Down goes the Wildcats: No. 10 Kentucky upset at home by unranked Richmond
This sounds familiar.
When Richmond rallied to beat No. 10 Kentucky 76-64 on Sunday afternoon in just the Wildcats’ second game of the season, many followers of Kentucky basketball must have had flashbacks to their 67-64 loss to Evansville during the third game of the 2019-2020 season.
🚨 RUPPSET ALERT! 🚨
Richmond STUNS No. 10 Kentucky in Rupp Arena to secure their first road win against an AP Top 10 team in school history! #OneRichmond pic.twitter.com/pIjmsOAvkY
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) November 29, 2020
The Spiders (2-0) had just an 0-25 record against top 10 teams heading into the contest. They trailed 36-30 just after halftime, but a 9-0 burst in the fourth quarter gave the Spiders the lead, and a 7-0 stretch made it 58-46 with 7:43 remaining.
After the break at the half, Richmond shot 59% from the field and managed to hold the Wildcats (1-1) to just 31%.
The win was the Spiders’ first road victory over a ranked team since topping No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth 64-55 back on Jan. 31, 2015. The Spiders improved to 14-22 against top-25 opponents.
Richmond visits Charleston on Wednesday, while Kentucky faces No. 6 Kansas on Tuesday night at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.
It has already been a wild start to the college basketball season. Ohio State needed a late surge Sunday to avoid being upset while Illinois was able to shrug off an upset bid of Ohio on Friday.