Ryan Black, Louisville Courier JournalWed, December 3, 2025 at 4:54 AM UTC·2 min readLEXINGTON — There's no such thing as a "learning how to win" statistic. It's empirical. An intangible quality. Some teams intrinsically possess this trait — finding a path to victory in spite of struggles.
To this point, early in its 2025-26 season, Kentucky basketball hadn't proven it could do that.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementUK had beaten five opponents (Nicholls, Valparaiso, Eastern Illinois, Loyola Maryland and Tennessee Tech) that posed no threat. The two foes Kentucky faced of equal merit (Louisville and Michigan State) imposed their will and sent the Wildcats home with losses.
Tuesday night at Rupp Arena, UK showed it still has more growing to do versus top-level opponents, unable to hold off a fellow member of college basketball royalty, North Carolina, in a 67-64 setback in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
It's a continuation of a troubling trend for the Wildcats (5-3) under second-year coach Mark Pope: They've never won a game in which they scored fewer than 70 points, falling to 0-8 in such contests after Tuesday's defeat.
The Tar Heels (7-1), on the other hand, picked up another high-profile triumph, joining last month's home win over Kansas.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn a battle of ranked teams — UK was No. 18 in both the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll and AP Top 25; UNC was 17th in the coaches rankings and 16th in the AP poll — a win was there for the taking for the hosts.
After a pair of free throws from freshman center Malachi Moreno, Kentucky led, 62-61, with 1:41 to play. But the visitors scored six of the game's final eight points.
North Carolina had freshman guard Derek Dixon to thank for emerging with the win: He hit a stepback 3 to give his squad a 64-62 advantage with just under a minute to play. Then, after Kentucky's Collin Chandler's layup knotted the score at 64-all moments later, Dixon answered again.
He put the ball on the floor and wasn't stopped on his drive to the rim, converting the game's go-ahead basket for a 66-64 lead with only 16 seconds remaining.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball loses, lets learning opportunity slip vs Heels
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