‘A résumé win’: UK makes a statement with victory over North Carolina

Maybe it was wearing blue uniforms for the first time this season. More likely, it was the chance to make amends for the opening-night debacle against Duke.

Whatever it was, Kentucky surely made the statement it wished to in an 80-72 victory over North Carolina on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic.

“It’s definitely a big win ...,” said Keldon Johnson, who led UK with 21 points. “I think we came out and were very aggressive. ... It’s just a big-time win.”

Going into this weekend, North Carolina had a NCAA Evaluation Tool rating of No. 13. Of UK’s remaining opponents, only Kansas (No. 3) and Tennessee (No. 5) had a better NET.

Kentucky’s previous victories this season came against opponents with a combined average NET of 223.3 through games on Thursday. UK, now 9-2, had not won away from Rupp Arena.

This might have prompted one reporter to ask if the matchup with No. 9 North Carolina was a must-win.

“Yeah,” said Tyler Herro, who contributed 15 points. “Just talking before the game — at the hotel, at dinner a couple days before the game — it was, like, this was as you said a must-win for us. It’s a résumé win.”

UK’s “bigs” came up big. Besides combining for 31 points, both Reid Travis and PJ Washington set either career or season highs for assists. Washington’s eight surpassed his previous high of five. Reid’s three were a season high, and one shy of a career high.

“Once you see one guy being a willing passer, it’s kind of contagious,” Herro said. “It just goes around the whole team, and everybody’s happy. And we’re getting stops on defense.”

The 24 assists were the most credited to Kentucky since getting 24 at Ole Miss on Dec. 29, 2016.

Maybe North Carolina’s preference for a fast-paced game relaxed Kentucky. According to Ken Pomeroy, North Carolina averaged the third-shortest time of possession (13.3 seconds).

Kentucky seemed to play free and easy at a fast pace. And the pace probably contributed to UNC’s continuing problem with turnovers. The Tar Heels turned it over 18 times. Ashton Hagans made eight steals, tying Rajon Rondo’s and Wayne Turner’s UK record.

“Their effort I thought was much better than ours ...,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said. “I think Kentucky’s staff did a better job than the North Carolina staff trying to get the kids to play as hard as they can possibly play.”

Earlier in the week, North Carolina guard Kenny Williams spoke highly of Travis. He recalled Travis from UNC’s game against Stanford last season.

“He’s a bull,” Williams said. “He’s a workhorse. From what I remember, he’s extending his range and knocking down the three a little bit. So we’ll have to do a great job on him, keeping him out of the paint and off the board, and limiting his points in the paint.”

Travis breathed life in those comments in the first half. His 16 points led Kentucky to a 40-31 halftime lead.

The growing versatility that Williams spoke of was on display. Travis made one of his two three-point shots.

But Kentucky’s bull roared. Twice he scored while being fouled. Three times he combined with Washington for scores.

The 16 first-half points were more than Travis scored in six of UK’s previous 10 games.

Kentucky needed Travis — or someone — to step up in half that saw his teammates make only nine of 25 shots.

“Reid, he’s a veteran to us,” Herro said. “We look up to him a lot. When he’s setting the tone like that, it’s almost like we have to follow him. ... The way he passed tonight was amazing.”

With help from North Carolina’s 18 turnovers, Kentucky’s defense contributed. UK limited the nation’s third-most prolific offense (94.3 points) to its second-lowest point total of the season. The Tar Heels scored 67 in a loss at Michigan.

Kentucky got off to a troubling start in the second half. Hagans, who played on despite turning an ankle in the first half, picked up his third foul before the first TV timeout. So did Johnson.

In that span, North Carolina halved a 12-point Kentucky lead, which had reached its zenith at 43-31 early in the second half.

As UNC lurked, it twice appeared that fate was on Kentucky’s side. Twice inside five minutes the Cats scored as the shot clock buzzed. The second was a three-pointer by Johnson that put UK ahead 63-53 with 8:38 left.

Kentucky answered each North Carolina challenge down the stretch.

When UNC closed within 66-60, Washington swished a three-pointer set up by a Travis pass. With the lead at 71-62, Washington made the pass that finished Herro’s backdoor cut and layup.

Though surely happy, UK Coach John Calipari tried to temper the enthusiasm about what Herro called a résumé win. He called attention to next weekend’s rivalry game at Louisville.

“This is a good win,” he said. “But it’s one game. Now we’ve got another tough one coming up.”

Next game

No. 19 Kentucky at Louisville

2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2)

This story was originally published December 22, 2018 at 9:17 PM.