LAS VEGAS — They’ve gone and done it now.
Oh you bet they have, these Kentucky Wildcats. Why they went right out and discovered themselves in the desert and made the mighty North Carolina Tar Heels look like North Florida or Bob Morris or any of those seven creamy cupcakes the Cats devoured during those early season feel-good team-building exercises.
In case you missed it, we have a college basketball final from the CBS Sports Classic at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday: Kentucky 98, North Carolina 69.
Oh, they’ve done it now, these Wildcats. They’ve shown us just exactly how good they can be.
Remember Sahvir Wheeler? He’s the UK point guard last seen riding the pine at crunch time of the Cats’ 66-62 loss at Notre Dame the previous painful Saturday. He’s the one the Irish mocked as someone who “can’t shoot” and whom Wheeler proved correct by shooting himself right to the bench.
Different Saturday, different story. In Vegas, Wheeler put on a show. Just because you can’t shoot, doesn’t mean you can’t score. Against the humbled Heels, the 5-foot-9 New York native went wheeling and dealing right there on the strip. Off repeated drives to the rim, Wheeler scored a game-high 26 points, dished out eight assists, claimed Most Valuable Player honors and denied he was on a mission to destroy the doubters.
“I play for the big lights,” Wheeler said afterward.
Remember Oscar Tshiebwe? He’s the Cats 6-foot-9 center from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who cleans every backboard in a 94-foot radius. For much of the first half Saturday, however, Tshiebwe had a seat on the sidelines after picking up two fouls. No Oscar, no problem. His teammates still built a 40-29 halftime lead. And when Tshiebwe returned, the fun intensified. He finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds in 22 minutes as UK crushed Carolina on the boards 44-26.
“When my teammates are rebounding,” said a smiling Oscar, “I don’t have to do all of the work.”
OK, OK, so Ohio State and UCLA weren’t the only no-shows in Vegas. At least the Buckeyes and Bruins had an excuse, dropping out of Saturday’s Classic because of COVID. North Carolina was there in name only. From those ghastly black uniforms to their dazed-and-confused effort, the Heels were horrible.
“Kentucky played with a fire inside them after losing to Notre Dame,” first-year UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “They played harder. They played smarter. They played tougher.”
Said UK head coach John Calipari, “I told Hubert after the game that’s by far the best we’ve played all year.”
Now, we’re going to expect the Cats to keep playing that way. They’re like the kid in class who makes so-so grades then pops up and aces a big test. We’ve now seen what Big Blue can do. As poorly as North Carolina performed — did we mention the Heels were 1-for-13 from three-point range — Kentucky was responsible for much of the Tar Heels’ troubles. Fact is, if Saturday had been your typical Las Vegas prize fight, it would have been stopped midway through the second half.
Next up, Louisville is scheduled to limp into Rupp Arena on Wednesday for a 6 p.m. renewal of the in-state rivalry. We hope the Cardinals will be there, anyway. The way COVID has reared its ugly head again, there are no absolutes these days. Wheeler said Saturday that in pregame the Cats told themselves that, with all the depressing reports of cancellations and postponements, North Carolina might be UK’s last game for awhile.
If Wednesday is indeed a go, the Cards are dealing with struggles of their own. They fell 82-72 to Western Kentucky in Bowling Green on Saturday. Head coach Chris Mack is back after a six-game suspension to start the season but his Cardinals are a shaky 7-4 with losses to Furman, Michigan State, DePaul and Rick Stansbury’s Hilltoppers.
Meanwhile, an 8-2 Kentucky has raised its bar. It showed us what it is capable of doing when everyone is engaged, when all the parts are humming, when everything is clicking.
Next question: Was Saturday a mirage, or can the Cats keep it up?
