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Kentucky outguns Indiana, advances to the Elite Eight

NCAA Basketball Tournament - Indiana  v Kentucky

ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 23: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist #14 of the Kentucky Wildcats shoots over Tom Pritchard #25 of the Indiana Hoosiers in the first half during the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball South Regional Semifinal game at the Georgia Dome on March 23, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Kentucky is a buzzsaw. Plain and simple.

The Wildcats got dragged into an up-and-down game against Indiana, one that worked its way into the triple digits before Indiana stopped fouling and accepted the 102-90 loss, and still managed to outplay the Hoosiers. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist snapped out of a late-season slump with 24 points and 10 boards while Doron Lamb added 21 and Marquis Teague chipped in with 14 points and seven assists.

The scariest part about this win for Kentucky is that they took Indiana’s best shot and managed to win relatively unchallenged despite the fact that the National Player of the Year, Anthony Davis, was fairly irrelevant until the final ten minutes. I know that it has been beaten to death this season, but when this team gets everyone going at the same time, I’m not sure that they can be beaten.

Perhaps the best sign for the Wildcats is how well Teague played. It took a while for him to develop into the kind of player deserving of the hype he had coming in, but over the last month and change, he has been absolutely terrific. Early in the season, Teague struggled when playing at a faster tempo. That’s part of the reason that Kentucky slowed down the pace they play later in the season. This was as fast as the Wildcats have played all year long, and Teague turned in one of his better performances of the season.

Indiana did everything they wanted to in the first half. They got Anthony Davis into early foul trouble, they were able to get into the paint and score with the big fella out of the game and they got production from up and down their lineup. And they still found themselves down by three heading into halftime.

No. 1 seed Kentucky advances to take on No. 3 seed Baylor in the Elite Eight on Sunday night.