No. 16 North Carolina on rebound ahead of game vs. No. 19 Kentucky

The ACC/SEC Challenge features a battle of the blue bloods with No. 16 North Carolina traveling to No. 19 Kentucky for a highly-profile matchup on Tuesday night in Lexington, Ken.The Tar Heels (6-1) opened the season with six straight victories by double figures before falling 74-58 to No. 11 Michigan State last week. North Carolina had a forgettable night, going just 4 of 23 from 3-point range and struggling defensively as the Spartans shot 51.7% (31 of 60) from the field.The Tar Heels’ bench also produced just five points.”There are a number of things we have to clean up,” Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis said. “And that comes from everybody.”North Carolina has plenty of talent on its roster.Freshman forward Caleb Wilson, who is averaging team bests of 19.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game, led the Tar Heels with 18 points and seven rebounds in the loss to Michigan State.Luka Bogavac, the team’s leading 3-point shooter, finished with 11 points after going 1 of 6 from deep.Bogavac said there is plenty to be gained from an early-season loss of that nature.”This is the first team we’ve played that was really physical for 40 minutes,” he said. “They play like us — transition, pushing the ball, switching. I think we should be happy we gave 100% effort, but even that isn’t enough against teams like this. We relaxed for two or three minutes and, against teams like this, you can’t do that. It’s good it happened early so we can learn.”Similar to North Carolina, Kentucky (5-2) also has suffered a loss to Michigan State, 83-66 on Nov. 18 in New York.The Wildcats have rebounded with routs of Loyola Maryland (88-46) and Tennessee Tech (104-54). In the victory over the Golden Eagles on Wednesday, Kentucky’s Trent Noah and Denzel Aberdeen shined with four 3-pointers apiece.

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