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Kentucky is off to a great start this year with 10 wins and no losses. Although the record seems amazing,John Calipari is not too happy. He knows they are not at their peaking point yet! The Wildcats are very athletic and hold a very tall team this year. Their length causes a lot of problems for opponents. Saturday they host the University of North Carolina. Coaches Roy Williams and Calipari have been battling over the years and they are always showdowns to look forward to.
The Tarheels, ranked number 21, are looking to come into Rupp Arena and beat the Wildcats for a good out of conference win for the season. To give Kentucky their first loss of the season would be an accomplishment for Williams and his team. Point guard Marcus Paige is looking to keep his scoring average up and provide a spark and leadership for this Tarheels team. Big man Kennedy Meeks plans to make his presence known early and hopes to control the paint most of the night against Kentucky’s athletic bigs. North Carolina is pretty athletic itself with J.P. Tokoto and Nate Britt.
Kentucky suffered a loss for the rest of the season with Alex Poythress tearing his ACL. Poythress is a very athletic big who can run and jump. He impacted the Wildcats when on the floor in all aspects of the game, but this just opens up an opportunity for one of the many high school all americans to step up their game. Look for Dakari Johnson to try to fill his absence for the rest of the season. The Harrison twins need to gang up on Paige, try to win the point guard battle, and be efficient as possible. Willie Cauley-Stein loves playing against slower bigs. He gets to use his quickness and speed to get easier shots. He also has the ability to bring them out on the perimeter which can be a problem for Meeks this weekend as he is used to banging in the post and not playing on the perimeter.
The arena will be packed with two different types of blues taking over the crowd. Kentucky looks forward to using their quickness and speed to their advantage over the weekend. North Carolina will look to slow the pace down to play more in their favor and try to control the game from the beginning.
December 13, 12PM is when the battle begins.