Archie Goodwin could not have returned to Kentucky's La Familia at a more crucial time

After suffering an 82-62 loss to The Ville on Monday, which ended with Montrezl Harrell jumping on the scorer's table to celebrate with a sea of red, La Familia's morale was at an all-time low. The peak of the resulting anger was former Cat Aaron Harrison calling out roster no-shows on X, which prompted a response from Archie Goodwin. Goodwin was, at the time, one of those in Harrison's sights.

Call it luck, encouragement, good timing, or a mixture of all three, but Goodwin has answered the call. La Familia posted a video on X confirming the guard's return for game three tonight in Lexington, accompanied with a message from the previously missing man himself:

"Win and advance, that's all it's about."

If the blue and white alumni top Louisville's squad in game three, they'll head on to the next round and, almost as importantly, bury The Ville for the third time in four total contests. Last game, the team's biggest issue was their inability to create shots and contend with The Ville's size.

Harrell had 35 points by himself. Let's not talk about it.

But in Goodwin, La Familia is returning their go-to scorer from last summer, and just in the nick of time. Playing in front of a blue crowd at Historic Memorial Coliseum, no less, La Familia just picked up a major chunk of momentum around the final turn.

A Chunk of Momentum for La Familia

In his La Familia run last year, Goodwin averaged a whopping 18 points and 6.7 assists. His early announcement as part of the roster this go around felt like the team's base; even when he didn't show for their game-one win, things seemed to be in order for his debut at Freedom Hall earlier this week.

His absence, and the team's brutal loss that came after, caused an unsurprising panic. Yet now, even with Marcus Lee still nowhere to be seen and Willie Cauley-Stein battling an ankle injury (he's still expected to play tonight, per KSR) a share of extra hope is being passed around the Big Blue Nation.

La Familia will still need solid contribution elsewhere, of course. Andrew Harrison will have to continue his hot streak and Sam McNeil will need to be better than 1-6 from long range. But, with this one returning addition, it's safe to say that we should be in for an extremely competitive bout in Lexington.

Game three will tip off at 6:00 PM on FS1 tonight. If you can't make the trip to Memorial, wear your blue and tune in any way you can. La Familia will need the whole of the BBN to topple The Ville one last time this summer.

Today's best reads

• La Familia's roster woes may put a stopper in their winning momentum against The Ville
• Kentucky's La Familia alumni team can't catch a break ahead of feud with The Ville
• Another La Familia loss has Kentucky fans fearing the worst ahead of Louisville duel
• La Familia overcome their shorthanded roster to teach The Ville a game one lesson in TBT
• Rivalry tempers flare as La Familia suffers a blowout loss to The Ville in TBT's game 2

This article was originally published on wildcatbluenation.com as Archie Goodwin could not have returned to Kentucky's La Familia at a more crucial time .