La Familia’s run in TBT is over. The first-year UK alumni team is eliminated in semifinals.

La Familia’s run in The Basketball Tournament has come to an end.

On Friday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia, La Familia — a group of former Kentucky basketball alumni — lost to Carmen’s Crew, a group of Ohio State basketball alumni, 76-70 in the TBT semifinals.

In its first year, La Familia fell two wins short of winning TBT and taking home the $1 million prize.

Kerem Kanter had 17 points to lead the way for La Familia in Friday night’s loss, while Willie Cauley-Stein (14), Andrew Harrison (14) and Eric Bledsoe (11) all also scored in double figures.

Across La Familia’s five games in TBT, Kanter averaged more than 18 points per game, by far the most of anyone on the team.

Jared Sullinger, a first-round pick in the 2012 NBA draft and a two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection with the Buckeyes, led the way for Carmen’s Crew with 16 points on Friday night. Jamel Morris (11 points) went 3-for-6 on 3-pointers for Carmen’s Crew in the win, including hitting the game-winning shot from deep to trigger an Elam Ending win.

Carmen’s Crew had sizable statistical advantages in 3-pointers made (14 to 5), assists (17 to 8) and bench points (22 to 8). La Familia trailed by as many as 16 points in Friday’s contest, but closed the margin to as few as two points during the Elam Ending portion of the game.

Prior to Friday’s loss, La Familia had won four games in the 64-team, single-elimination tournament. This included three wins at Rupp Arena to win the Lexington Regional, along with a spirited victory earlier this week over The Ville, a Louisville alumni team, at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

La Familia was without Nate Sestina for Friday’s semifinal. In a statement posted to La Familia’s social media accounts Thursday afternoon, Sestina “had a previously scheduled family obligation to attend to” which prevented him from playing in the TBT semifinal matchup.

Sestina was the big star for La Familia in Monday night’s emotional rivalry win over The Ville in the TBT quarterfinals at Freedom Hall. Sestina led La Familia with 22 points in that contest, while also grabbing eight rebounds.

Sestina was also at the heart of a postgame fracas Monday night that saw The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku spit at him.

John Calipari attends La Familia game in TBT

Friday night’s semifinal between La Familia and Carmen’s Crew featured a crowd of former Kentucky basketball figures who made the trek to Philadelphia for the contest.

This group was headlined by former Kentucky coach John Calipari, who coached all of the ex-Cats on La Familia when they were in Lexington. Former UK assistant coaches Chin Coleman and Bruiser Flint were also in attendance.

Calipari, Coleman, Flint and Tyler Ulis, La Familia’s head coach and an ex-UK guard and assistant, were all on Kentucky’s coaching staff last season.

Calipari and Coleman, along with Chuck Martin (who was also a UK assistant last season), are now all part of the coaching staff at Arkansas.

Former Kentucky basketball players Isaiah Briscoe, Justin Edwards, Enes Kanter Freedom and Tyrese Maxey were also on hand at Friday night’s game.

Briscoe played two college seasons at UK from 2015-17, averaging nearly 11 points for his career and making 69 starts for the Wildcats. After going undrafted in the 2017 NBA draft, Briscoe’s professional career has featured a stint in the NBA along with international experience in Estonia, Germany and Poland. Briscoe now plays in Big3, a three-on-three basketball league.

Edwards was a one-and-done player for UK last season, before going undrafted in the 2024 NBA draft. Following the draft, Edwards — who at one time was projected as the top overall pick in the 2024 draft — signed a two-way contract with his hometown 76ers.

In five NBA summer league games with the 76ers, Edwards averaged 8.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.

Freedom never played a game for Kentucky, but he became a fan favorite as a star recruit who battled the NCAA for eligibility during the 2010-11 season, eventually practicing with Calipari’s first Final Four team in Lexington. His younger brother, Kerem, was the only member of La Familia who didn’t play college ball at UK.

Maxey, a one-and-done UK guard on the 2019-20 UK team, has spent his entire NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers and agreed to a five-year, $204 million maximum contract extension with the franchise earlier this summer. Maxey was a first-time NBA all-star last season for the Sixers.

On social media, TBT posted a short interview with Calipari from his courtside seat where he shouted out several of the former UK players who showed up to Friday’s game.

“You’ve got guys coming to watch the family play,” Calipari said. “And then the guys that are doing this, that are battling. I watched on my TV, I told them ‘If you get to Philly, I’m coming.’ So I’m here for them.”

The Basketball Tournament championship game is set

Carmen’s Crew, which won the 2019 edition of TBT, will face Forever Coogs, a team of Houston alumni players, in Sunday afternoon’s TBT championship game with $1 million on the line.

Forever Coogs defeated Eberlein Drive, a team featuring former UK player Archie Goodwin, by a 76-73 score in Friday night’s first semifinal in Philadelphia.

The 2024 TBT championship game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday from Philly and it will be broadcast on Fox.

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