Tar Heels rebound to hold off Kentucky

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – As the coaches shook hands after North Carolina beat 10th-ranked Kentucky 75-73 on Saturday, Roy Williams told John Calipari, “Not real well played, but a good game.”

To which, the UK coach replied, “Well said, Coach, well said.”

Kentucky and North Carolina might be pale imitations of their championship best, but the blueblood programs proved they still know how to throw a basketball party.

What Williams called a “hard-fought, hand-to-hand combat type of game” unfolded at the powder-blue Dean Dome. In the end, foul trouble – and perhaps the homecourt disadvantage – proved too much for Kentucky to overcome.

Clutch free-throwing gave North Carolina a victory over Kentucky and the look-at-us victory the stumbling Tar Heels craved.

Forward John Henson, who spearheaded a defense that hounded freshman flash Terrence Jones into a 3-for-17 shooting afternoon, said the Tar Heels did some soul searching after a loss at Illinois on Tuesday dropped them to a pedestrian 4-3.

“We told ourselves, we’re not going to have another year like last year,” he said in reference to the 20-17 record of last season. “We needed to win big time.”

North Carolina made 9 of 10 free throws in the final 1:21 to hold off UK.

The only miss came with 5.6 seconds left. When Dexter Strickland shot long, UK got the rebound. But Doron Lamb’s half-court heave never had a chance, about the only shortcoming in his career-high 24-point performance.

Tyler Zeller, a 69.4-percent free-throw shooter this season, made 6 of 6 attempts in that span.