March is a long way off, but Big Blue Nation has to feel good about the 2019-20 Kentucky Wildcats’ chances of making a deep run in the Big Dance after knocking off No. 1 Michigan State 69-62 Tuesday night/Wednesday morning in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Michigan State’s last lead of the game was at 4-3 early in the first half, but Cassius Winston and the rest of Tom Izzo’s Spartans weren’t going away quietly. MSU fought to the finish.

Kentucky’s lead was down to two points – 62-60 – with roughly a minute left before freshman Tyrese Maxey drained a deep 3-ball to make it 65-60.

It was only fitting that Maxey made the rebound on Michigan State’s next possession with Sparty desperately needing a bucket.

MSU had chances to get back in the game, but couldn’t cut into the lead in the final minute.

The Wildcats obviously have a long road ahead just to make it to March Madness, but it’s hard to “overreact” to a win over a No. 1 team made up of Final Four veterans.

With John Calipari’s elite recruiting, Kentucky is a “young” team seemingly every year with Cats players frequently leaving early for the NBA. A year ago (to the day since Tuesday’s game finished after midnight in the Eastern time zone), we saw No. 2 UK get blown out 118-84 by No. 4 Duke. The most common takeaway from that game was “the Wildcats are young and will get better with time.” The biggest question surrounding the 2019-20 team heading into Tuesday night was again how the young freshmen would look.

At halftime, Calipari brushed off foul concerns brought up during the ESPN interview saying his freshmen were playing good defense. Freshmen typically develop as scorers first, defenders later. Impressive defense against Michigan State in the season-opener is highly encouraging.

The freshmen can score, too. Maxey led all scorers in the game with 26 points, earning him “Diaper Dandy” praise from Dick Vitale on the ESPN broadcast. Vitale said he was electrified by Maxey’s speed when the freshmen motored his way to the basket. After the clutch three-pointer and foul to seal the win, Vitale continued gushing with praise for UK’s new “big man on campus.” Maxey also led Kentucky with two assists.

It wasn’t all about the freshmen. Transfer forward Nate Sestina impressed John Wall by showing off his three-point shooting.

Sestina, who led UK with 6 rebounds, provided the final two points of the night, an “exclamation-point” dunk to get Kentucky to 69 points in the final seconds.