UK felt its season slowly slipping away. It saw the clock continue ticking, an Indiana lead still building. All the Cats needed was an alarm to ring in their head and vanish this nightmare from existence.

That ring never came.

In a much-too-soon matchup between longtime rivals UK and Indiana, a Second Round game in the NCAA Tournament was all the Selection Committee rewarded the regular-season Big 10 Champions and the SEC Tournament Champions. It pit two under-seeded offensive powerhouses in the same region, providing a potential mouthwatering duel on Saturday.

Saturday’s duel was mouthwatering, not so much for UK, but it was for the thousands of fans packed into Wells Fargo Arena.

The Cats jumped to an early lead that stretched to seven with 8:24 to go in the first. It seemed UK was in control of the game and if its frontcourt could start getting shots to fall, John Calipari may have been on his way to another blowout victory.

But a late spurt led by senior IU point guard Yogi Ferrell and sophomore Troy Williams instead gave the Hoosiers a one-point lead at the break.

UK didn’t think much of the late Hoosier-run. It did not believe for a second things were going to end in the opponent’s favor.

“Give them credit, but at the same time we still got whatever shots we wanted, they just didn’t fall today,” UK freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe said. “We respected Indiana coming into the game and they fought hard. At no point in the game while there was time on the clock did I think we were going to lose.”

Briscoe and company took that same mentality into the second half to fight and claw their way back into a tie ball game with just over eight minutes to play. Just as UK mounted a comeback, IU had an answer. And another answer. And another.

The Hoosiers responded with a 10-2 run, and the majority of crimson red that filled the stands made sure the young UK team heard about every moment the game seemed to slip from the Cats’ fingertips.

“We knew it was going to be tough having to defend Kentucky, so we just tried to stick to our keys on defense, take away what they wanted, and I felt like when we got those multiple stops in a row, that’s when our break happens and good things happen with that,” Ferrell said.

A UK team that shot to its potential in its First Round win against Stony Brook could only shake its head after being held to just 42.1 percent from the floor and 25 percent from three in Saturday’s 73-67 loss.

The game seemed all but over when a dunk by IU’s Thomas Bryant extended the Hoosier lead to nine and erupted a confident crowd into believing that was the finishing touch on putting away Calipari and his Cats.

Tyler Ulis would not allow any such relief for the IU faithful. The sophomore single-handily brought the Cats back from a 66-57 deficit to trail 68-65 with with 35 ticks to go.

He finished what might have been his last night wearing a UK uniform (27 points, three assists, two steals) in a way fans should remember this team. No matter the circumstances or obstacles, college basketball fans across America know that UK will give its all, even if the numbers don’t show it.

And though Ulis’ personal burst wasn’t enough to surmount an incredible last-minute comeback and sound the alarm to wake the Cats from Saturday’s nightmare, he could only reminisce on how proud he was of his team and their journey.

“It was a great year for us,” Ulis said. “I felt like we went through a lot of ups and downs, had a lot of young players and guys learning how to play the right way. Everybody got better individually and today we didn’t play our best as a team, but I feel like we had a good season up to now.”