South Bound & Down
Fansided

Kentucky Basketball: Another powerhouse matchup in the Elite 8

By Matt Green

Dec 17, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Malik Monk (5) drives in to the defense of North Carolina Tar Heels forward Luke Maye (32) during a game at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Malik Monk (5) drives in to the defense of North Carolina Tar Heels forward Luke Maye (32) during a game at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Kentucky basketball team is in the Elite 8 once again, and if they’re going to get to the Final Four, it’ll take beating one of the tournament favorites.

Kentucky and North Carolina will play on Sunday, March 26 at 5:05 EST on CBS.

This is the sixth Elite 8 appearance for Kentucky since John Calipari arrived in 2009.

If the Wildcats are going to make it all the way to the national championship, it will be one of the most impressive runs in NCAA Tournament history.

In the second round they drew a 31-win Wichita State club. In the Sweet 16 they beat a loaded UCLA team led by possibly the best player in the entire tournament. And if they get passed the Elite 8, they’ll likely face Kansas.

But first, they have to get passed North Carolina.

The Tar Heels are a nearly flawless team. And we anticipated this matchup when we laid out Kentucky’s Road to the Final Four a couple weeks ago.

Must Read: Kentucky's Road to the Final Four

When these two teams faced earlier this season, it was one of the best games of the entire season. Kentucky won a 103-100 thriller behind 47 points from Malik Monk.

The Tar Heels haven’t had much of a problem advancing this far in the tournament. They rolled Texas Southern by 39 points, the largest margin of victory of any game in the tournament.

In the second round, Arkansas gave North Carolina their toughest test yet. The Razorbacks led 65-60 with 3:31 remaining, but the Tar Heels closed the game on a 12-0 run to win 72-65.

Then on Friday night North Carolina cruised to a 92-80 win over Butler in the Sweet 16. Joel Berry II and Justin Jackson led the way with 26 and 24 points, respectively. Luke Maye also came off the bench to score 16 points for the Tar Heels.

Matchup Problems

More from Southbound and Down

North Carolina provides a few matchup problems for Kentucky, so there are two big things to watch in this game.

Rebounding

North Carolina is the top-ranked rebounding team in college basketball. Their +13.1 rebounding margin is by far the most in the country.

The Tar Heels have a lot of depth in the front court, with four big guys averaging double-digit minutes per game. And that doesn’t include Jackson, a 6’8 small forward.

And that leads us to our next matchup problem.

Justin Jackson

Jackson was the ACC player of the year and it is going to be difficult for the WIldcats to matchup against him. The Wildcats start three guards that are all 6’3. It will be interesting to see who Kentucky puts on him.

As long as De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk are playing the way they did against UCLA, Kentucky can beat anybody. And Sunday will be the toughest test yet.

Home/Kentucky Wildcats