Watch out: Kentucky's freshmen prove they're growing up quickly in win over UNC

North Carolina is one of the oldest teams in college basketball, with an average age of 22.1 years. Kentucky is one of the youngest, with an average age of 20.0 years. Yet, tonight, it was Kentucky’s freshmen who showed more poise than North Carolina’s veterans, leading the No. 14 Cats to a massive 87-83 victory over the No. 9 Tar Heels.

Sixty-two of Kentucky’s 87 points were scored by freshmen. Four of the five rookies that played finished in double figures, led by Rob Dillingham, who had a team-high 17 points. Three freshmen (Aaron Bradshaw, Reed Sheppard, Dillingham) led the Cats in efficiency, and all five made clutch plays down the stretch to seal the win, Kentucky’s eighth and biggest of the season. It was a game that had an NCAA Tournament-like feel to it, and the way the young Cats responded bodes incredibly well for March.

“Let me say this: UNC is a Final Four-level team; they are,” Cal said. “They’re a good team. We were lucky to win but I’m happy for this young group because they really worked hard. They’ve sacrificed for each other. You want them to feel that.

“But I’ll tell you, on CBS, on national television, to make the plays they made at the end to win the game shows you what they are.“

Kentucky sprinted out to an 11-4 lead thanks to a hot start by Bradshaw, who made the most of his first collegiate start by scoring five of the Cats’ first nine points. The Cats were up by ten with under three minutes until halftime, but the Tar Heels narrowed that margin to two, 40-38, at the break. It was a back-and-forth battle in the second half as North Carolina refused to go away, taking its first lead, 72-71, with 5:15 to play.

Instead of buckling under pressure, Kentucky quickly recaptured the momentum, with Bradshaw and Dillingham pushing the Cats back on top 77-72 to force a Tar Heel timeout with 3:45 remaining. From there, Dillingham, Wagner, and Bradshaw combined for eight of Kentucky’s final ten points, with super-senior Antonio Reeves — the team’s leading scorer this season — chipping in the other two.

Bradshaw’s points may have been the most impressive. In just his third game back from injury, the freshman hit three of four free throws in the final 47 seconds to seal the victory. Afterward, he told Goose Givens that he was thinking of his family and his hometown of Rahway, New Jersey while he was at the line for those crucial shots.

“I just go to my happy place, and that’s really in my room in Rahway. And I just thought about my mom, my dad, my sister and I was just thinking about seeing their faces and that’s what made me really just lock in and make that shot.”

Bradshaw battled foul trouble throughout the game, picking up his third and fourth fouls in the span of 13 seconds early in the second half. With Kentucky’s lead down to three with 6:47 to go, John Calipari put him back in. The fact that Bradshaw was able to be as effective as he was on offense and defense without fouling out speaks volumes.

“I love defense,” Bradshaw said. “Not gonna lie, that’s my favorite thing to do on the basketball court. I love defense and I just wanted to challenge myself not to get that fifth foul. Just seeing if I could really lock in and play defense.”

Bradshaw finished with 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers in 21 minutes. For the third game in a row, he led Kentucky in plus/minus with a +9 total.

“I knew I was gonna make mistakes, I knew I wasn’t always gonna score. It was just stay level-headed and just play the hardest you can play. That’s what Coach Cal was putting in my head: play the hardest you can play. No matter what you do, make sure you do it 110%.”

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“You all saw it out there”

Bradshaw wasn’t the only freshman to show poise beyond his years. DJ Wagner did what he does best: put his head down and get tough buckets. Reed Sheppard showed why he’s one of the top freshmen in the country, keeping Kentucky alive during crucial stretches in the second half. Rob Dillingham’s good moments in the second half outweighed the wild ones in the first.

“I feel like it’s crazy for real because we didn’t really have experience playing older dudes and playing in games like that,” Dillingham said of the win. “So, you definitely see mistakes within some of us — especially me, I make freshman mistakes — but I feel like playing in games like that helps us grow and learn.”

Tre Mitchell, the oldest player on Kentucky’s roster, was impressed by how much the freshmen have come in just one month since losing to Kansas in a similar scenario in the Champions Classic.

“You all saw it out there,” grad transfer Tre Mitchell said of the freshmen. “They made plays down the stretch, big baskets down the stretch. They were willing to step up and make the play. These dudes are gaining experience, a game like this comes down to the wire. You see the fire in dudes’ eyes and they’re ready to go get it.”

It’s impossible not to get excited about this team’s potential after watching them outlast a veteran squad like the Tar Heels. John Calipari had that giddy tone to his voice in his postgame remarks, taking special care to remind everyone that Kentucky still has one seven-footer left on the bench, Zvonimir Ivisic, who has yet to be cleared by the NCAA; that said, he insisted that he’s not changing Kentucky’s style of play with the added size.

“Doesn’t change how we’re playing,” Cal said of Kentucky’s plans moving forward. “It doesn’t change what we’re doing. We’re still trying to take 25 to 30 threes. Why that many? Because we can make them.”

Those comments are reassuring, as is the response from this team following the loss to UNC Wilmington and the ho-hum win over Penn last week. There will be more bumps in the road, but tonight, Kentucky showed how high its ceiling is now, with room to grow.

“Oh yeah,” Mitchell said when asked if tonight’s game had a March Madness-like feel. “It felt like we were about to go on a deep run and we felt the crowd’s energy. We felt the intensity out there but I think that being able to feel that intensity from these guys this early, it speaks volumes about their character and how much they want to win.”

“The upside of this team is really up,” Calipari said. “But let’s see if we can get there.”

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