Counting down the best wins of the season!
Greetings, BBN!
Time to continue our countdown of the 15 best wins of the 2024-25 Kentucky Wildcats basketball season!
Be sure to go here to check out Part I of our three-part series.
Let’s roll it back and continue counting down the top 15 victories of the year!
Best wins of 2024-2025 season: No. 10-6
#10: Louisville (12/14/24)
An absolutely essential get for Pope in his first year, and he made sure no funny business happened in the rivalry game like no other. The Cards were much better than in recent years, and after this defeat, they went 21-2 till Selection Sunday! Then they got to return to the unfriendly confines of Rupp Arena and get smacked right out of the tournament by hot shooting from the 9th-seeded Creighton Bluejays. I bet some U of L fans were there both days and vowing never to drive to Rupp Arena to see their Redbirds play there again.
#9: #5 Tennessee (2/11/25)
Few gave the Cats a chance in this one, certain the Vols would roll back the film and fix the 3-point issues that sunk them in the first meeting a couple of weeks prior. Not so fast: final score 75-64 UK with an impressive Kentucky defensive effort that hadn’t been seen in many games to that point.
#8: #8 Tennessee (1/28/25)
Of the two Tennessee upsets, this one was the most impressive in my eyes. Coming off two straight losses, the Cats drove to Knoxville about to get a fat whooping and a three-game losing streak to limp into the massive Arkansas February 1st home game with. Or at least that’s what fans figured, and then they’d try to salvage and bounce back with the Arkansas game. Surprise! College basketball is completely unpredictable, because they did the impossible and beat Tennessee in their own building, and then days later got beat by John Calipari and Arkansas in Rupp!
#7: #7 Gonzaga (12/7/25)
This was one of the most thrilling victories of the Cats’ season and a wild finish that ended in Kentucky’s first win over Gonzaga in the seven-year series started a few seasons ago by Calipari and Few. The Zags had a top 10 ranking at the time and even finished the season with a top 10 KenPom ranking despite their 8-seed, so this was a massive win for UK on a huge stage. Winning 90-89 in OT and surviving your opponent having the final possession is a win you don’t quickly forget.
#6: Oklahoma (2/26/25)
Some of the greatest moments in UK’s season came because the Oklahoma Sooners left the Big 12 and joined the SEC. And Otega Oweh left the Sooners and joined the Wildcats. And every time Jeremiah Fears hit a game-winner for OU, Oweh hit a game-winner-winner-chicken-dinner for UK. When the whole thing happened again at the SEC Tournament a few weeks later, it was all the more epic because of this one in Norman!