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ACC Now

Cats no sweat for Heels

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Tags: ACC Now | Kentucky | UNC


CHAPEL HILL — This is not the Kentucky-Carolina matchup TV executives had in mind when they lined up the two winningest programs in college basketball history.

UNC's No. 1 and Kentucky's 0-1, coming off a home loss to VMI. UNC's missing Tyler Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard, Kentucky's missing Jack Givens and Antoine Walker.

After jumping out early, the Heels beat Kentucky 77-58 with a career-high 20 points from Deon Thompson.

ESPN showed up early with their GameDay crew, with a particularly outstanding effort from Erin Andrews, disgraced politician John Edwards made rare public appearance and uber-Kentucky fan Ashley Judd was in the building but it took Kentucky 10 minutes to find the floor.

The Heels led 25-6 while the Wildcats turned the ball over 10 times and made just 2 of their first 10 shots. They finished the 28 turnovers.

One-time Duke recruit and supposed program savior Patrick Patterson, who scored 19 points against UNC last season, didn't touch the ball until the 12:13 mark, an uncontested dunk. He finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The Heels got sloppy after running out to the 19-point lead but Thompson, who equaled his previous career-high with 17 points in the opener without Hansbrough, has been strong inside, making his first seven shots.

Roy Williams has shown the Wildcats some blue-blood love, shushing the UNC student section for chanting "VMI!" at the Kentucky players early in the first half.

The Wildcats need more than Ol' Roy's sympathy. They need more bodies. Patterson and Jodie Meeks (19 points) were the only players capable of keeping up with the Heels.

They had no match in the backcourt for Ty Lawson, who finished with nine assists and 11 points.

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izzy

you're an idiot. i knew you would say something like you did. you probably laughed too.

the thug hit him on the head about 11 ft from the ground. the UK player wasnt even going for the ball. while it was not Henderson like, you try taking a shot to the head while you are in mid air and see what happens.

he was hit hard enough to turn him 180 degrees as he landed on his backside. otherwise, he dunks the balls and lands on his feet.

UNC

The Heels have to come out and play better in the 2nd half regardless of how horrible your opponent is. I recall the Heels of the 80's and early 90's giong for blood in the first 5 mins of the 2nd half.

lets hope Zeller is ok too. I guess the guy who fouled him wanted to be allowed in his neighborhood for the holidays. just an observation.

what do u want?

You think little-Tyler should have gotten an uncontested layup?  It was barely a foul.  The problem was with all that audio/video crap scattered all over the floor trying to get closeups of the most intense person ever to play basketball, no, the most intense person ever to walk around in skin that's not intense enough for his soul, Tyler Hopsbrough.  So its really PsychoT's fault

You're right

I thought they lacked the killer instinct in the second half. They must improve in that aspect. Also, if Williams is going to shuffle players in and out they gotta play defense all out all the time.

embarassing!

man.  UK is BBBBAAAAAAADDDD!

hmm

Yeah, other than the play of Patterson they dont look impressive at all although thier 2nd half was way better than thier 1st half...

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