Rob Dillingham, Tre Mitchell discuss late-game execution from UK’s win over North Carolina
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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
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Kentucky men’s basketball has its second signature win of the 2023-24 season, and freshman guard Rob Dillingham and fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell played a massive role in that victory.
Saturday night’s 87-83 triumph for the Wildcats over No. 9 North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta was punctuated by standout showings from one of UK’s youngest players, and one of its oldest.
Dillingham led the Cats in scoring with 17 points. Of that total, 12 came in the second half, and he was the only Kentucky player to score in double figures after the break.
Postgame, Dillingham touched on his relationship with UNC, his home state school and the place where his father, Donald, wanted him to go play college basketball.
Mitchell had a balanced outing with eight points, five rebounds and two assists.
Postgame, both Dillingham and Mitchell spoke with media members at State Farm Arena in Atlanta to discuss Kentucky’s second win over an AP top-10 ranked team this season.
Here’s everything they said.
Q. Rob, you’re a North Carolina kid. Was this game personal to you?
(Dillingham): I mean, a little bit. My dad always wanted me to go to Carolina. I mean, I take every game personal, so I just look at it as another game for us, but I’m happy we got the W.
Q. (Indiscernible) team is down to the wire?
(Dillingham): I feel like it’s crazy for real because we ain’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 make like freshman mistakes.
But I feel like playing in games like that help us grow and learn from past games to perform better in the next ones.
Q. Tre, last time you guys were on a stage like this, one of these classics, you were against Kansas and you guys didn’t finish. How have you seen these young guys grow around you and to watch this game finish the way it did tonight?
(Mitchell): I mean, they made plays down the stretch, big baskets down the stretch. They were willing to step up and take a play, as opposed to against Kansas, you see that we learned from that, and now that they’re gaining some experience, a game like this comes down to the wire, you see the fire in dudes and they’re ready to go get it.
Q. When it gets within two or three, what is Coach Cal saying to you guys in the huddle?
(Dillingham): He really just says lock in on defense, they’re disciplined, there’s a lot of times where we’ll close out and think they’re not going to shoot it and then we’ll play with our hands down and they end up hitting a 3.
Really just little stuff and not giving up easy baskets where we could have prevented it.
Q. Tre, what’s the change with Aaron Bradshaw back?
(Mitchell): I would say that there’s a lot more switching going on. I’m able to get out there and guard a smaller defender, keep him on the perimeter, stay in front of him kind of thing as opposed to having a battle with a 5 for 40 minutes.
It’s great to have him back. You see the impact he has on the court, and it really gives us all a lot more freedom out there.
Q. Rob, what was your mindset when the game was getting close to closing it out?
(Dillingham): I just look at it as like I want to win the game, so I started to (indiscernible) 2 of 10, turnover, so like Coach Cal talked to me and made me realized I’ve got to slow down and trust myself and have confidence, so the second half I didn’t think about what I was doing in the first half, and I just wanted to win, so I just tried to make winning plays.
Q. When you were up by three, Carolina had the ball, were you looking to just play it out or was it to foul? I know they turned the ball over.
(Mitchell): We discussed it in the huddle, and you’ve got to give credit to Coach Cal on that one. He trusted us in the moment. He asked us what we wanted to do. We said we just wanted to guard straight up, switch 1 through 5 and make them make a tough shot.
Q. Rob, (indiscernible) really kind of let him know do you feel that you have that?
(Dillingham): Yeah, for sure. I feel like since Canada to now, our relationship grew so much. He still shows me that he has confidence in me. He still lets me rock, but at the same time, he wants me to be more pro and make smarter decisions and stuff.
Really I’m just thankful for having him, and he helps me while letting me be me.
Q. You had eight guys score at least seven points or more. What does that balance say about the trust you have in each other?
(Mitchell): I mean, I’ve seen it all season, we’ve got four, five, six dudes in double figures multiple games this year. It comes down we know the dude to the left and to the right of us is an elite basketball player. It makes the game so much easier for each one of us when each individual person is capable of drawing so much attention.
It just opens up shots for everybody else.
Q. Tre, you’ve been in March Madness situations. Less on the line tonight, but did it feel that way?
(Mitchell): Oh, yeah, yeah. It felt like we were about to go on a deep run. You felt the crowd’s energy.
You felt the intensity out there. But I think that being able to feel that intensity from these guys this early, it speaks volumes of their character and how much they want to win.
Q. How impressive was it to see the way Adou came off the bench?
(Mitchell): Man, yo, that dude, yeah, that’s why at the end of the game I hugged him, because he accepted whatever Cal said and he came in there and made an immediate impact. He lifted us off the floor. The energy that he brought and the plays that he made, it’s second to none, just to be able to adjust to that switch-up he had, and then he still gave it his all every second he was out there.
Q. Rob, the trust that you guys had in Aaron at the line, he went the first time, missed the front end of a one on one, but you guys seemed to have (indiscernible). What do you think that shows (indiscernible)?
(Dillingham): I feel like Aaron is a basketball player. He wants to win also. It shows an example when I missed the lay-up at the end he gets a rebound, puts it back in the clutch. He just makes plays. He hits threes. He can stretch the floor. He can dunk the ball. He can rebound the ball.
He started us off, and that’s why we got off to a good start, and I feel like Aaron is a great player for sure.
Q. Rob, what was your perspective of that play at the end? You guys were up three. Looked like he was trying to foul you in the backcourt, I think about 12 seconds left. Can you take us through that?
(Dillingham): When I was dribbling at the end? If they had got close I was going to call a time-out because Coach told me we had two time-outs, so I was just waiting it out, seeing if they was going to trap, but I felt like we could get it up the court, so I was trying to waste as much time as we could and get it to a good ball handler, you see Reed make a good pass.
This story was originally published December 16, 2023 at 10:50 PM.
