National Basketball Association
Kentucky 87, North Carolina 83
When: 5:30 PM ET, Saturday, December 16, 2023
Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Officials:
# Courtney Green, # Kelly Pfeifer, # Patrick Evans
Attendance:
17058
By Field Level Media
Rob Dillingham scored 17 points off the bench and No. 14 Kentucky led almost the entire game but had a tussle down the stretch to defeat No. 9 North Carolina 87-83 on Saturday at Atlanta.
D.J. Wagner had 14 points, Aaron Bradshaw notched 12 points and Reed Sheppard posted 11 points for the Wildcats (8-2), who shot just 41.7 percent from the field.
RJ Davis poured in 27 points and Cormac Ryan tallied 20 points for North Carolina (7-3). Harrison Ingram added 10 points.
There were riveting stretches as the teams played a tight final few minutes, though a North Carolina turnover on a miscommunication while trailing 86-83 in the last 10 seconds doused some potential drama.
Davis hit his second 3-pointer in the game's last three minutes to draw the Tar Heels within 81-80. Dillingham made a difficult shot at the other end.
Then with 1:10 left, Davis made a free throw, tying him for the school record with 41 in a row before he missed the second attempt. Kentucky's Bradshaw missed a foul shot but the Tar Heels fumbled the ball out of bounds.
Bradshaw, a freshman center, sank both ends of a 1-and-1 free-throw opportunity to push Kentucky's margin to 85-81 with 47 seconds left.
Ingram connected on two free throws for the Tar Heels. Then Dillingham went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line with 11.9 seconds to go.
North Carolina took its only lead of the game at 72-71 on two Bacot free throws with 5:15 remaining. Kentucky answered with the next six points in a 67-second span.
The Wildcats held a 12-point lead with 15-plus minutes to play before the Tar Heels pieced together a comeback despite the impact of Kentucky's 18 offensive rebounds.
Kentucky led 40-38 at halftime despite going more than four minutes without a field goal to end the half. It was 40-30 with 2:45 to play.
Ryan's 12 points were a boost to the Tar Heels, who committed 11 first-half turnovers. They were meeting a Top 15 team for the second game in a row after a loss to Connecticut more than a week earlier.
Kentucky was up 20-10 early in the second game of a neutral-site doubleheader that featured Ohio State's 67-60 victory vs. UCLA in the opener.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| North Carolina |
|
Kentucky |
|
RJ Davis 27 |
Scoring |
Rob Dillingham 17 |
|
RJ Davis 4 |
Assists |
D.J. Wagner 5 |
|
RJ Davis 7 |
Rebounds |
Justin Edwards 6 |
|
RJ Davis 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Rob Dillingham 4 |
|
Harrison Ingram 3 |
Steals |
Aaron Bradshaw 2 |
|
Harrison Ingram 2 |
Blocks |
Adou Thiero 4 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| North Carolina
|
83 |
47.4 |
8-24 |
21-27 |
12 |
30 |
5 |
7 |
17 |
| Kentucky
|
87 |
41.7 |
8-23 |
19-26 |
15 |
35 |
9 |
7 |
14 |
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