Aaron Harrison's late 3 sends Kentucky to Final Four

The shot came from NBA range, and if things play out as expected, Aaron Harrison and a lot of those Kentucky kids will be playing in that league soon enough.

First, they're heading to the Final Four -- a trip to Big D courtesy of Harrison's big shot.

The 6-6 forward made a three-pointer from about 24 feet with 2.3 seconds left last night to lift the Wildcats and all those freshmen to a 75-72 NCAA Midwest Regional final win over Michigan and the program's 16th trip to the Final Four.

Harrison backpedaled slowly, almost expressionless, after ball hit twine. Teammates Dakari Johnson and Julius Randle chased him down.

"Making that shot and seeing my teammates so happy and turning toward me, it's the best feeling in the world," Harrison said.

Michigan's Nik Stauskas missed a desperation heave at the buzzer and then it was Harrison's turn on the bottom of a dog pile. Make that a puppy pile. Eighth-seeded Kentucky is the first all-freshman starting lineup to make the Final Four since the Fab Five at Michigan in 1992.

The Wildcats (28-10) will play Wisconsin on Saturday outside of Dallas at AT&T Stadium.

"They made a great shot," said Stauskas, who led the second-seeded Wolverines with 24 points. "I thought we did a pretty good job contesting it. It's part of basketball."

The Wolverines (28-9) ended their season one win shy of a second straight Final Four.

While Aaron Harrison was being shut down early, it was Marcus Lee -- surprisingly -- keeping Kentucky in the game.

Lee had scored a total of nine points since the beginning of January after an early-season illness. In this game, he got minutes that usually would have gone to the injured Willie Cauley-Stein, and Lee had 10 points and eight rebounds. Eight of his points came on putback dunks that were part of Kentucky's 18 offensive rebounds.

What a ride this has been for these Wildcats, an all-new collection of McDonald's All-Americans who were touted as the team that could go 40-0, then dismissed when the bad losses and bad basketball piled up in January and February.

Coach John Calipari got things turned around by March, and for the second straight game in the Midwest Regional, Harrison made the shot that gave the Wildcats the lead for good. On Friday, he hit a key three-pointer in a 74-69 win over Louisville.

This time he took a handoff from his twin, Andrew, in the corner and dribbled three times to the top left of the arc. He was standing a good three feet behind the line when he elevated over Caris LeVert and took a bit of contact on the hand from the Michigan guard as he shot. No matter. The ball rattled in.

The clutch shot dazzled Randle, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

"In that stage, that atmosphere, that game, to make that shot and send us to the Final Four, it's just amazing,'' Randle said. "I was proud of him and it was shocking at the same time.''

Aaron Harrison scored 12 points on four three-pointers in the last 8:05 and was Calipari's obvious choice to take the game-winner.

"I've been around guys who make these kind of plays," Calipari said. "I've always said, 'You cannot be afraid to miss.' He's not afraid to miss.

"That's the whole thing about making those kind of plays. And if he does miss, he's going to shoot it again."