Brandon Knight, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb watched UK miss three-point shot after three-point shot after the McDonald’s All-American game. Together, they watched their future team get knocked out of the NCAA Tournament.

“Well, except the end,” Lamb conceded. “I was playing video games.”

One year later, they are the ones about to step out on the court opposite a West Virginia team, where loser goes home.

The matchup only became official after both UK and West Virginia won Thursday. But according to Bob Huggins, John Calipari knew the rematch of last year’s Elite Eight game was coming before the brackets were even announced.

“I’m sitting there one minute after 6:00,” Huggins said, referring to Selection Sunday. “I get a text from Calipari that says, ‘You know we’re going to play again.’ And I texted him back, ‘no way.’ And he says, ‘I’m telling you, we’re going to play again.’ So either Calipari has got somebody on the inside or he’s clairvoyant. I’m not sure which.”

Whatever happened, the prediction turned into reality when West Virginia came back from an early deficit to beat Clemson 84-76 and UK beat Princeton 59-57. Now, the two meet for the tenth time. Huggins owns an 8-1 advantage in their career, which he attributed to luck.

Last year, West Virginia’s 1-3-1 defense forced UK to be a perimeter-shooting team, to disastrous results. This year, UK can knock down threes, but West Virginia still wants to disrupt their offense.

“Last year, a lot of their shots were contested, under duress,” said Joe Mazzula, who scored 17 points in last season’s matchup. “We can’t let them get standstill shots and we can’t let them set their feet. If we can make them rush their three-pointers, and if we can get a hand in their face, then hopefully it will be the same result.”

Pushing UK toward the baseline when they drive and taking away transition offense were also named as keys to stopping this year’s version.

“They’re a talented team, but at the end of the day, we’re going to take them off what they want to do,” West Virginia’s Darryl Bryant said. “And from there on out we’ll see what happens.”

Two things UK will have to worry about: crashing the glass (West Virginia is sixth in the nation at offensive rebounding percentage, grabbing 39.7 percent of available offensive boards) and hitting perimeter shots (West Virginia is fourth in the nation at defending the three-point line, with opponents shooting 29.1 percent against them).

“It is going to be huge,” Josh Harrellson said of the rebounding. “Hopefully we can get all five guys going to the defensive glass.”

Those two things held true in its first-round victory. West Virginia grabbed 43 percent of available offensive rebounds, and Clemson shot 5-for-21 from three. The defensive-minded Mountaineers burst out for 84 points against Clemson, led by Bryant’s 19 points and Kevin Jones’ 17. Three others scored 10 or more.

For UK, it will be a tough matchup — but one they relish after last year’s loss.

“We got a grudge, the older guys,” said Josh Harrellson. “I didn’t play last year, but I still got the same grudge everybody else does.”

West Virginia’s John Flowers said that the Mountaineers aren’t long enough on defense to switch one through five, which UK can force through pick-and-rolls. Darius Miller was singled out as the biggest matchup problem for West Virginia, because of his ability to post up, drive and spot up from three.