Kentucky-North Carolina Preview (Dec 17, 2016)

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A clash of basketball blue bloods comes up Saturday in Las Vegas when No. 6 Kentucky faces No. 7 North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic at T-Mobile Arena.

Kentucky, college basketball's all-time wins leader at 2,214, is 9-1 this season. North Carolina, No. 3 on the all-time list at 2,183 wins, comes in at 10-1.

"I don't believe a team can be good at everything. As a coach, you decide what your strengths are and let's become really good at those things and hide the things that we don't do well," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "Their strength is that they can really get out and fly. Their other strength is that they're really good in the post. They're big and they fight for position."

Calipari's third North Carolina strength was most telling of all.

"The third thing is that when they shoot it -- are you ready for this -- half of their misses they rebound," Calipari said. "What would you do if you were them? Are you worried about turning it over or shooting it? You shoot it because half of those you're going to get back when you miss. You're either making them or you miss and half of those you get. That's why they shoot it quickly is because they rebound it."

North Carolina has has attempted 713 field goals this year with 367 missed shots. They have 177 offensive rebounds, 48.2 percent of the total missed shots. Kentucky, for its part, has attempted 713 shots with 367 misses and 158 offensive rebounds, 43 percent.

"They're an unbelievable rebounding team," Calipari said. "They're fast. They have skilled guys, both inside and outside. They can either play fast or slow and still beat you. They've been in close games, which tells you they're not afraid. They're a veteran team. Roy (Williams) is a Hall of Famer. It'll be a hard game for us."

To combat North Carolina's strength on the boards, Calipari has two options.

"Some of it's fight. Some of it's just put your best rebounders on the floor," Calipari said. "If a guy can't rebound, if a guy can't keep a guy off the glass, can he play this game? You can put him in and then he gives up two rebounds and you hug him, you love him, but he can't play.

"We're gonna try everything," Calipari said. "I may play four guards. Mychal Mulder was like a four at (junior college). So I could put he, Isaiah Briscoe, two guards and a big guy. Maybe we'd be better that way. Maybe they have to change. I mean, we'll try stuff, and that's the greatest thing about not having to go game to game. This isn't like the football season where if you lose this one, that one you've got no chance for a national title. That's not what it is, but we have different things we have to try. I do want to give everybody a chance to prove either they should be playing or not. Coaches don't make those decisions. Players make those decisions."

Kentucky has four players averaging in double figures. Freshman guard Malik Monk is tops at 19.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe comes in at 16.6, freshman guard De'Aaron Fox at 15.1 and freshman forward Bam Adebayo at 12.6.

North Carolina also has four players in double figures. Junior forward Justin Jackson leads the way at 15.5 points followed by junior guard Joel Berry at 14.8, junior guard Isaiah Hicks, 12.7, and senior forward Kennedy Meeks, 12.5. Berry has missed the last two games with a sprained ankle and remains questionable for Saturday's game.

The game promises to be a high-flying affair as Kentucky averages 94.4 points per game and North Carolina checks in at 88.0.

"I think both of us will be trying to slow down the other team as far as 'get back,' Calipari said. "You'll hear him (Roy Williams) say, 'Get back!' And you'll hear me, 'Get back!' We'll both be yelling that probably 100 times a half. They're fast. We're fast.

"It probably will come down to, if you don't get it quickly, who's the better execution team?" Calipari said. "They've got juniors and seniors and older players and we're playing freshmen. So, you tell me. So we're gonna have to figure out how to be efficient. The game we lost (UCLA) it was one-on-one basketball. We gotta create for each other. We weren't ready for that. Hopefully we're a little more ready this time."