Five things you need to know from No. 14 Kentucky’s 87-83 win over No. 9 North Carolina
Five things you need to know from No. 14 Kentucky’s 87-83 win over the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels in the CBS Sports Classic at State Farm Arena in Atlanta:
1. Cats kill Heels with balance. Before a fevered sellout crowd of 17,058 and a CBS Sports national TV audience, Kentucky showed why it can be one of the most dangerous teams in 2024’s March Madness.
Kentucky depth did in North Carolina.
UK played nine players. Eight of them finished with between seven and 17 points. The UK balance went: Rob Dillingham 17 points, D.J. Wagner 14, Aaron Bradshaw 12, Reed Sheppard 11, Antonio Reeves 9, Justin Edwards 8, Tre Mitchell 8 and Adou Thiero 7.
Kentucky beat a top 10 foe on a night when all five of its primary perimeter players made less than 50 percent of their shots and its opponent’s best player, RJ Davis, rifled in 27 points.
The Wildcats nevertheless prevailed because they have so many weapons.
2. Aaron Bradshaw stands tall. In his third game since returning from a foot injury, UK’s 7-foot-1 freshman was a difference maker vs. North Carolina.
In spite of playing only 21 minutes due to foul trouble, Bradshaw had 12 points, three rebounds and two steals.
With the game hanging in the balance, the New Jersey native made decisive plays.
After Armando Bacot cashed a pair of free throws to push UNC ahead 72-71 with 5:15 left in the game, Bradshaw answered with a follow shot at 5:03 that was all effort.
With UK clinging to an 83-81 lead inside the final 50, Bradshaw rebounded a missed Tre Mitchell 3-pointer and drew a foul from North Carolina’s RJ Davis with 46.3 seconds left.
Even though he had missed the front end of a bonus opportunity at 1:08, Bradshaw calmly cashed two foul shots in another bonus situation to give UK an 85-81 advantage.
For good measure, Bradshaw hit the second of two foul shots with 4.7 seconds left to give UK an insurmountable four-point edge.
3. Calipari vs. UK’s primary rivals. With UK’s victory, John Calipari is now 44-28 against Kentucky’s main men’s basketball rivals.
Calipari is 18-12 vs. Tennessee, 12-3 against Louisville, 8-4 vs. North Carolina, 5-6 against Kansas, and 1-3 vs. Duke.
4. Last 25 vs. AP Top 25. With the win over the No. 9 Tar Heels, Kentucky is now 2-1 this season vs. top 10 foes, having lost to then-No. 1 Kansas 89-84 in the Champions Classic and beaten then-No. 8 Miami 95-73 in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
The last time UK scored two top-10 wins in the same season was 2019-20, when the Cats beat No. 1 Michigan State 69-62 and No. 3 Louisville 78-70 in overtime.
In its last 25 games against teams rated in the AP Top 25, UK men’s basketball is 8-17.
5. CBS Sports Classic records. With Kentucky’s win vs. North Carolina and Ohio State’s 67-60 win over UCLA, the all-time standings in the CBS Sports Classic are now:
Ohio State 6-3, North Carolina 6-4, Kentucky 5-5 and UCLA 3-6.
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