University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Facing First Road Game At Kentucky
December 2, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2005
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Matchup: North Carolina at Kentucky
Date: Saturday, December 3, 2005
Time: Noon
Site: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
Records: Carolina 3-1; Kentucky 5-1
Rankings: UNC is unranked. Kentucky is ranked No. 10 by the AP and No. 10 by the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll this week.
TV: CBS. Craig Bolerjack (play-by-play) and Billy Packer (analyst) will have the call.
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network, a division of Learfield Communications. Woody Durham (play-by-play), Eric Montross (analyst) and Jones Angell (host) provide the call. A live broadcast also is available (on a subscription basis) on the University of North Carolina's official athletic website, TarHeelBlue.com
Websites: North Carolina (TarHeelBlue.com); Kentucky (UKAthletics.com)
TWO WINNINGEST PROGRAMS MEET ON SATURDAY
North Carolina (3-1) will visit Kentucky (5-1) in a matchup of the two winningest programs in college basketball history at Rupp Arena on Saturday at noon. The game will be televised nationally by CBS.
Kentucky has more wins than any other team in NCAA Division I college basketball history with a record of 1,909-584-1 in its 103rd season. Carolina is second in all-time wins with a record of 1,863-681 in its 96th season. The schools rank No. 1-2 in the country in both total wins and winning percentage. Only one other school - Kansas - has won at least 1,800 games.
Last season, the Tar Heels ended a four-game losing streak to the Wildcats, as Rashad McCants scored 28 points and Sean May had 14 points and 19 rebounds in a 91-78 UNC win.
Carolina is off to a 3-1 start thus far this season after a 68-64 loss on Tuesday night to No. 12 Illinois in the Smith Center in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Tar Heels began the season with home wins over Gardner-Webb, Cleveland State and UC Santa Barbara.
UNC is coming off a four-game homestand to open the season -- Saturday will be the Tar Heels' first road game of the season. Home games against Saint Louis and Santa Clara follow on Dec. 7 and 17, respectively, then comes a date at Southern California and a short break for the holidays. In all, six of UNC's first seven games are at home this season.
THE SERIES VS. KENTUCKY
Carolina leads the all-time series with Kentucky, 17-10, including a 91-78 win last year in Chapel Hill. Overall, Carolina has lost four of its last five meetings in this rivalry between the two programs with the most wins in college basketball history. Saturday's game is the sixth meeting of a six-game, home-and-home series between UNC and UK that began in the 2000-01 season.
Carolina is 4-5 vs. Kentucky in Lexington, including a 61-56 loss in Rupp Arena in the teams' last meeting there on Jan. 3, 2004.
The Tar Heels have played in two NCAA Tournaments in Rupp Arena. In 1989, Carolina lost to eventual national champion Michigan 92-87 in the Southeast Region semifinal. In 1992, the Tar Heels were ousted by Ohio State 80-73 in another Southeast Regiona semifinal.
LAST SEASON AT CHAPEL HILL -- UNC 91, UK 78 (DEC. 4, 2004)
The Tar Heels jumped out to a 24-6 lead before the second media timeout and never trailed as they defeated No. 8 Kentucky, 91-78, in the Smith Center on Dec. 4, 2004. The win broke a four-game UNC losing streak to the Wildcats.
Rashad McCants led all scorers with 28 points, hitting four three-pointers and 10 of 11 free throws on the day. Sean May had 14 points and 19 rebounds. No other player had more than seven rebounds. Jawad Williams grabbed seven rebounds and scored 19 points, connecting on six of 9 field goal attempts.
Kelenna Azubuike led Kentucky with 24 points, hitting four three-pointers and 10 of 19 shots from the floor.
Carolina held the Wildcats to a 42.9 percent field goal percentage while hitting 49.2 percent of its own shots. UNC out-rebounded UK 51-30 and attempted 40 free throws to UK's 16, overcoming 20 Tar Heel turnovers.
THOMAS SUFFERS STRESS FRACTURE IN LEFT FOOT
Sophomore point guard Quentin Thomas was not available to play on Tuesday night versus Illinois in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge due to a stress fracture of the third metatarsal bone of his left foot (the third toe on his left foot).
Thomas suffered the injury in practice prior to Carolina's season-opener vs. Gardner-Webb on Nov. 19. He played in each of the Tar Heels' first three games, but has missed practice time and did not start any of those contests.
Thomas' status is day-to-day.
NOEL'S SCORING ON THE RISE
Senior David Noel has scored in double figures in all four Carolina games this season after doing so just twice last season and three times as a sophomore. Noel scored 17 points against Gardner-Webb, 13 against Cleveland State, 14 against UC Santa Barbara and 12 against Illinois. He is second on the team in scoring this season with 14.0 points per game.
The four consecutive double-figure games are the longest such streak of Noel's career. The previous long was three games in his freshman year. He also did so in two straight games as a freshman for a total of seven double-figure games in 2002-03.
