For Kentucky fans, probably the worst part of their Thursday evening was watching UK win a basketball game.

Wait, what?

Well, the Wildcats were pretty deeply unimpressive in a brutal survival over No. 12 seed Davidson 78-73. The team ended its NCAA record streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer made (1,047, spanning to 1988). Kentucky held a 10-point halftime lead, and then spent much of the second half playing the kind of boneheaded basketball that led the Wildcats to a four-game losing streak in February … only to escape this time with a survive-and-advance 5-point special.

The brutal loss was doubly scary for Kentucky because of their infamously difficult bracket path for a deep run in the Tournament. Next up, after all, was Arizona, with perhaps the best player of the year, DeAndre Ayton, and a pair of super-talented guards, Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins. Or was it?

While Thursday night didn’t hold any down-the-line answers for UK’s tough path (overall top seed Virginia still lurks in a potential Sweet 16 matchup), Kentucky got a fine late-evening gift from the No. 13 seed Buffalo Bulls. Buffalo didn’t just beat Arizona, they completely broke their will in an 89-68 drubbing that was Buffalo’s first NCAA Tournament victory in program history.

Credit: Brian Losness-USA TODAY Sports

Granted, the Buffs showed plenty of moxie in their victory. Not only did the Bulls go 15-for-30 from 3-point range, but they even outrebounded the much larger Arizona Wildcats, who featured two players who are now headed to the NBA early. Buffalo was completely fearless and could prove to beat Kentucky just as badly as they did Arizona.

But at the same time, Buffalo is a team that lost to Kent State and Miami of Ohio. Buffalo doesn’t have a significant contributor on their team taller than 6-8 — though it still managed to hold potential No. 1 draft pick Deandre Ayton to 14 points, six below his average. For a Kentucky team that even on an off night beat Davidson on points in the paint by a 36-20 margin, that’s good news. Moreover, not only was the Arizona win the school’s first NCAA Tournament win, it was their first win this season over an opponent that actually made the Big Dance.

Lower seeds pulled off three upsets on Thursday, none more convincing than No. 13 Buffalo blasting No. 4 Arizona by 21.

Meanwhile, even in Kentucky’s ugly win against Davidson, the Wildcats seemed more invested in defense than their Arizona counterparts managed to be. Admittedly, half of the round of 64 is yet to be played, but a team would probably need to miss the bus to the arena in order to fail to show up as badly as Arizona did on Thursday.

If Kentucky wants to avoid the same fate, they could start by shooting a little better than 0-for-6 from 3-point range—or perhaps, not allowing 11 3-pointers as they did to Davidson. Kentucky’s inside play was inconsistent — Wenyen Gabriel went from All-Tournament Team in St. Louis to a single point in Boise on Thursday. Sophomore Sacha Killeya-Jones was probably UK’s most consistent post player — and that’s not a particularly good sign. Better minutes from Quade Green and Hamidou Diallo are likely to matter sooner rather than later.

But minor snafus from Thursday aside, If Kentucky can outlast Buffalo on Saturday, and they would seem likely to be a pregame favorite, the Wildcats would hope to be able to return freshman forward Jarred Vanderbilt to action for their Sweet 16 game.

Of course, virtually everyone assumes that game will be against Virginia. But maybe everyone shouldn’t assume too much. If Kentucky’s humbling close shave didn’t provide a sufficient reminder to take March one game at a time — and one OPPONENT at a time — then Arizona’s humiliating early exit certainly did.

For now, Kentucky survived and advanced — admittedly, it was a survival that was made a little sweeter by the Buffalo Bulls.