John Calipari delivers impassioned halftime message, praises Kentucky at half vs. UNC

Kentucky head coach John Calipari was full of emotion when he talked to CBS Sports’ Jenny Dell at halftime of the CBS Sports Classic featured matchup. Calipari’s Wildcats held a 40-38 lead over North Carolina, and the head coach was proud — but with a few key critiques.

For one, the game has been a physical, back-and-forth battle, Calipari said. And his players needed to get hip to that reality, which they did.

“Fighting and battling, that’s what this is about. And then you’ve gotta hold your ground. They try to bully, you don’t let them. We try to bully, they’re not going to let us. You’re going to get fouled on layups, you can’t hit the floor and stay there because it’s a basket down the other end. So, that’s what I got on a couple of them about. We gave them two threes because of that,” Calipari said.

But playing against a Top 10 ranked North Carolina team, Calipari was happy to be holding a lead at the half with such a young and inexperienced team.

He paid them quite a compliment, too.

“I’m proud of my guys. They’re fighting like heck. You’re talking about the youngest team, or one of the — they act like they belong. I’m proud of them,” Calipari said. 

Calipari’s coaching counterpart would be down for more of this matchup

Dating back to 1942, Kentucky and North Carolina have played each other 42 times. They’ll add another chapter to their rivalry on Saturday when they square off in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta.

From 2000-11, though, the Tar Heels and Wildcats played a home-and-home series, and they did one more time in 2013 and 2014. Since then, the two programs have played five times — four times in the CBS Sports Classic and once in the 2017 Elite Eight.

If there was an opportunity to renew that home-and-home, though, UNC coach Hubert Davis said he’d be in favor of doing so.

“Yeah. I would,” Davis said ahead of Saturday’s matchup. “I would, yes.”

North Carolina holds the 25-17 lead in the all-time series, but Kentucky has won three of the last five meetings. The latest came in 2021 CBS Sports Classic when the Wildcats flew past the Tar Heels 98-69 in Davis’ first year as head coach.

This year, both teams are off to strong starts to the season with identical 7-2 records. North Carolina is coming off a loss to UConn earlier this week after three straight victories, including one over No. 10 Tennessee. Kentucky, meanwhile, defeated Penn as the Wildcats bounced back from a loss to UNC Wilmington. UK also has a huge upset victory over Miami on its resume during the ACC-SEC Challenge.