ATLANTA — The No. 9 North Carolina men’s basketball team (7-3) fell to No. 14 Kentucky (8-2), 87-83, on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic at State Farm Arena.
After the game, Kentucky head coach John Calipari praised the Tar Heels, calling them a "Final Four level team".
"I feel like we're good, but we've got a long way to go," UNC head coach Hubert Davis said.
After going 0-6 from three last week against UConn, UNC graduate guard Cormac Ryan had 20 points on 4-7 3-point shooting. Senior guard RJ Davis, who had averaged nearly 27 points in the past five contests, had 27.
Eight Wildcats notched seven points or more to bolster a balanced scoring attack, led by Kentucky’s first-year backcourt trio in Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard and D.J. Wagner, who combined for 42 points.
"Kentucky was tougher than us in the trenches," Hubert Davis said when asked about UNC being out-rebounded by the Wildcats, 42-32.
First-year Wildcat forward Aaron Bradshaw recorded a dunk and three to help Kentucky build an early 9-4 lead at the first media timeout. The blueblood bout wasted no time in amping up the intensity — UNC graduate guard Paxson Wojcik was assigned a flagrant one after a hard foul on Dillingham’s fastbreak opportunity.
Ryan got going with a 3-pointer and two layups. Sheppard provided a spark off Kentucky’s bench, pickpocketing UNC rookie Elliot Cadeau and hitting the ensuing transition 3-pointer to put the Wildcats up 10.
A chaotic sequence consisting of chasedown blocks for both teams ended with Ryan sinking a corner trey to trim the lead to five, forcing a Kentucky timeout. The Wildcats led at the half, 40-38.
