'A night of pure joy': What it's like to stun Kentucky in Rupp Arena

Their head coach was needed for postgame interviews, so the Evansville players huddled in the visitors' locker room, waiting. Sure, they celebrated - relishing the joy of Tuesday's 67-64 win over No. 1 Kentucky - but they also kept watch for the return of the coach who'd led them into Rupp Arena.

Student managers posted up outside the locker room, tasked with giving the players a heads-up when Walter McCarty neared. As he approached, players positioned themselves, green Gatorade water bottles in hand.

"We were so excited for him to finally get there so we could finally get him doused in water," junior guard Noah Frederking told theScore.

McCarty knew something was up, but he had no way of preventing it. Instead, he soaked in the euphoria around him. He leapt up and down as his players splashed water all over the blue-and-white checkered floor.

"I couldn't believe how soaked they got me," he said.

McCarty didn't mind, even if he was wearing a "$4,000 suit." This was one of the greatest moments of his basketball life - and the greatest, to date, of his coaching career.

His Evansville team pulled off one of college basketball's great upsets, leading the Wildcats for 29:31 of 40 minutes and thwarting any late comeback attempts. It was the first time a No. 1 Kentucky squad fell at home to an unranked, nonconference team, according to ESPN Stats & Info. It also gave Evansville its first-ever road win over a ranked opponent - any ranked opponent.

For a Purple Aces program that hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1999, the celebration carried into the night and the following day, culminating in an on-campus pep rally back in Indiana.

So what's it like to dethrone a No. 1 as a 25-point underdog?

"It was just a night of pure joy," Frederking said. "It was so much fun."

Before the fun, there was preparation. A national champion at Kentucky (1996) and a 10-year NBA veteran, McCarty scheduled an early-season game in Lexington to prove a point. Entering his second season leading the Purple Aces, McCarty felt if his team could compete in Rupp Arena against a team full of five-star talent, it could play with anyone in the Missouri Valley Conference this winter.

He instilled that belief in his players by making sure they felt prepared. The Purple Aces watched "tons of film," according to Frederking, and walked through Kentucky's tendencies. Before the team even left Evansville, it felt it would at least be the better prepared of the two squads on the court.

"We went into the game expecting it to be close," Frederking said. "We were 25-point 'dogs but we felt it would be within 10 points. We thought we matched up well."

Before the game, McCarty pulled out the motivational tactics, playing an inspirational clip from "The Pursuit of Happyness," the 2006 film starring Will Smith. In front of a hostile crowd over 19,000 strong, his players took the floor as believers.

McCarty, part of 89 wins in his three seasons in a Kentucky uniform, told his team the first three-to-four minutes would matter as much as any. Start slow, and a team risks unleashing Big Blue Nation. The first thing Evansville needed to do was sedate the crowd by keeping pace with the Wildcats early.

"Our guys were able to do that," McCarty said.

Kentucky's largest lead was three. Evansville was within one point at the first media timeout. By the second media timeout, the game was tied. By the third, with 7:31 left in the first half, the Purple Aces held a 20-16 advantage.

Evansville's starting lineup included a senior, two juniors, and a pair of sophomores. The first player off the bench, junior Sam Cunliffe, previously played for Arizona State and Kansas.

The Purple Aces knew they'd have an experience advantage over Kentucky. Once they lined up against the Wildcats, they realized they also had the edge in physicality.

Evansville outscored Kentucky in the paint in the first half to take a 34-28 lead to the locker room. It outrebounded the Wildcats 38-35 for the game.

"The message was just, 'keep playing tough,'" said Frederking, who finished the night with eight points and four rebounds. "'We have them on the ropes, they're at home, they're an inexperienced team. They're young. They might fold.' We're more of a veteran squad and so we were going out there and we were trying to put pressure on them at home.

"And we did that. When they went up, we hit big shots."

The Purple Aces didn't shoot the lights out, as teams that pull off upsets of this magnitude often need to do. Evansville shot just 30 percent, 9-of-30, from 3-point range.

But when it mattered, as Frederking said, Evansville hit the shots it needed.

When the Purple Aces faced their first second-half deficit - 48-46 with 11 minutes to play - Shamar Givance hit a 3-pointer to put his squad ahead by one. With the game tied at 53, K.J. Riley - who led his team with 18 points - hit a go-ahead triple with 7:18 to play. In the final three minutes, Evansville made all four of its free-throw attempts.

"We just did all the right things," McCarty said.

Victory quickly gave way to madness. The team celebrated with McCarty in the locker room, but it also made time for the group of purple-clad supporters who made the trek to Lexington.

The best part might have been the return home. As the bus pulled onto campus around 1 a.m., the Purple Aces were greeted by what seemed like 1,000 students.

Fan support is strong in Evansville. As the last-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference last season, it still averaged 5,294 fans per game - the second-most in the league.

"Our students just rushed the bus," McCarty said. "I thought they were going to break the front window."

For McCarty, the moment was personal - not just because he's a Kentucky alumnus, but because he grew up in Evansville and attended Harrison High School in the city.

After finishing his NBA career in 2006, he spent three seasons assisting Rick Pitino at Louisville. He then joined the Indiana Pacers for one season and the Boston Celtics for five more before coming home in 2018 for his first head-coaching job.

Returning to the community that supported him as a youngster has been special. Taking Evansville to its first NCAA Tournament in 20 years would make it a dream come true.

This was the first step.