Kentucky mens basketball defeated the No. 11 seeded Providence Friars 61-53 in the Round of 64 in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

The Wildcats entered the game as the No. 6 seed in the East section of the bracket with the Friars being the No. 11 seed.

Kentucky most recently played one full week prior, losing to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee.

Looking for redemption and its first NCAA Tournament win since 2019, Kentucky took the court with a starting lineup of Antonio Reeves, Cason Wallace, Jacob Toppin, Chris Livingston and Oscar Tshiebwe. Despite comments that had been made in the day prior, point guard Sahvir Wheeler was listed as out for the game, having woken up with soreness in his ankle.

Providence, on the other hand, looked to utilize a starting lineup of Jared Bynum, Noah Locke, Devin Carter, Ed Croswell and former Kentucky Wildcat Bryce Hopkins.

It would be Providence that won the opening tipoff with Croswell giving the Friars the first basket of the night. Kentucky would come up empty handed on the other end. Kentucky’s first point would come from Wallace at the free-throw line, where he went 1-2.

Luckily for Kentucky, strong defense would have it so that, when Toppin scored the Cats’ first field goal of the night just under three minutes into the game, it would take the lead in the game.

The Cats would continue to struggle early, with Jacob Toppin being the only Kentucky player to record a field goal over five minutes into the game. Luckily for Kentucky, a strong defensive performance on the other end ensured that Providence was only able to amass six points in the game up to that point.

Kentucky would utilize a number of substitutions, playing nine different players within the first 10 minutes of play.

Tshiebwe would dominate the early portion of the game on the boards, amassing 11 rebounds in under 15 minutes.

Kentucky found its stride towards the back half of the half, taking an 11-point lead after Reeves drained a 3-pointer. The surge led to a timeout by Providence with under two minutes remaining in the half.

Bynum would drain a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded for Providence, but all it did was ensure that Kentucky took a seven-point lead into halftime as opposed to a 10-point lead.

Reeves led all scorers in the first half with 14 points with Toppin following close behind with 12. Tshiebwe amassed 13 total rebounds in the first half, a full eight rebounds more than any other player on the court.

Coming back out in the second half, neither team would record a field goal until Locke would drain a 3-pointer nearly three minutes into the half.

It would ultimately be Wallace that knocked down the first field goal of the half for the Wildcats.

The Friars pushed the deficit back down to three points before the Cats managed to push it back to eight, a figure it would remain as the 10-minute mark came to pass.

Both teams would quickly suffer scoring droughts that lasted nearly four minutes with the Friars using the opportunity to sink a 3-pointer and get back within five points. Reeves would then end Kentucky’s scoring drought and extend the lead back to seven.

The Friars would try to battle back into the game but would ultimately come up short as Kentucky earned its first NCAA Tournament win since 2019.

The Cats were led on offense by Reeves, who scored 22 points, followed by Toppin with 18. Tshiebwe finished with 25 rebounds, breaking the school record in the NCAA Tournament.

With the win Kentucky will look to play the winner of No. 3 Kansas State and No. 14 Montana State, which is set to tipoff immediately following Kentucky’s win.