Like the beginning of a horse race at Keeneland, North Carolina shot out of the gates running.

Unlike other opponents this season, the Tar Heels went against long possessions and multiple passes and decided to go flying at and past the Cats’ top-ranked scoring defense. It worked — on the offensive end.

The quick pace also freed up many of UK’s shooters in the first half — specifically, guards Devin Booker and Aaron Harrison — and athletes all game, which propelled the Cats to a double-digit lead that they carried to a 84-70 victory Saturday at Rupp Arena.

The lesson: teams should not opt to play quick-paced basketball with UK, or else the Cats’ athletes and shooters will get free. Sophomore forward Marcus Lee, perhaps UK’s player most dependent on a quick pace, had eight points in 12 minutes. Booker and Harrison hit six 3-pointers, a deluge given recent results. Freshman guard Tyler Ulis, a shifty player dependent on giving room to dissect a defense, had eight assists.

Regardless of UNC’s scoring output — which was by far the highest point total against the Cats all season — UK’s opponents cannot play with the temptation of spacing out the floor without raising the risk of showcasing the Cats at their offensive best.

“That’s how I like the play, and that’s how the team likes to play,” Ulis said. “We get to spread the ball out and around, and we get more room to make plays.”

Ulis may have the answer that everyone in Rupp Arena has wanted in the last two weeks. UK’s struggles from outside —which are well documented — were the results of a clogged half-court. Opponents searched for a long, drawn out game with little transition and no room for the Cats to navigate. No space meant no room to get open for outside shots through screens and passes.

“If we’re hitting threes like that, we’re going to be scary,” said junior forward Willie Cauley-Stein.

Cauley-Stein, who is playing more consistently than ever before in his career, is one of the few UK players that has tailored his game to fit both styles. One can pull his box score from any game this season and find something reasonably close to his 15-point, six-rebound, four-steal, two-block line on Saturday.

“You have to be prepared for any style,” Cauley-Stein said. “We knew North Carolina was going to run because that is what they do … we have faced all the zones and (slow-paced) stuff already, and we have to be ready for whatever is thrown at us.”

20 games are left on UK’s regular-season schedule, and those opposing head coaches who will watch Saturday’s film should be wary of trying to race the Cats to the finish line. Outgunning a team who has been the best scoring defensive team in the country is likely not best for results.

“(UK) had 19 assists and 15 turnovers in an up and down games and we were trying to press and do some things,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “Their defense was so much stronger (than ours), and I think that was the dominating thing in the game.”

So, one asks, what type of pace will beat UK?

Not any pace we have seen from any opponent so far, especially playing at the speed of the Tar Heels.