Kentucky Wildcats in Tear After Having Two players Suspended Today Due to…
Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday night’s Kentucky-North Carolina men’s basketball game at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta.
How the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats (7-2) and the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels (7-2) match up at each position for Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic game in Atlanta — with a game prediction:
SMALL FORWARD
In the return to his hometown of Philadelphia last Saturday, Kentucky freshman Justin Edwards (9.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 46.6% FGs, 25.9% treys, 68.4% FTs) was limited to 14 minutes of playing time by foul trouble. In what became an 81-66 UK win over Pennsylvania, the 6-foot-8, 203-pound Edwards finished with six points and three rebounds. After going 0-of-6 on field-goal attempts in Kentucky’s 89-84 loss to then-No. 1 Kansas, Edwards has made 23 of 46 shots in the Wildcats’ subsequent six games.
As a 35.2 percent career 3-point shooter entering this season, North Carolina’s Cormac Ryan (10.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg) was brought in by UNC head man Hubert Davis to be a perimeter marksman. So far, however, the 6-5, 195-pound super-senior has yet to get his shot dialed in, making 32.9% on field-goal tries, 25.5% on 3-point attempts. After starting his college career at Stanford, Ryan played the previous three seasons at Notre Dame. In the Fighting Irish’s 64-63 win over UK at Rupp Arena in 2020-21, Ryan had six points, eight rebounds and four assists. The following season, when Notre Dame upset No. 10 UK 66-62 in South Bend, Ryan went for seven points, five rebounds and four assists
