Kentucky vs. Wichita State: Score and Twitter Reaction from March Madness 2017

One of the most anticipated NCAA tournament matchups of the second round lived up to its potential Sunday, as a pair of late blocks helped No. 2 Kentucky survive No. 10 Wichita State 65-62 in a South Region battle at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Freshman guard Landry Shamet was huge down the stretch for Wichita State, scoring eight of his 20 points in the final three minutes, including a three-pointer with 56 seconds remaining that brought Wichita State within one. Markis McDuffie had a chance to put Wichita State ahead with 11 seconds remaining, but Malik Monk blocked his jumper, drew a foul and coolly sank two free throws at the other end. 

Shamet went for another three to tie it at the buzzer, but this time Bam Adebayo got his hands up and stuffed the shot.

Here are the key blocks, courtesy of NCAA March Madness: 

Kentucky stretched its winning streak to 13 by defeating the Shockers, who had won 16 straight coming into the contest.

The game was a rematch of the 2014 classic that saw a loaded Kentucky squad saddled with a No. 8 seed playing a top-seeded Wichita State and beating them 78-76 in the final seconds.

This time around Wichita State possessed far more talent than its No. 10 seeding suggested (especially in its frontcourt) and Kentucky was the higher-seeded squad with as good a shot as any team of winning the tournament. Kentucky head coach John Calipari knew it would be a major challenge for his team.

"We are a two seed playing a four seed in the second round," he said Friday, per ESPN.com's Andy Katz.

Monk and De'Aaron Fox led the Wildcats with 14 points apiece, while Adebayo chipped in with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Buzzfeed's Joel D. Anderson noted Twitter responded to Monk kindly after his game-saving efforts:

Sporting News' Sam Vecenie praised Fox's athleticism:

McDuffie (11.7 points per game) had another poor outing offensively for the Shockers, scoring just five points on 2-of-9 shooting from the floor. Against Dayton in the first round, he had eight points and sank just one field goal.

Center Shaquille Morris was the only player other than Shamet to reach double figures for the Shockers, scoring 11 points to go with eight rebounds and three blocks.

Neither team had reservations about chucking up three-pointers during the contest, even though the long-range shots didn't fall with much consistency. Kentucky hit seven of 18 triples, while Wichita State made eight of 24.

The game got off to a lumbering, off-kilter start, as the teams struggled to get anything going offensively. Wichita State couldn't buy a basket at the beginning, and Kentucky didn't break double digits until the 10:59 mark of the first half, on a long trey from Isaiah Briscoe, per NCAA March Madness:

Galvanize vice president of digital marketing Andy Glockner felt the Shockers offense was a mess: 

The teams settled in a bit after the first TV timeout, but the pace and shooting weren't enough to change the tenor of the game, and the Wildcats went into the break with a slim 26-24 lead. 

The shooting improved remarkably to start the second half, and the pace increased. The Shockers' ball movement and aggressiveness got them better looks, while Kentucky started to drive more and get the ball to Adebayo.

March Madness captured a pair of Adebayo slams that neatly encapsulated Kentucky's improved approach on offense: 

This is the only appropriate reaction to the Monk-Adebayo connection on that second one: 

Credit: AllState

The game continued in a back-and-forth manner, with both teams coming up with answers on offense at seemingly every turn. Monk and McDuffie never broke through from a scoring perspective, but the former did a better job of controlling the game through passing and getting the defense to collapse on his drives.

Kentucky stretched its lead to seven at the four-minute mark on a breakaway dunk from Fox, but Wichita State refused to go away, mostly thanks to Shamet's gutsy display.

Newsday's Ari Kramer and Zagsblog.com's Adam Zagoria commented on his performance:

In the end, however, Kentucky's defensive efforts won out.

The Wildcats will go on to play the winner of the matchup between No. 6 Cincinnati and No. 3 UCLA in the Sweet 16. Should the Bruins move on, Kentucky will once again find itself in the spotlight, as that could be the matchup to watch in the next round.

The Wildcats' stars didn't have an easy time against a tough, disruptive Wichita State defense, but they certainly have the talent to make a deep tournament run no matter who they end up facing.