Wofford's first NCAA Tournament victory (Seton Hall, 84-68). The 2018-19 season also saw the Terriers register their first ever Associated Press Top 25 Poll ranking, being ranked No. 24 on February 25 and moving up to No. 19 in the season-ending AP Poll.
Earning a seven seed, Wofford was the highest-rated Southern Conference team since 1979 and picked up the league's first NCAA Tournament victory in 11 years.
"Yeah, you know, we have been fortunate to be here five of the last 10 years, and that's been remarkable," Young said. "But to come down here this year with really a special team, with great internal leadership and really good players and to beat a very fine Seton Hall team, and then to come back, come back on Saturday and do it again against Kentucky, and we knew it. We knew it. And I think Coach knew it. We knew coming in that we had the look. We had what it took to find a way to win the game. That was the approach. It was always the approach."
Saturday's game also caps off the careers of three seniors in Jackson, Magee and Matthew Pegram. The trio scored over 4,000 points in their careers and guided the 2018-19 team to the program's first NCAA Tournament since 2015.
The Terriers came out swinging in the first, with Hoover hitting a jumper off a screen and Jackson rattling home a 3-pointer. Kentucky would even the score at 11 apiece but a 3-pointer from Donovan Theme-Love and a hook shot from Pegram made it 16-11.
After the Wildcats cut the lead to one, Hoover drained a 3-pointer as time expired and Magee found Aluma in transition as the Terriers took a 21-15 lead, forcing a Kentucky timeout. The Wildcats would go on an 11-3 run, taking a two-point lead before Magee knocked down an elbow jumper to knot the game up at 26. Kentucky would hit a pair of free throws and take the 28-26 lead into the break.
Jackson, Hoover and Magee scored on consecutive possessions to open up the second, and a jumper from Magee put Wofford ahead 35-32. Kentucky responded with a 10-2 run to take their biggest lead of the game, making it 45-37. The Terriers would cut the lead in half, but the Wildcats pushed it to nine with 8:42 to play.
It was Wofford's turn to rally, getting free throws from Jackson and a 3-pointer from Hoover to cut the deficit to just three (54-51) with 5:42 to play. After Kentucky responded with a three of its own, Storm Murphy connected on second trey of the night to keep the deficit just three.
Aluma came up big on the next two possessions, swatting a shot away and converting a tip-in to make the score 58-56 with 37.9 seconds to play in the game. Wofford would run out of time however, as Kentucky was able to clinch the game from the free throw line.
" I think we fought the whole game," Pegram said. "Kentucky played a great game. We fought the whole time. We never gave up until the very end, just came up a little short."
"Didn't happen for us today, but certainly this group, this team has done enormous things, great things for not only our basketball program but for our great college and for the wonderful city of Spartanburg," Young said. "This has been all-timers, all-timers and such a treat to have been a part of it."
