By Nick Gray | Basketball beat writer

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In the final minute of Saturday’s game in Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina student section sang “Overrated!” at UK, ranked No. 11 in the country.

For a team who has not defeated a ranked opponent this season, the statement from the crowd served as a roaring review for UK head coach John Calipari’s young team.

The Cats dropped their third straight game to a ranked opponent this season as North Carolina earned the 82-77 victory on Saturday.

North Carolina point guard Marcus Paige weaved his way through the Cats defense with ease in the second half, picking up 21 of his game-high 23 points in the final 20 minutes.

17 of those came beginning with the final lead change of the game, when the Tar Heels forced UK into one of its 17 turnovers. Six more came with UK within four with six minutes left.

“What we are right now is, we’re not a good basketball team,” Caliipari said. “We’re not a good team because our emotion is based on our individual play instead of team play.”

North Carolina junior forward James Michael McAdoo was matched up across from Cats freshman forward Julius Randle all game. McAdoo scored 20 points, his third game of at least 20 points this season. Randle scored 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting and grabbed a season-low five rebounds.

The Cats were physically beaten inside and out, Calipari said.

“We couldn’t even get open on the wings,” Calipari said. “They fought us in the post. We couldn’t throw post passes.”

UK gained an advantage that pushed to as much as seven more than nine minutes into the game through efficient offense in the paint.

Then foul trouble set in, and the Cats offense was set in reverse.

First, it was freshman guard Aaron Harrison who sat with two fouls before four minutes was played. After Harrison, freshman guard James Young exited with a pair of fouls with 9:14 to play in the first half.

When freshman forward Julius Randle picked up his second foul with 7:35 remaining in the first half, UK led 20-19. The Tar Heels used the next four-plus minutes to establish an inside offensive game that sustained for the rest of the night, converting an 11-5 run off of layups, dunks and free throws into a three-point advantage at the half.

By the time the foul carnage settled at halftime, five UK players had two or more fouls, and sophomore forward Willie Cauley-Stein and freshman center Dakari Johnson were called for three fouls in the first 20 minutes.

“I didn’t think it was the most artistic game,” Williams said.

Cauley-Stein’s third foul came with 1.9 seconds left before the break and the game tied at 30. The immediate aftermath earned the UK bench a technical foul. North Carolina hit three of the four free throws for the 33-30 lead.

UK continued fighting for a lead late in the second half as Aaron and Andrew Harrison shouldered the offensive load, getting within three points three times in the final 4:03. But Paige and McAdoo, the two offensive producers for the Tar Heels, made their homes close to the basket and on the free throw line.

Though 56 fouls were whistled, both teams struggled on the line, with UK missing 14 free throws (29-of-43) and North Carolina hitting 26-of-45.

Through the free-throw shooting struggles and defensive breakdowns, UK had a chance with a minute left to grab a missed front end of a one-and-one free throw.

But the Cats rebounding, one of the few edges all game, could not come up with the ball. North Carolina sophomore forward Brice Johnson grabbed the rebound, and the Tar Heels came up with enough free throws (and another offensive rebound) to seal the victory.

It is the hustle plays, Calipari said, that UK needs to make in order to complete their own win against a ranked foe. Calipari even compared this year’s team to the 2011 squad, who he said grew into a Final Four-caliber team throughout the season. The comparison did include one discrepancy.

“This is not a good team. That’s the difference,” Calipari said. “This has got to become a good team.”