March 27, 2011

  • Todays game - UK vs UNC

     

    The following is a public service announcement.

    Just so ya know.

     

     

    WHERE: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
    TIME: 5:05 p.m.
    TV: CBS
    ANNOUNCERS: Jim Nantz play-by-play, Clark Kellogg analyst
    THE SPREAD: Kentucky by 1
    ENROLLMENTS: North Carolina 27,700; Kentucky 27,000
    ELITE EIGHT APPEARANCES: This is Kentucky’s 33rd appearance; the Wildcats are 13-19. This is UNC’s 25th appearance; the Tar Heels are 18-6.
    RECORDS: UNC 29-7, Kentucky 28-8
    HOW THEY GOT HERE: North Carolina d. No. 15 Long Island 102-87, d. No. 7 Washington 86-83, d. No. 11 Marquette 81-63; Kentucky d. No. 13 Princeton 59-57, d. No. 5 West Virginia 71-63, d. No. 1 Ohio State 62-60.
    KEY STAT: Kentucky shoots 39.5 percent from 3-point range, and UNC hits 33.2 percent from beyond the arc. These teams met Dec. 4 in Chapel Hill, with UNC winning 75-73.
    THE BUZZ: You think CBS loves this matchup? These are the two winningest teams in NCAA tourney history, as Kentucky has 106 victories (in 52 appearances) and North Carolina has 105 (in 42 appearances). UNC is all about its “Big Three” up front of C Tyler Zeller and Fs John Henson and Harrison Barnes. Zeller has been dominant in the tourney, with 82 points (on 27-of-47 shooting, 57.4 percent) and 26 rebounds. He has scored at least 23 points in each game after having just five 20-point games in the regular season. Can he continue his offensive explosion against UK C Josh Harrellson? Harrellson basically held his own against Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger. If UNC’s big men struggle to score, the Heels are in big trouble. While UNC is frontcourt-oriented, UK is well-balanced, with three potent 3-point shooters and a solid inside game led by freshman F Terrence Jones. Both are comfortable with an up-tempo game, but a fast pace is probably more important to the Tar Heels: UNC has lost seven times, and the Heels were held below 70 in five of those losses.
    THE KEY INDIVIDUAL: The point guards are the guys to watch. Tar Heels PG Kendall Marshall isn’t an offensive threat, but he makes the offense go because he is a pass-first guy who knows how to get the ball inside to the big men. Kentucky PG Brandon Knight, also a freshman, is the Wildcats’ leading scorer, and he has hit the winning basket against Princeton and Ohio State in the tourney. While he had relatively poor outings in those two, he scored a season-high 30 in the win over West Virginia. He’s much more of an offensive threat than Marshall, but he’s an able distributor. Chances are, though, that if he’s not scoring in this one, UK is going to have some trouble.

     

    *From Yahoo Sports*

     

    GO CATS!

     

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