What did we just see? It’s hard to put into words the magnitude of this event and the rollercoaster of emotions that came with those 40 minutes in Seattle. Kentucky, badly undermanned against all odds and considered a heavy underdog 2,400 miles from home, managed to eke out an overtime victory against No. 7 Gonzaga.

How did the Wildcats pull this off? KSR has the best takeaways from the win.

Kentucky stunk loudly in the first half

Just days before the team’s first loss of the season, which exposed things at Clemson, the Wildcats followed it up with a disastrous attempt to open the game against the Bulldogs. I mean, things could not Getting rolling has gotten worse. The two teams didn’t look like they belonged on the same floor. Mark Few Coaching revolves around Mark Pope en route to a 50-34 halftime lead. Kentucky, a carbon copy of the last game, was pounded on the glass while bombarding anything that swung up at the rim with bricks and held without a field goal in the final five minutes.

In this way, a 16-point deficit occurs, followed by two quick points to get to 18 points less than a minute into the second half. The Cats couldn’t have dug a bigger hole if they tried.

The greatest halftime comeback in school history

No, it wasn’t 31 points with 15:34 left like in Kentucky’s comeback win over LSU in 1994. However, it was the same halftime deficit as the win over the Tigers, as the Wildcats had 16 points at halftime in both games before trailing, coming from behind to get the win – along with the 16-point deficit the team overcame in 2004 to beat Louisville on the road. That mark is the highest in program history, coming against a team widely considered a national championship contender in the competition’s home state.

Speaking of which, Gonzaga had won 175 games in a row and was ahead by double digits at halftime. One hundred and seventy-five. Then Kentucky came to Seattle, fell down early and stormed back to win in overtime.

Jaxson Robinson took over the game – and silenced his doubters

Robinson, who earned preseason All-SEC honors as Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year after transferring to Kentucky, simply didn’t get off to the expected start early in his time in Lexington. He padded his stats against lesser competition, but in games against teams with heart, he disappeared. That started with a one-point effort on 0-4 shooting against No. 6 Duke, followed by a 5-for-13 night at Clemson – the only quality teams on the schedule up to that point.

Then he started 1-for-8 from the field and 1-for-4 from three in the first half against Gonzaga, one of the many reasons the Wildcats were chased out of the gym. Unfortunately, it seemed like this no-show trend would see another day in Seattle.

He then scored 15 points on 6-7 shooting in the second half and overtime combined, including the go-ahead shot with 14 seconds left. More importantly, he gave it his all at point guard with Lamont Butler out with an ankle injury and Kerr Kriisa out midway through the second half with a leg problem.

Kentucky needed Robinson to step up and he came through great. The Cats can’t do it without him.

Andrew Carr wins the game with two missed free throws

With four seconds left, Carr went to the line for two free throws and missed both. At that point, Kentucky was ahead by just one, meaning the game went into overtime by at least two marks. If he hits one, Gonzaga will have to hit a three-pointer to win and two to tie the game. Nobody? Well, everything sends you home with a loss.

Instead of sulking after the drop, he picked off Dusty Stromer on the rebound and took the ball to run out the clock before the Bulldogs could get a shot off. It’s a small sequence that won’t show up on the stat sheet aside from Carr’s misses, but it saved the Wildcats from a heartbreaking blow at the buzzer. And if you know how the game has gone so far, you already know that the shot was taken, no matter who took it.

This is just the thing for Carr. In fact, the Wake Forest transfer was great the entire game, finishing with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting to go, seven rebounds, three assists and one block in 33 minutes. Perhaps his most disappointing performance as a Cat came in the loss to Clemson, when he scored just five points on 1-for-7 shooting in a game in which he simply never felt comfortable despite facing ACC competition – one League that he dominated a year ago. He then bounced back with his best all-around performance in blue and white.

Mark Pope reverses the play zone

Kentucky was “cooked,” as Pope called it, defensively. Gonzaga got what it wanted, led by Graham Ike, who turned into the elite Hakeem Olajuwon with 28 points, 11 rebounds and four assists – unstoppable at every touch. The lead grew to 18 in the second half, and the Bulldogs appeared to be on the cusp of “Name Your Score” territory.

Then the momentum swung in the Cats’ favor when Pope decided to go into the zone.

“That’s really true. Sometimes you sit in the crowd and ask yourself, “Why don’t you give it a try?” he said. “Because right now what we’re doing isn’t working and we’re really blessed to have experienced people with whom we can change a lot. We tried lightning, we tried a morphing zone.”

That left the Zags ahead by 17 at 18:18, and the Cats responded with a 13-0 run that cut the lead to four and gave life to the underdog. From then on it was a new game, the lead never increasing beyond six for the rest of regulation time.

There was no bigger adjustment in the game than this, and without it, Kentucky won’t get back within striking distance.