North Carolina vs. Kentucky: 5 biggest storylines for 2020-21 showdown
4. The Tar Heels have struggled to put teams away as of late – but they can put the basketball world on notice against UK
Much of North Carolina’s recent games have come down to the wire, or have been too close for comfort – their games against Stanford, Texas, and N.C. Central have all been decided by six points or less. Their only blowout wins were the opening two games against Stanford and UNLV – and the Tar Heels were toppled by double-digits by Iowa.
Obviously, much of this can be traced to UNC’s previously-mentioned lackluster offense, and, again, it will be difficult for the Tar Heels to score against a Kentucky defense posting similar numbers to theirs.
To an extent, this is fine – North Carolina is 4-2 and nationally ranked, after all, and they have been able to hang around with two of the best teams in college basketball. But, if anything, this season has been disappointing thus far for Roy Williams and his crew.
The Tar Heels began the season ranked 16th in the nation, the third-highest ACC team in the AP Poll behind Virginia and Duke – and they were picked to finish fourth in what was predicted to be a top-heavy ACC. They did garner seven first-place votes but finished behind Virginia, Duke, and Florida State – all of whom received first-place votes – but they were selected ahead of Louisville, a team that also earned first-place tallies.
Again, the Tar Heels also entered the season with the Preseason ACC Player of the Year in Garrison Brooks, who was selected by a 78-point margin over Virginia’s Sam Hauser (102 to 24). UNC was also bringing in the second-highest ranked recruiting class, comprised of Day’Ron Sharpe, Walker Kessler, and Caleb Love – all five-star newcomers.
But this has been a frustrating showing thus far for the Tar Heels. Obviously, it has yielded better results than last year’s 14-19 debacle – but this is the first time UNC has started the season 4-2 since 2013-14 when they fell to Belmont and UAB while nationally ranked.
They reached the Round of 32 that season and, obviously, the competition has been better so far this season – but this has yet to be a North Carolina team that looks as good as they were expected to be. A simple win over a 1-4 Kentucky team would not do much in changing that outlook – but a dominant romp would be the first step in pursuing that route.