On a big stage, Kentucky’s kids grew up. And they beat North Carolina. ‘You all saw it …’
READ MORE
Game day: No. 14 Kentucky 87, No. 9 North Carolina 83
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic at State Farm Arena in Atlanta
Expand All
A little more than five minutes on the clock and Kentucky trailing for the first time all night, the signs of another letdown — another learning experience — were there.
The No. 14 Wildcats had led No. 9 North Carolina for practically the entire game to that point. The Tar Heels found themselves in a tie three separate times — for a total of just two minutes and 31 seconds — and never once led until preseason All-American Armando Bacot hit two free throws with 5:15 left to give UNC a 72-71 advantage.
The Carolina contingent in the State Farm Arena stands — not quite as loud as UK’s fans throughout the night, but mighty close and plenty boisterous — was roaring. UNC had the momentum. The Tar Heels had the experience. It looked like another big opportunity that the young Cats might squander down the stretch.
It turned out to be the only time North Carolina led all night. And it lasted just 16 seconds.
Kentucky defeated UNC 87-83 in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday night, yet another thriller in a blue-blood rivalry that has been filled with them in recent years.
And a month after coming up short on a strikingly similar stage, these Cats showed up.
And over those final five minutes, John Calipari’s young freshmen grew up.
“You all saw it out there,” fifth-year veteran Tre Mitchell said. “They made plays down the stretch. Big baskets down the stretch. They were willing to step up and take the play. Opposed to against Kansas — you see that we learned from that.
“And now that these dudes are gaining some experience — a game like this comes down to the wire, you see the fire in dudes’ eyes, and they’re ready to go get it.”
When Bacot made those free throws, the Wildcats could have wilted. They didn’t.
On UK’s next possession — its first while trailing — freshman Aaron Bradshaw, who was playing with four fouls, grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back to put the Cats on top.
UNC missed a 3-pointer at the other end, UK freshman Reed Sheppard grabbed the rebound, and fellow freshman Rob Dillingham hit a driving layup.
The Tar Heels missed again. Sheppard grabbed the rebound. Again. He found Dillingham in transition, and it turned into another layup. Just like that, Kentucky led 77-72.
UNC head coach Hubert Davis called a timeout. And the Tar Heels never pulled even from there.
The Kentucky fans who made the trip to Atlanta — and there were plenty of those — popped loudly, but it was far from finished. Over the final 2:42, the Tar Heels scored on four separate occasions to make or keep it a one-possession game. All four times, Kentucky scored next. And all four times, it was a freshman that did it.
D.J. Wagner and Dillingham hit two huge jumpers in the final two and half minutes. Bradshaw made two big free throws with 46 seconds left to turn a two-point lead into a four-point advantage. And Dillingham and Bradshaw made a free throw each in the last 11 seconds to set the final score.
“I feel like it’s crazy, for real,” Dillingham said. “Because we didn’t really have experience playing older dudes and playing in games like that, so you definitely see mistakes within some of us. Especially me. I made freshman mistakes. But I feel like playing in games like that help us grow and learn.”
Four Wildcats scored in double figures. All freshmen. Dillingham had 17. Wagner had 14. Bradshaw had 12. Sheppard had 11. Three freshmen — Sheppard, Wagner and Justin Edwards — tied for the team high with six rebounds. Wagner also had five assists to lead the Cats.
Kentucky’s young team has been plenty entertaining this season, but something new happened Saturday night.
A month ago, UK found itself in a similar situation against No. 1-ranked Kansas. The Cats led by five points with three minutes left. They missed their last eight shots. They lost 89-84.
Two weeks later, the Wildcats scored their first marquee victory of the season, beating No. 8-ranked Miami by 22 points, but that one was never close at the end. And it was in the friendly confines of Rupp Arena, a packed crowd yearning for some electric basketball helping the young Wildcats keep the Hurricanes down. (And that Miami team, it seems, might have been overrated at the time.)
This one was different. The environment inside State Farm Arena was more reminiscent of an Elite Eight game in March than a nonconference matchup in December.
And the opponent this time was a veteran group of Tar Heels, whose top four scorers this season will have a combined 17 years of college basketball experience by the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
Calipari said UNC was going to come out and try to be overly physical with his Wildcats. And things were chippy throughout the night. But nobody backed down.
“This was a game, you had to fight,” Calipari said. “You had to be a dog or you were getting chomped on.”
There’s still plenty for this Kentucky team to work on. There were mistakes. There were head-scratching plays that left Calipari looking ill on the sidelines. There were a couple of missed free throws in the end.
And North Carolina did have the ball with 11 seconds left and a chance to tie. The Tar Heels turned it over, and the Wildcats iced it from there.
Afterward, Calipari — just two weeks after a shocking loss to UNC Wilmington and a month removed from that Kansas defeat — sat at a table, leaning back and holding court. He had his arms outstretched over each of the empty seats next to him, looking completely at ease.
He called North Carolina “a Final Four-level team” and made perfectly clear that he likes the one he’s got.
“On CBS. On national television. To make the plays they made at the end to win the game? Shows you what they are.”
Next game
No. 14 Kentucky at Louisville
When: 6 p.m. Thursday
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 8-2, Louisville 4-6
Series: Kentucky leads 38-17
Last meeting: Kentucky won 86-63 on Dec. 31, 2022, in Lexington
This story was originally published December 16, 2023 at 10:59 PM.
