What did we just witness? It’s hard to put into words the magnitude of that one and the roller coaster of emotions that came from those 40 minutes in Seattle. Kentucky, against all odds being severely shorthanded and 2,400 miles away from home as heavy underdogs, managed to pull out the overtime win against No. 7 Gonzaga.

How did the Wildcats get it done? KSR has the top takeaways from the win.

Kentucky stunk out loud in the first half

Just days removed from the team’s first loss of the season where it was exposed a bit at Clemson, the Wildcats followed it up with a disastrous effort to open the game against the Bulldogs. I mean, things could not have gone worse to get rolling. The two teams didn’t look like they belonged on the same floor, Mark Few coaching circles around Mark Pope en route to a 50-34 lead at halftime. A carbon copy of the last game, Kentucky got pummeled on the glass while bricking everything heaved at the rim, held without a field goal in the last five minutes.

That’s how you get down by 16 points, followed by a quick two to go up 18 less than a minute into the second half. The Cats couldn’t have dug a bigger hole if they tried.

Tying the biggest halftime comeback in school history

No, it wasn’t 31 points with 15:34 to go like Kentucky’s comeback win over LSU in 1994. It was the same halftime deficit as that win over the Tigers, though, the Wildcats trailing by 16 in both games at the half before rallying from behind to pull off the victory — along with the 16-point deficit the team overcame in 2004 to beat Louisville on the road. That mark is the most in program history, this one coming against a team widely considered to be a national championship contender in the competition’s home state.

Speaking of that, Gonzaga had won 175 straight games leading by double figures at the half. One hundred seventy-five. Then Kentucky came to Seattle, fell on its face early, then stormed back to win in overtime.

Jaxson Robinson took the game over — and shut up his doubters

Earning Preseason All-SEC honors after transferring to Kentucky as the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, Robinson had simply not been as advertised to start his time in Lexington. He padded stats against lesser competition, but in games against teams with a pulse, he disappeared. That started with a one-point effort on 0-4 shooting vs. No. 6 Duke, followed by a 5-13 night at Clemson — the only high-major teams on the schedule up to that point.

Then he started 1-8 from the field and 1-4 from three in the first half against Gonzaga, one of many reasons the Wildcats were getting run out of the gym. It appeared his trend of no-shows would live to unfortunately see another day in Seattle.

He followed that up with 15 points on 6-7 shooting in the second half and overtime combined, including the go-ahead bucket with 14 seconds to go. More importantly, he did it all at point guard with Lamont Butler out with an ankle injury and Kerr Kriisa going down with a leg issue midway through the second half.

Kentucky needed Robinson to step up and he came through in a massive way. The Cats don’t get it done without him.

Andrew Carr wins the game with two missed free throws

With four seconds to go, Carr went to the line for a pair of free throws and missed both. At the time, Kentucky was up just one, meaning two makes sent the game to overtime, at minimum. Hit one and Gonzaga has to hit a three to win, two to tie. None? Well, anything sends you home with a loss.

Rather than sulking after going o-fer, he picked up Dusty Stromer on the rebound and stripped the ball to run the clock out before the Bulldogs could get a shot off. It’s a small sequence that won’t show up on the stat sheet beyond Carr’s misses, but it saved the Wildcats from a heartbreaker at the buzzer. And knowing how the game had gone up to this point, you already know that shot was falling no matter who took it.

That’s just that specific stretch for Carr. In reality, the Wake Forest transfer was terrific all game, finishing with a team-high 19 points on 8-12 shooting to go with seven rebounds, three assists and one block in 33 minutes. He had arguably his most disappointing effort as a Cat in the loss at Clemson, scoring just five points on 1-7 shooting in a game he just never looked comfortable despite taking on ACC competition — a league he dominated a year ago. Then he bounced back with his best all-around performance in blue and white.

Mark Pope flips the game going zone

Kentucky was getting “cooked” defensively, as Pope called it. Gonzaga was getting whatever it wanted, headlined by Graham Ike turning into prime Hakeem Olajuwon with 28 points, 11 rebounds and four assists — unstoppable on every touch. The lead grew to 18 in the second half and things appeared to be on the cusp of name-your-score territory for the Bulldogs.

Then the momentum swung in favor of the Cats when Pope decided to go zone.

“This is really true. Sometimes you’re sitting in the huddle and you’re like, why not try it?” he said. “Because right now what we’re doing is not working and we’re really blessed to have veteran guys to where we can change it up a lot. We tried some blitzing, we tried some morphing zone.”

That came with the Zags up 17 at the 18:18 mark, the Cats responding with a 13-0 run to cut it to four and give the underdog life. It was a new ball game from there, the lead never extending past six for the remainder of regulation.

There wasn’t a bigger in-game adjustment than that one and Kentucky doesn’t get back within striking distance without it.