Maybe it was wearing blue uniforms for the first time this season. More likely, it was the chance to make amends for the opening-night debacle against Duke.
Whatever it was, Kentucky surely made the statement it wished to do in an 80-72 victory over North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday.
Going into this weekend, North Carolina had a NCAA Evaluation Tool rating of No. 13. Of UK’s remaining opponents, only Kansas (No. 3) and Tennessee (No. 5) had a better mark.
UK’s “bigs” came up big in victory. Besides combining for 31 points, both Reid Travis and PJ Washington set career highs for assists with three and eight, respectively.