By Nick Gray | Basketball beat writer

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UK’s first trip to Chapel Hill, N.C. since Dec. 4, 2010 comes with questions on whether or not the Cats can beat a quality ranked opponent on the road.

The Cats have dropped three out of their last four non-conference games on the road against ranked opponents, dating back to last season.

To wrestle away a victory at the Dean Smith Center at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday against the University of North Carolina, UK will have to use their strength and length in the paint.

The Cats face an opponent that does not have a player above 6 feet 10 inches. That, however, did not stop Baylor University 6-foot-8-inch sophomore forward Rico Gathers from grabbing 13 rebounds last Friday or the Bears out-rebounding UK by 16.

North Carolina sophomore point guard Marcus Paige is aware of UK’s length when the Tar Heels have the ball and is confident in North Carolina’s attack.

“I still want to get into paint and maybe get some of their bigs in foul trouble,” Paige said.

The frontcourt matchup is going to be exciting to watch if you’re a fan of post play. That length will go up against a North Carolina offense that plays primarily inside of the three-point line. The Tar Heels have made 23 three-point baskets in their eight games. UK freshman guard James Young has made 24.

Playing closer to the basket brings into play Cats sophomore forward Willie Cauley-Stein, who has blocked 21 shots in the past three games.

“If you go in there soft, it’s going to come back hard,” North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said.

Williams said in a Thursday press conference he would be surprised if the pair of suspended Tar Heels guards, senior Leslie McDonald and junior P.J. Hairston, was eligible to practice or play this weekend.

The Cats and Tar Heels took a season off their typically-annual rivalry after playing in every season since 2001.

“To me, it’s still important,” Williams said. “But it’s not like it used to be. It used to be the first Saturday in December, and you knew that North Carolina and Kentucky were going to play.”

“There’s so many of those matchups that you did not used to have,” Williams continued. “So I think I have lost a little bit of that, because it used to be the only one there was. Now those top-10 matchups are every week now in the preseason.”

Williams smiled while answering whether or not he’s happy the series is returning to the schedule.

“I’ll tell you after tomorrow,” Williams said. “Honestly, I just want to win.”