Kentucky is once again bounced from the NCAA Tournament in the first round by a double-digit seed.

The 3-seed Wildcats were stunned by 14-seed Oakland 80-76 on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. Oakland’s Jack Gohlke has joined March Madness lore with a legendary performance shooting the 3-ball.

Here are 3 quick takeaways from Oakland’s upset, the first big upset of the 2024 NCAA Tournament:

Jack Gohlke makes a name for himself with a standout performance

Gohlke made it clear that he was going to be the star of Thursday’s game when he drained 7 3-pointers in the first half, a record for a UK opponent in an NCAA Tournament game. He’d finish the game as the 5th player ever to make 10 triples in a tournament game.

It won’t mean much, but Kentucky did manage to slow Gohlke down in the 2nd half. A slowed-down Gohlke, though, was still effective. He scored 11 points in the 2nd half, going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, adding 2 free throws.

Gohlke finished with the rare stat line of 10-of-20 field goals and 10-of-20 3-pointers. He didn’t attempt a 2-pointer, and he didn’t have to. As a team, the Grizzlies finished 15-of-31 shooting the 3 ball.

Gohlke and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies have picked up tons of new fans hoping for a Cinderella March Madness story. Gohlke, though, made it clear in his postgame interview that Oakland doesn’t want the Cinderella label.

Reed Sheppard goes MIA, Antonio Reeves nearly wills Kentucky to victory

Reed Sheppard picked the worst time to have a no-show performance.

The Wildcat standout missed his lone shot attempt in the 1st half, playing 13 minutes. Sheppard continued to play in the 2nd half, but he was quiet offensively. Sheppard’s first points came with 6:03 left when he made a 3-pointer, improving to 1-of-4 from the field in the game.

Sheppard finished 1-of-5, missing a 3-point attempt with 19 seconds left. He played 26 minutes off the bench.

Had it not been for Gohlke, this would be remembered as the Antonio Reeves game. Reeves led UK with 27 points, shooting 11-of-17 from the field, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

Kentucky had 4 players in double-figures, with Justin Edwards (10 points), Tre Mitchell (14) and Rob Dillingham (10) joining Reeves.

The noise in the system will only get louder

John Calipari has had plenty of vocal critics in recent years for Kentucky’s March struggles in the last four seasons. What was a Big Blue Nation conversation had already started to go national.

Calipari called his team “built for March” in February. While UK closed the March portion of the regular season strong, it went 0-2 in the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, proving Cal wrong in the worst way possible.

The roster may have been Calipari’s idea of a team built for a March Madness run, but fans and media members openly questioned his managing of the on-court lineup throughout Thursday’s game.

The Wildcats have some soul-searching to do.

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