TAMPA, Fla. – Freshman Brandon Knight rebounded from his worst game with a career-high 30 points to lead Kentucky to a 71-63 victory over West Virginia on Saturday in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Knight, who scored only the two game-winning points in the second round against Princeton, bounced back with 16 in the first half against West Virginia, and made 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute as Kentucky avenged last year’s Elite 8 loss to the Mountaineers.

Kentucky (27-8) will meet the winner of Sunday’s game between Ohio State and George Mason in the East Regional semifinals at Newark, N.J., on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats also got stellar inside efforts from Josh Harrellson, who had 15 points and eight rebounds, and Terrance Jones, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Harrellson, the team’s only senior contributor, was 7 of 10 from the field and is 14 for 18 for the tournament.

No. 5 seed West Virginia (21-12) was led by senior point guard Joe Mazzulla, who had a career-high 20 points and five assists. Darryl Bryant added 15 points before fouling out.

West Virginia took a 41-33 lead into halftime by virtue of a 22-7 run over the last 6:40. But Kentucky quickly erased that advantage by scoring the first 11 points of the second half as West Virginia was scoreless for the first 6:14.

Kentucky outscored the Mountaineers 38-22 in the second half.