Kentucky at North Carolina preview
Will top-ranked North Carolina have star center Tyler Hansbrough for Tuesday’s showdown with Kentucky? It doesn’t look promising, which means the Cats have a shot at pulling the upset – bet on the game at WagerWeb.com.
Because of his shin injury, Hansbrough didn’t play in UNC’s 86-71 season-opening victory over Penn on Saturday. A pair of freshmen – forward Ed Davis and seven-foot center Tyler Zeller – filled in admirably down low in their debuts. Zeller led the Tar Heels with 18 points, most of which came off the block, and Davis hauled in 14 rebounds to go with his 10 points.
Heels coach Roy Williams said the Tar Heels are a much better shooting team than it showed on Saturday in shooting 28 for 60 in the game (46.7 percent) and 9-for-27 in the second half (33.3 percent). Wayne Ellington, the team’s best shooter, was 5-for-15 but scored 13 with five assists and two steals.
Believe it or not, Hansbrough has struggled against the Cats in his career. In Hansbrough’s first three years at UNC, he has only recorded five games in which he did not score more than 10 points. Two of them have been against Kentucky.
Hansbrough has scored just 27 points in three games against Kentucky and is only 5-for-23 from the field. That’s just 21 percent; Hansbrough’s career statistics have him shooting over 50 percent.
Hansbrough has been sidelined since the last week of October with a stress reaction in his right shin. The senior from Poplar Bluff, Mo., had played in all 108 games the Tar Heels have played in over the previous three seasons.
These two teams met last December, with the No. 1 Heels winning 86-77. UNC leads the overall series 20-10 and has won four in a row against the Wildcats.
Kentucky enters off that stunning 111-103 loss to VMI. But in Patrick Patterson they have a post player who can give the Heels trouble with or without Hansbrough and top defender Marcus Ginyard, who is out until December. Patterson had 19 points and nine rebounds in the last meeting with UNC.
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