North Carolina to struggling Kentucky: Been there, done that
When it comes to winning games, Kentucky and North Carolina rank first (2,319) and third (2,279) in Division I college basketball history.
But the dynastic programs are not immune to disappointment. Going into Saturday’s game against the Tar Heels, Kentucky has lost four of its first five games for only the second time since the 1926-27 season.
North Carolina can identify. The Tar Heels tasted humble pie last season. UNC finished 14-19, which marked the program’s first losing record since 2001-02 and only the second since 1961-62.
“I feel it scarred all of us,” sophomore center/forward Armando Bacot said Friday. “None of us wanted to be that team for UNC. But I feel it helped a lot of guys grow that stayed here.
“And (it left) a lot of guys with a lot of regret who are not here. But you live on.”
Unlike Kentucky this season, North Carolina got off to a good start last season. The Tar Heels won their first five games, and six of the first seven.
Separate losing streaks of four, five and seven games followed. That included the snapping of a 69-game home winning streak against Clemson.
The result was the first losing record in Roy Williams’ 32 seasons as a college coach.
“I’ve never experienced a year as long as last year was,” Williams said Friday. “Everybody can say it’s the same amount of minutes, hours (and) days. But it was like 15 years for me.
“You’ve got to learn from it. You’ve got to look inside yourself. And I did that.”
Williams blamed himself for the lack of “buy-in” by the players. Injuries also contributed to the losing.
Williams dismissed ever-present great expectations at programs like Kentucky and North Carolina as a contributing factor to last season’s downward spiral.
“Players feel tremendous responsibility,” he said before playfully (?) adding, “Most of the questions about intelligence are usually aimed at the coaches. So I was a lot dumber last year than I was in ‘17, I guess.”
En route to winning the 2017 NCAA Tournament, North Carolina beat Kentucky on Luke Maye’s jumper in the final seconds of the South Region finals.
Identifying with John Calipari’s efforts to snap Kentucky’s four-game losing streak, Williams said of coaches, “This is our life. Other than my family, there’s nothing else I think about or care about really. So, it is extremely difficult. But every day you’ve just gotta keep trying, keep trying, keep trying something different and see if you find something that can work.”
North Carolina spoke of not expecting to compete against a discouraged Kentucky team.
“They’re 1-4,” Bacot said. “So they’re going to come out playing hard.”
When asked if he’d like UNC to jump on Kentucky early in hopes of demoralizing the opponent, Williams quipped, “I’d like to jump on them early, then middle and late, and after the game is over with. We try to do that crap all the time.”
Williams suggested that losing to Kansas, Georgia Tech and Richmond should not be considered embarrassing.
“I don’t look at them at 1-4,” he said of the Wildcats. “We’re 4-2 ourselves. I don’t think we have anybody afraid to play us.”
Familiar foe
As a transfer from Wake Forest, UK “big” Olivier Sarr has played against North Carolina. In two games against UNC last year, he totaled 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Williams said Sarr could score facing the basket and in the post. He termed Sarr “one of the best transfers, I would think, in the country.”
Ohio State to UK
North Carolina was originally scheduled to play Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic. UNC hoped to avenge a 74-49 home loss last season to the Buckeyes on Saturday.
Williams said he had begun team preparation for Ohio State when he got word of a “what-if” on Tuesday night regarding a possible change of opponent. Organizers wanted to match up teams with similar protocols regarding the coronavirus.
On Thursday, UCLA Coach Mick Cronin said the Pac 12 and Big Ten had similar protocols.
Williams said he received word that UNC would play Kentucky instead as he worked out Wednesday morning. Or as he put it, “throwing around all that humongous amount of weight” in the weight room.
“It was upsetting a little bit,” Williams said of the change. “Because I know we’ve got to understand these are not normal times. But I think this decision might have been made a few days earlier.”
Youth served
Kentucky-North Carolina will be more of a youth-versus-youth matchup than previous UK games. The Tar Heels have started two freshmen and a sophomore in their first six games.
“It puts more gray hair on my head,” Williams said before adding, “I don’t know if John would say the same thing.”
UNC has a freshman backcourt in Caleb Love (11.2 ppg) and RJ Davis (11.2 ppg).
“It’s hard to get where we want to be without the game action,” Williams said. “I still go back and say this was the worst year to not have an exhibition and a scrimmage because I think it would have really helped our guys.”
Coincidentally or not, UNC has had more turnovers (99) than assists (75).
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
