The Kentucky Wildcats have another season where they are pursuing perfecting. The SEC team sits at No. 1 in the nation with a perfect 10-0 record. However, the rest of the season is not going to be easy as injuries have hit hard and hit early. After losing their star junior forward Alex Poythress to an ACL tear, the WIldcats will now face off against the North Carolina Tar Heels who intend to take advantage of the short-handed Kentucky team.
The Wildcats got bad news this week as Poythress was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. The forward was won of the lone veterans on the team providing leadership and starting abilities. In eight games he played 20.3 minutes averaging 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds. He also made a big impact on defense ranking third on the team with 1.5 blocks. Now, Poythress will undergo surgery and end his season early.
Kentucky will now alter their rotations. The team will now be a man down on a unit that accounted for 60 of the teams 86 blocks which hurt them defensively. Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley Stein will pick up the slack. One thing Kentucky will benefit from is the even amount of minutes played by everyone on the roster as Cauley-Stein remains the only player averaging double digit points.
The Tar Heels will aim to take advantage of the weakened front court by using Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks to help. Johnson is excelling this season, averaging 11.3 points while posting 17 rebounds against East Carolina. Meeks has become a double-double machine, posting six so far this season. The x-factor in the game could be Marcus Paige who gave the team a spark against Kentucky last season when he scored 23 points in the win.
Paige has not looked as good this season as he did when he put up the 23 points. He is averaging just 14.0 points this season which is dipped from last year's 17.5 points. He is also averaging career-worst numbers in rebounds and assists this season despite being a preseason All-American.
