The ball went up in the air in the center of the circle.
Montrezl Harrell jumped with everything he had, and what he had was enough. His hand reached the ball a fraction of a second before Aaron's, with a short, vertical explosiveness that made him especially dangerous on tip-offs despite not having his rival's wingspan. He tipped the ball toward Louisville's side, where his teammate Russ Smith collected it cleanly before anyone from Kentucky could react.
Rupp Arena processed that first second in silence.
Louisville didn't wait. Smith pushed the ball quickly up the left side with a speed that gave no time to organize, found Chris Jones cutting toward the rim through the middle, and Jones laid it in before Andrew Harrison could close the space.
2-0 Louisville.
The stadium took exactly one second to react. Then the sound of twenty-four thousand people processing what they had just seen filled the building with a specific mix of surprise and urgency that only a trailing score in the opening seconds of a major game can generate. It wasn't panic yet. It was the first warning that Louisville had come to play.
In the CBS booth, Jim Nantz didn't lose a second.
"And Louisville strikes first. Tip won by Harrell, fast transition by Smith, and an easy layup by Jones. Exactly the kind of start Coach Pitino would have planned."
Aaron didn't look at the scoreboard. He picked up the ball off the floor after the referee handed it into his hands and carried it to the baseline without quickening his step, without any gesture indicating that those first two points had changed anything in how he was processing the game.
He threw the outlet pass to Andrew.
Andrew received it at half court and started bringing the ball up as Louisville dropped back to set up their defense. The Cardinals deployed quickly, five players positioning themselves in the paint before Kentucky even finished crossing the floor, closing driving lanes with a zone defense that cut off direct entry passes to the interior.
Andrew reached the perimeter and halted. Louisville's zone gave him no angle toward the rim and no comfortable passing lane to the sides. He moved a step to the right. The zone adjusted. A step to the left. The zone adjusted again.
Stalled.
Aaron saw it from the high post. He also saw the space the zone left between Harrell and Louisville's power forward when both moved to close the outer passing lanes. It was a small, temporary space, the kind that disappeared in half a second if not used at the exact right moment.
"Here," he said, raising his hand.
Andrew passed him the ball.
Aaron received it, turned to face the basket, and evaluated the situation in the instant it took to pivot: Harrell tailing him from behind, Louisville's zone readjusting, Andrew looking for the next move.
He went toward Andrew.
It was a screen he had worked on with Andrew during practice sessions, always at the same angle, always with the same timing, until the two executed it without needing to communicate.
Not with the ball, but with his body. A solid, well-set screen that cut off Harrell's path and gave Andrew the second of advantage he needed to cut toward the rim with a clear lane.
Aaron passed him the ball at the exact moment Andrew accelerated.
Layup.
2-2.
Rupp Arena responded with the first real roar of the night, one of those with a temperature of its own, and Aaron was already jogging back to organize on defense.
"Perfect pick and roll by Reed and Harrison," Nantz said. "Aaron Reed didn't score on that play, but it was entirely his. He identified the space, set the screen at the right angle, and delivered the ball at the exact right moment. That's what makes this player different."
Louisville was quick to respond. Smith brought the ball up with urgency, as if every second without attacking was a wasted second, and as soon as he crossed half court, he found the space between Aaron Harrison and Julius that he had been looking for since the opening tip.
Aaron saw the movement and collapsed toward Smith to deny the drive.
Smith didn't drive.
He stepped back two paces executing a step-back, elevated with a quickness that made it hard to calculate when he was going to release the ball, and launched a three-pointer from the right corner before anyone from Kentucky could reach his position.
The ball went in.
5-2 Louisville.
On the next possession, Kentucky worked the ball patiently. Aaron moved from the low post to the high post, dragging Harrell with him and clearing the lane for Julius to cut to the rim. Andrew saw the cut and passed him the ball, ending with Julius completing the layup through contact.
Seeing this, the referee immediately blew the whistle while signaling an AND-1 on free throws.
Unfortunately, Julius missed the free throw. Aaron grabbed the offensive rebound, landed with his feet inside the paint, and laid the ball in with his left hand before Harrell could reposition himself.
5-6 Kentucky.
"Offensive rebound and basket by Reed," Nantz said. "It didn't go on the stat sheet as an assistance or a brilliant solo play, but it was exactly what Kentucky needed at that moment."
"Three-pointer by Russ Smith!" Nantz exclaimed. "And there's Louisville's response. Smith found the space on the perimeter right where Pitino wanted him to find it."
Aaron picked up the ball off the floor and carried it to the baseline without changing his rhythm. He passed to Andrew, who brought the ball up as the Wildcats organized for the next attack.
On the next possession, Aaron received the ball in the low post with Harrell stuck to his back. Harrell was physical, dense, the kind of defender who didn't try to steal the ball from you but rather push you out of your position before you could do anything with it.
Aaron let him press. He absorbed the force without moving, calculating the angle, waiting for the moment Harrell committed his weight to one side.
When it arrived, he took the crossover step to the left with the smoothness of the movement he had spent years perfecting, spinning on his pivot foot and executing a short hook shot with his right hand.
The ball went in cleanly.
5-8 Kentucky.
Louisville responded with an action from Russ Smith, who ran a pick and roll that left Andrew two steps behind, allowing Smith to penetrate down the right side. When Aaron rotated to seal the lane, he saw the pass and threw it to Luke Hancock in the corner.
Hancock launched the three. It didn't go in.
Aaron pulled down the rebound with one hand and pushed fast with the ball, starting the fast break before Louisville could drop back to organize on defense.
Aaron Harrison received the transition pass with a wide-open lane ahead of him, two steps of advantage over the nearest Louisville defender, and drove in for an uncontested layup.
5-10 Kentucky.
"And Kentucky takes the lead in the game," Nantz said. "Reed started that fast break the instant he pulled down the rebound. He didn't even need to dribble it. He saw Harrison on the run and found him."
"Short hook shot by Reed over Harrell," Nantz said. "And there's the problem Pitino hasn't been able to solve so far in the game: if you put Harrell on Reed, he beats him physically, but Reed has enough technique to find the shot anyway."
Smith attacked again on Louisville's next possession, this time without the three-pointer as his first option. He drove down the center with his usual speed, found that Aaron was already in his path with his feet planted, and stopped before contact became inevitable.
Offensive foul.
Kentucky got the ball back. Aaron orchestrated the play from the high post, saw James Young in the corner, and threaded the pass between two defenders before Louisville's zone could collapse.
Young launched from the corner. It went in.
5-13 Kentucky.
"Three-pointer by Young after the pass from Reed," Nantz said. "Once again, Aaron Reed in the role of floor general from the post. He didn't score, but he's the one who created the advantage."
Louisville responded immediately with a set play that ended in Harrell receiving near the rim with position on Randle. Harrell turned toward the basket with all his power and converted the shot, forcing the foul on Julius.
Two free throws. Harrell hit both.
8-13 Kentucky.
"Harrell is the other factor in this game," the CBS analyst pointed out. "Physically, he's the toughest defender any player can face this season, and offensively he can punish Kentucky if Randle doesn't hold his ground."
Aaron received the ball in the low post on the next possession, with Harrell draped over him from behind just like all the previous ones. This time he didn't look for the hook. He held the ball, felt Harrell shifting his weight to the right anticipating the usual move, and passed the ball to the weak side where Aaron Harrison was waiting on the three-point line.
Harrison shot.
It went in.
8-16 Kentucky.
"Reed absorbed the double team and found Harrison on the perimeter," Nantz said. "Four straight possessions for Kentucky with Aaron Reed making the right decision. This eighteen-year-old kid is playing like a veteran."
The first five minutes of the game went by with a specific rhythm that major games possess, where every possession was fought for and where the score moved in direct response to the adjustments from both benches. Louisville pressing on the perimeter and looking for Harrell's physicality near the rim, while Kentucky answered with patience, moving the ball until finding the right angle, using Aaron's height and vision to dismantle the zone and the one-on-one pressure with equal efficiency.
Aaron distributed when the defense collapsed on him and scored when it didn't, alternating in a way that made it impossible for Louisville to decide how to guard him. If Harrell stuck to the post to deny him the hook, Aaron passed to the perimeter shooters. If the zone collapsed to cut off passing lanes, Aaron attacked the rim before they could readjust. Every decision came at the right moment, without hesitation, as if the game was happening half a second slower for him than for the rest of the players on the court.
The ball went in.
Two possessions later, Louisville attempted an off-ball screen by Harrell on James Young's defender to free up Chris Jones on the perimeter. Aaron read the play before Jones finished coming off the screen, stepped out to meet him with his feet well-set, and forced a tough shot that Young blocked in mid-air.
The rebound went to Julius. Kentucky's transition took four seconds and ended in an easy layup by Aaron Harrison after receiving the pass from his brother.
8-18 Kentucky.
"Block by Young, rebound by Randle, assist by Aaron Harrison, and layup by Aaron Harrison," Nantz listed off. "Five players involved in four seconds. That's exactly what Calipari has been building since the beginning of the season."
The first five minutes had ended with Kentucky leading by 10 points, proving that each team was going to need every possession to gain any real edge.
On the bench, Calipari exchanged a glance with Antigua without saying a word. He didn't need to say anything. What they were seeing in those first few minutes was exactly the game they had prepared for: physically matched, where every possession mattered, and where the difference between winning and losing was going to come down to the details both teams had worked on in different ways for weeks.
It was exactly the kind of game they had prepared for.
In the CBS booth, Nantz took a second before speaking.
On the last possession of that stretch, Smith tried to drive down the left side, his preferred direction according to the videos Aaron had reviewed the night before. Aaron waited for him with his feet planted in the lane, without jumping, without guessing, simply standing there.
Smith pulled up and launched a floater from inside the paint.
Aaron extended his right arm and tipped the ball toward the baseline.
Offensive foul.
Rupp Arena responded with the noise generated by that kind of play, deeper and more sustained than that of a basket—the noise of a fan base that understands what it just saw.
"Charge taken by Aaron Reed on Russ Smith," Nantz said. "Feet planted, body square, standing his ground. That's not athleticism or reflexes. That's pure reading of the game, anticipating what was going to happen before it happened."
"Kentucky leads by 10 points with five minutes played in the first half of one of the most evenly matched games we've seen at Rupp Arena in a long time. Aaron Reed has 4 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 block in these first five minutes. Louisville has four points from Russ Smith and one from Chris Jones. The game is wide open. And in games like this, open and physical with time ahead, Louisville's experience can be a deciding factor."
"Or it could be Reed's individual talent," the analyst replied.
"That," Nantz confirmed, "is exactly what we're going to find out tonight. And based on what we've seen in these first five minutes, I'd say Aaron Reed is already giving a pretty clear answer. The question is whether Louisville has an answer to that."
Authors thought
What did you think of today's chapter? Give me your opinions and thoughts.
For football fans, check out my other fanfic, *The Golden Standard*, and discover the story of Wyatt Sterling.
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