No. 9 Men's BB Ready For Kentucky Saturday In Atlanta

• Ninth-ranked Carolina will meet 14th-ranked Kentucky on Saturday in Atlanta in the CBS Sports Classic, to be televised live by CBS. UNC is 7-2 after an 87-76 loss to No. 5 Connecticut December 5 in New York. RJ Davis led all scorers with 26 points, Harrison Ingram tied his career high with eight field goals and added five assists and Armando Bacot posted his 73rd career double-double with 13 points and 13 boards.
• UConn outrebounded the Tar Heels by 10, made its first four three-point attempts in the second half and had 25 assists on 34 field goals en route to shooting 51.5% from the floor.
• No. 14 Kentucky is 7-2, averaging 10.7 threes, 19.6 assists and 90.6 points per game.

CBS SPORTS CLASSIC
• Carolina is 6-3 in the CBS Sports Classic (3-0 vs. Ohio State, 2-0 vs. UCLA and 1-3 vs. Kentucky).
• Last season, Pete Nance hit a turnaround jumper as time expired to send the game to overtime and Carolina went on to defeat Ohio State, 89-84, in Madison Square Garden.
• Armando Bacot had 28 points and 15 rebounds and RJ Davis and Caleb Love combined for 43 points and 11 assists in the win over the Buckeyes.
• Atlanta's State Farm Arena is the seventh different venue in the 10-year history of the CBS Sports Classic.
• The Tar Heels are 2-1 in State Farm Arena. Carolina beat Maryland and NC State and lost to Florida State in the championship game in the 2012 ACC Tournament.

Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic
def. Ohio State, 82-74, 12/20/2014 (Chicago)
def. UCLA, 89-76, 12/19/2015 (Brooklyn)
lost to Kentucky, 100-103, 12/17/2016 (Las Vegas)
def. Ohio State, 86-72, 12/23/2017 (New Orleans)
lost to Kentucky, 72-80, 12/22/2018 (Chicago)
def. UCLA, 74-64, 12/21/2019 (Las Vegas)
def. Kentucky, 75-63, 12/19/2020 (Cleveland)
lost to Kentucky, 69-98, 12/18/2021 (Las Vegas)
def. Ohio State, 89-84 (OT), 12/17/2022 (New York)

DAVIS ON A TEAR
• Senior guard RJ Davis has led UNC in scoring in each of the last five games, totaling 133 points against Villanova (23), Arkansas (30), Tennessee (27), Florida State (27) and UConn (26). It's the most points over five games by a Tar Heel since Tyler Hansbrough totaled 146 in 2008.
• Davis has made eight or more field goals in each of the last five games. Seventeen of his 41 buckets have come from three-point range and he's made 35 of 36 free throws in the five games.
• No Tar Heel has led UNC in scoring in five games in a row since ACC Player of the Year Justin Jackson did it six straight times in 2017.

GAME 10 NOTEBOOK
UNC-KENTUCKY
• Carolina is 25-17 against the Wildcats, including 1-3 in the CBS Sports Classic.
• Kentucky beat UNC, 98-69, in Las Vegas in the CBS Sports Classic on 12/18/2021, the last time the teams have played one another.
• Carolina is the only school that has played Kentucky at least 10 times and has a winning record vs. the Cats.
• The teams have split the last four games.
• Carolina is 13-7 in the series at neutral sites, including 2-0 in Atlanta (in Southern Conference Tournament games played in 1924 and 1932).
• Armando Bacot had 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks as a sophomore in Cleveland in UNC's win over Kentucky and 22 points and 10 rebounds in the loss in Las Vegas.
• RJ Davis had three points vs. Kentucky in Cleveland and 10 in Las Vegas.
• Cormac Ryan averaged 6.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 in assists in two games vs. Kentucky while playing at Notre Dame.
• Jae'Lyn Withers scored eight points and had nine rebounds as a freshman against Kentucky and two points last season while at Louisville.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Armando Bacot has made 492 free throws...needs eight for 500.
• Bacot has scored 1,952 points...need 23 to pass Antawn Jamison for eighth in UNC history...needs 48 to become the seventh Tar Heel to score 2,000.
• RJ Davis has made 498 field goals...needs two for 500.
• Davis has made 185 three-pointers...needs four to pass Reggie Bullock for 11th in UNC history.
• Davis has scored 1,493 points...needs seven to become the 33rd Tar Heel with 1,500 points...needs nine to pass Tyler Zeller and 16 to pass Scott Williams for 31st in UNC history.

RJ ON A ROLL
• Senior guard RJ Davis leads Carolina in scoring at 21.0 points per game, in three-pointers with 24 and free throw shooting (95.3% at 41 for 43)and is second in assists (24).
• For the first time in his career Davis has led UNC in scoring in each of the last five games – 23 vs. Villanova, a career-high tying 30 vs. Arkansas, 27 vs. Tennessee, 27 vs. Florida State and 26 vs. UConn. He led UNC in consecutive games two different times last year.
• Davis' 110 points in the last four games and 133 in the last five mark his highest four-game and five-game totals as a Tar Heel.
• Davis' 133 points are the most by a Tar Heel over five games since Tyler Hansbrough scored 146 in February 2008. Hansbrough scored 39, 23, 23, 32 and 29 in his junior season when he was the unanimous National Player of the Year.
• Davis was the first Tar Heel to score 27 or more in three consecutive since Joseph Forte in 2000-01 and the first to score 26 or more in four straight games since Charlie Scott in 1969-70.

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Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Caleb Love

Pete Nance

Cormac Ryan

Jae'Lyn Withers

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University of North Carolina Athletics