Top-ranked Kentucky too much for Tar Heels

LEXINGTON, Ky. — It’s all about the numbers when it comes to Kentucky.

Nine high school McDonald’s All-Americans are sprinkled onto the team’s roster. Kentucky coach John Calipari doesn’t like the word substitute. He calls his reserves “reinforcements,” which he inserts into the game five at at time.

Yes, Kentucky is the No. 1 team in nation. But the Wildcats might hold the top spot in another category in all of college basketball. Before the No. 21 North Carolina men’s basketball team’s 84-70 loss Saturday at Rupp Arena, someone told UNC coach Roy Williams that Kentucky had the second-tallest team in the entire country — only behind the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.

The heights of Kentucky’s starting five against the Tar Heels? 6-foot-6, 6-foot-6, 6-foot-10, 6-foot-11 and 7-feet.

The number 305 — maybe the only blemish of a nearly flawless Kentucky team. The Wildcats entered Saturday’s matchup with UNC ranked 305th nationally in 3-point field-goal percentage, shooting a mere 27.7 percent.

But an unexpected beyond-the-arc barrage to the tune of a season-high 46.7 shooting percentage from 3-point range, coupled with physicality, depth and solid defense, paced the Wildcats (11-0) Saturday afternoon to deliver UNC its third loss of the season.

“I told John we can cure a lot of people’s 3-point woes,” said UNC coach Roy Williams after the loss. “Sometimes guys don’t make ‘em in an open gym, but they made ‘em today with a lot of people in the stands.”

Defensively, UNC (6-3) is a man-to-man team. But Williams wanted to shake things up to combat Kentucky’s size and exploit the Wildcats' struggles to score from long range.

For the first time all season, the Tar Heels began the game in a 2-3 zone on defense.

“Coach told us yesterday that was the first thing we’re going to do,” said junior forward Brice Johnson. “We’re going to play with their heads and go out there and play a 2-3 at the beginning of the game. We were ready for it.”

Kentucky hit two of its first three 3-point attempts of the game against the zone to drive the Wildcats to an early 16-8 lead before the first media timeout. UNC went back to man-to-man out of the break, but a bad switch led to another wide open Kentucky 3-pointer.

“You would like to think that their outside shooting would be their weakness, and then they came out and I don’t think they hit the rim from 3 to start the game,” said junior point guard Marcus Paige. “We were going to go under a lot of ball screens and play zone a little bit, but they started making 3s and that's a tough team to beat if they’re making outside shots."

The Tar Heels answered by scoring on six straight possessions to trim Kentucky’s lead to 24-21 at the 10:40 mark of the first half. A strong performance from Johnson, who scored 12 of his team-high 15 points in the first half, kept the Tar Heels around in the opening 20 minutes of the game.

But Kentucky’s six first-half 3-pointers to UNC’s one proved to be a large part of the difference that cost the Tar Heels a 49-34 halftime deficit — its largest of the season.

“We knew they had shooters. We knew they could shoot,” said sophomore point guard Nate Britt. “But that’s the best I’ve seen them shoot all season. We didn’t expect them to shoot that well.”

Williams said he wanted his team to focus on two things heading into the game: limiting turnovers and defending without fouling.

UNC struggled in both of those phases Saturday, turning the ball over 19 times, which the Wildcats turned into 24 points. The Tar Heels also committed 22 personal fouls, leading Kentucky to make 23 of 31 free throws.

“If you put them on the line 31 times,” said sophomore center Kennedy Meeks, who finished the game with 10 points, “then you’re going to lose the game.”

But there were flashes for UNC — notably Paige scoring 12 of his 14 points on the afternoon in the second half after scoring just two points total in the game’s first 20 minutes. Behind Paige, the Tar Heels were able to trim Kentucky’s lead to just nine points, 66-57, with 10:22 left in the game.

Then Kentucky’s athleticism and physicality took over yet again. The Wildcats scored on its next three possessions — all on rim-rattling dunks.

“We got it to nine and I thought we were going to be right there at the end,” Williams said. “…Four of their next six (baskets) were breaks or lob dunks. We had a couple of turnovers during that stretch.

"It was a man’s game out there today and I thought their athleticism, their physical play, was much more up to the task than we were."

A look at Kentucky’s numbers from Saturday — 56 percent from the field, 47 percent from 3-point range, 23 made free throws, 24 points off turnovers and 33 bench points — makes it easy to show why the team’s formula has led to three other numbers this season:

Eleven wins, zero losses and the No. 1 ranking.

“As a team, we have to think that every team is going to come and give us their best shot,” Meeks said, “and Kentucky gave us their best shot.”

sports@dailytarheel.com