It's rare that a meeting between the two winningest programs in college basketball history would be missing something. Yet, there were a few things that weren't available when Kentucky took on North Carolina in the Dean Smith Center.First was Player Of the Year Tyler Hansbrough. Psycho T has a stress reaction in his shin and was held out of tonight's game. He really wouldn't be missed as Deon Thompson and the Tar Heels beat down the Wildcats, 77-58. The Heels jumped all over Kentucky early, built a 15-2 lead and never looked back.
The stat of the game were the 28 turnovers Kentucky committed. North Carolina trapped Kentucky to force mistakes that turned into quick points for the Tar Heels. Carolina feasted on the fact that Kentucky has no real point guard right now.
That was the other thing that was missing. This doesn't look like the Kentucky program we know and love. Sure, I think Billy Gillispie will have Kentucky back among the elite in a few years but this was tough to watch. It will be hard for them to turn it around this season when they have those point guard issues stunting their offense. Not only did they struggle with controlling the ball, they also had problems getting the Wildcats into their offense.
When they did decide to get the ball to Patrick Patterson, he dumped in 19 points and 11 rebounds. Jody Meeks also scored 19 points but shot just 5-for-20 to get there.
For the Heels, it was Thompson's 20 points that led the way.
One scary moment happened late when UNC freshman Tyler Zeller was fouled hard as he was going for a dunk. Zeller went to the hospital with a wrist injury that head coach Roy Williams says "doesn't look good."
