NCAA Tournament Preview: Kentucky vs. North Carolina Predictions

Written by Jake Thompson
Sunday, 27 March 2011 18:18

Our NCAA Tournament preview will help you make final score predictions in the game between Kentucky and North Carolina.

The #4-seeded Kentucky Wildcats (28-8) and the #2-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels (29-7) are set to meet up in the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey at 5:05 PM ET, and our preview should help readers make winning predictions on the final score of this NCAA Tournament game.  Online sportsbooks have made Kentucky the favorite despite the fact that North Carolina bested the Wildcats 75-73 earlier in the season.

The Tar Heels have been the superior road team and their 14-7 mark away from home bests the 13-8 record that Kentucky has put together this season.  That being said, Kentucky is 9-1 in true neutral court games, while North Carolina has won outright in 6 of the last 7 head-to-head meetings with the Wildcats.  Injuries don’t figure to play a big role in deciding the final score between these two, but it is worth noting that North Carolina guard Reggie Bullock (6.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG) has been out with a torn lateral meniscus since the ACC Tournament.

Kentucky has been playing a little slower in the NCAA Tournament but they have really impressed me all season with their 3-point shooting and ability to get high-percentage shots.  The Wildcats play like a veteran squad on offense and they’ll be going up against a North Carolina defense that is allowing 79.0 points per game over their last 5.  On top of that, the Tar Heels have been horrible at guarding the perimeter and it could be the weak area on the team that finally gets them a ride home from this year’s tourney.

North Carolina makes up for their occasional defensive lapses with an explosive offense that goes at 100 miles per hour at all times.  The Tar Heels averaged 77.8 points per game this season but have improved as the year went on and have now scored 83.8 on average over the course of their last 5 contests.  Kentucky has a habit of slowing down these types of high-scoring teams and the Wildcats’ defense has been fantastic all season (63.5 points per game allowed on 39.1% shooting).  The Tar Heels have some excellent rebounders in the paint and it will be a key for Kentucky to make sure North Carolina doesn’t get many second chance attempts.

Final score predictions in the game between Kentucky and North Carolina call for the Wildcats to take this one fairly easily thanks to their ability to limit turnovers, play defense, and make mince meat of a questionable Tar Heels’ defense.  North Carolina has been blown out in games where they struggled to score this year and I think Kentucky has the athleticism and team defense to make like hard on the #2 seed.

Kentucky 78

North Carolina 68