Reyshawn Terry scored 25 points and North Carolina made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to stave off a late rally by No. 10 Kentucky and score an 83-79 victory at Rupp Arena.
The loss snapped the Wildcats 11-game home win streak as UK fell to 5-2 on the year. The Tar Heels improved to 4-1 and have won two straight in the series.
Kentucky trailed by 13 points twice in the game, the latest with less than eight minutes to play, before staging a late surge. Down 71-58, Rajon Rondo and Ravi Moss combined to score eight straight points to bring the Wildcats within five with 4:22 remaining.
However, the Tar Heels answered with five straight points, including a dagger of a three pointer by David Noel, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. The bucket came after Carolina recovered a pair of offensive rebounds on the possession.
The Tar Heels had 15 offensive boards in the game, led by Noel?s seven. For the game, UNC held the rebounding edge 37-30 despite a career-high 11 from the Wildcats? Bobby Perry.
Forced to foul late, Kentucky couldn?t get within four after Noel?s three as UNC knocked down its free throws. Rondo did most of the damage late for UK with eight points in the final 23 seconds.
Rondo and Moss both had career days while leading UK with 20 and 17 points, respectively.
Kentucky took the early lead on a three-point barrage. Patrick Sparks, Ravi Moss and Ramel Bradley all buried threes in the first six minutes to stake UK to a 16-10 lead. However, North Carolina answered with a 21-7 run to lead 31-23 at the 6:38 mark of the opening half.
Danny Green, who scored just five points, started the run with a pair of free throws and gave the Tar Heels the lead for good, 20-18, on a three-pointer with 10:47 left in the half. The long ball was one of seven in the half and 10 for UNC in the game.
North Carolina closed the half on a 7-1 spurt and led by 12 at the break, 44-32.
To start the second half, UK scored 12 of the frame?s first 14 points to close the gap to 46-44 before the Tar Heels responded. Bobby Frasor killed the run with his only three pointer of the game and the lead was double-figures again after a six-point spurt.
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday at 8 p.m. when it travels to Atlanta to face Georgia State at Phillips Arena. The game will be televised by ESPNU.
