No. 14 Kentucky men’s basketball (7-2) will take on the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels (7-2) in Atlanta, Georgia, at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday for what will be a highly anticipated matchup between two of the sport’s most storied programs in a battle of blue bloods in the CBS Sports Classic.
The contest will be the two’s first meeting in the Classic since they faced off in 2020 where North Carolina pulled away for a 75-63 victory over John Calipari’s team.
Both teams enter the top 15 contest with 7-2 records, though UNC has quality wins over other premier SEC squads including an 87-72 victory over Arkansas as well as a game that was much less competitive than the score might reflect in the 100-92 final against Tennessee inside the Dean E. Smith Center.
The Tar Heels’ two losses came from an overtime 83-81 loss to Villanova in the Battle 4 Atlantis and an 87-76 loss to UConn in its last outing in the Jimmy V Classic that was held in Madison Square Garden.
The Wildcats have scored just slightly more than UNC thus far into the season as they put up an average of 90.6 points a game.
The Tar Heels, on the other hand, average around 85 points per game, shooting around 45.8% from the field.
Carolina’s biggest name on the score sheet thus far into the season is senior guard RJ Davis, who averages 21 points a night and shoots 44% from the field. Davis also grabs 3.2 boards per game while also sharing the love with 2.7 assists per contest.
Beyond Davis – with a name even the most basic college basketball fans will already be aware of – is Armando Bacot, who will serve as another major problem for the Cats offensively as his matchup with Aaron Bradshaw will be highly anticipated. Bacot averages 15.9 points while also being the team’s best rebounder, grabbing 11.9 per game.
Another player that averages more than 15 points per game is junior forward Harrison Ingram, who also averages seven boards per night.
Cormac Ryan is also very serviceable and potentially someone to watch out for as he scores just under 11 points each outing.
Apart from those five heavy hitters is one of the nation’s most talented freshmen: Elliot Cadeau.
Cadeau, who can be classified as more of a traditional point guard, leads the team with four assists per game and scores nearly eight points per game.
Simply put, Kentucky has a great opportunity ahead of itself to earn its second top ten victory of the season in Saturday’s battle of blue bloods. The Tar Heels have a strong case to be the best team Kentucky has played all season, in fact.
