University of North Carolina Athletics
Know Your Opponent: Kentucky
December 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Kentucky (UKAthletics.com)
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Rankings: UK - No. 3 KenPom, No. 6 AP; UNC - No. 6 KenPom, No. 7 AP
Records: UK - 9-1; UNC - 10-1
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 23-14 (UK 84, UNC 70, Dec. 13, 2014, Rupp Arena)
The wildly popular Carolina-Kentucky series resumes Saturday with the third installment of the CBS Sports Classic. The four-team event, which started in Chicago in 2014, has been re-upped for three more years, meaning so the Tar Heels and Wildcats will continue playing on at least a semi-regular basis.
A year off from the series means plenty of roster turnover for Kentucky, however, with only Isaiah Briscoe and Isaac Humphries returning from last year's freshman class. No juniors remain from the powerhouse 2014-15 squad that went 38-1 and featured the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker, to name a few Wildcats who now play in the NBA.
So who is on the Kentucky roster this season? Meet the three latest potential one-year stars to ply their trade in Lexington - guards Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox and forward Bam Adebayo.
Monk, a 6-3 sharpshooter, leads UK in scoring at 19.4 points per game and has taken more than one third of the team's shots from beyond the arc. Only reserve Mychal Mulder (41.0%, 16 for 39) has made a higher percentage than Monk's 38.5 from deep (30 for 78). As Luke Winn points out in his weekly power rankings (link: http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/12/15/power-rankings-villanova-ucla-kansas-duke-indiana), Monk profiled as more of a slasher in his high school days, and his volume shooting has seen his free throw rate drop to just 15.2 percent. Once he gets to the line, however, he's making 87 percent of his foul shots.
Fox, a 6-3 point guard, is the team's top-rated player in both assist rate and steal percentage, and he's a big reason the Wildcats rank sixth nationally in offensive turnover rate. Through 10 games, Fox has dished out 69 assists against just 24 turnovers, an impressive ratio for a freshman leading one of the nation's best teams in usage. One thing he's not at this point, however, is an outside threat. Fox is just 3 for 21 on three-point attempts to start his career.
Adebayo has quickly established himself as one of the best young big men in college basketball. The 6-10 native of Washington, North Carolina, averages 12.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, grabs nearly 15 percent of available rebounds on the offensive glass and has blocked a team-high 18 shots. Adebayo is also very advanced at getting to the foul line, something he does more than six times per game. That's crucial for UK, as the Wildcats rank just 160th in the country in free throw rate as a team.
Defensively, Kentucky blocks a ton of shots and limits opponents to 26.8 percent shooting on 3s. The Wildcats also force turnovers on better than 23 percent of their opponents' possessions, helping them rank third nationally in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency. If there is a weakness to be found it's on the defensive glass, where UK has allowed a second chance opportunity nearly 32 percent of the time.
Coach John Calipari's offense trended on the slow side of average last season, but with this year's crop of dynamic freshmen, the Wildcats are running and gunning in a way never before seen at UK under Calipari. Kentucky's offensive possessions average a mere 13.5 seconds, and the Wildcats rank 11th nationally in KenPom's adjusted tempo. Given that Carolina ranks 12th in average possession length, T-Mobile Arena can probably unplug the shot clocks Saturday.
