TAMPA, Fla.– So many times this season, Brandon Knight has gripped the ball in his hands with a chance to tie or win the game. In every one of those tries, he’s come up short.But in the most important game of his career, Knight finally hit the shot that has eluded him the entire season. Ironically, he hit it in his worst career game in a Kentucky uniform.Knight hit a running layup with 2.0 seconds left to advance the Kentucky men’s basketball team to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. Knight’s right-handed layup off the glass was the difference as the fourth-seeded Wildcats barely fended off a pesky and 13th-seeded Princeton team from the Ivy League.”I’m just happy to win the game,” Knight said. “That’s the most important thing, making sure we win. I wanted to be aggressive. I didn’t want to settle for a jump shot. I was able to get in the lane and finish.”It was Knight’s first points and first field goal of the game.Prior to the drive, Knight was a dreadful 0 for 7 from the field. He had five assists, two rebounds and just one turnover, but it was a career-low scoring effort (two points) for the freshman point guard.Knight was becoming such a liability — he was burned defensively multiple times — that head coach John Calipari sat him for a period of six minutes and 40 seconds midway through the second half. Knight’s 29 minutes were tied for the second fewest he’s played this year.And yet, with a 57-57 tie game after Dan Mavraides’ fade-away jumper in the paint, Calipari put the ball and season in his freshman’s hands.”I knew coach had faith in me no matter how much time is on the clock,” Knight said.Talk about confidence.”He’s not afraid to make a play,” Calipari said. “Guys like him aren’t afraid to miss.”But on an afternoon where Knight missed everything, and given his problems with late-game shots this season, why give it to Knight and not, say, junior Darius Miller (team-high 17 points)?”I’m with him every day,” Calipari said. “There’s no one that works harder, spends more time or believes in himself based on his work ethic. He’s the first one in the gym and the last one to leave and he goes at night. I have no problem putting that ball in  his hand because he’s made that shot in that gym by himself many times, counting it off.”There was an option to Miller on the last play. After calling timeout, Calipari drew up a pick-and-roll for Knight and Miller. Knight got the screen from Miller on the right wing, but the Cats weren’t expecting Princeton to switch defenders on the pick.When the Tigers did, and Knight saw he had a taller defender on him in Princeton forward Kareem Maddox — the Ivy League Defender of the Year, mind you — he figured the best shot was getting to the basket.”I don’t want to settle in that situation,” Knight said. “I had a bigger guy on me so I thought I had a good chance of going by him. I wanted to make sure I put it high off the glass.”Knight said it never dawned on him that he hadn’t made a shot. His confidence never wavered with a potential shocking upset on the line.”As a player that works on his game a lot, I just felt confident no matter what the situation is even though I missed all of my shots up to that point,” Knight said.His teammates never doubted him either.”He’s one of the best shooters I’ve seen, so he’s not going to continue to miss,” Miller said.”We’re not worried about that at all. He made a big play, especially for a freshman. He made a big play in his first NCAA and finished.”Princeton had one final shot, but the Tigers couldn’t get off a shot in time. Kentucky fans in the St. Pete Times Forum erupted as Knight’s game winner helped UK escape what would have been its biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history. The Cats have only lost one postseason game to a double-digit seed in program history – a 1982 loss to 11th-seeded Middle Tennessee.