North Carolina at Kentucky, 5 December 2009

Two of the most storied college basketball programs went head to head on Saturday, speaking of Kentucky and North Carolina.  With Kentucky having the most all-time wins in men’s college basketball at 1,995, North Carolina is second at 1,991.  All the hype surrounding this game has been heard throughout the college basketball world for the last few weeks, including which team would make it to 2,000 wins all-time first.  It was sure to be one of the greatest basketball games of the season.

Kentucky, from the opening tip, started the game with electrifying energy.  John Wall was amazing and did not look like a Freshman at all.  Kentucky played exceptional defense and went on a 30-2 in the first half after North Carolina started the game with a 9-2 lead.  Minus a few careless turnovers, Kentucky played a near-flawless half of basketball.  Kentucky led at half-time by a score of 43-28.  John Wall finished the first half with 13 points and 5 assists.  Patrick Patterson had 11 points and 5 rebounds at the end of the first half.

Just a minute into the second half, John Wall had to leave the game due to cramps.  He would return about 8 minutes later after heading back to the bench from the locker room, but he just wasn’t the same John Wall of the first half.  He was slower and not aggressive, probably due to the cramping still affecting him.  North Carolina was able to keep chipping away at the lead and Kentucky only led by 2 points with about 40 seconds left in the game, but UNC was unable to capitalize on their comeback.  Kentucky led by 5 points with only 4 seconds left, Graves (North Carolina) came down the court and hit a 3 pointer as time expired to make the final score of the game at 68-66 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
Patrick Patterson - 19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block
John Wall - 16 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals (7 turnovers)
Darnell Dodson - 9 points, 5 rebounds
Eric Bledsoe - 9 points, 2 assists (4 turnovers)
Darius Miller - 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
DeMarcus Cousins - 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block

In closing, the Kentucky Wildcats had an outstanding first half of basketball, but Mr. Hyde reared his ugly head in the second half.  Credit Kentucky to be able to weather the storm and hold off North Carolina in the second half, after John Wall left the game.  Kentucky did just enough in the second half to come away with a win.  This will give lots for Coach Calapari to improve on before the next game of basketball.  UK’s next game is versus Connecticut on 9 December, 2009 at 9:30 p.m. (EST).