Wildcats defeat Tar Heels in CBS Sports Classic in Chicago

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

The No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats defeated No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday night. The Wildcats won 80-72 over the Tar Heels in the CBS Sports Classic at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

The Wildcats improved to 9-2 with the win. Kentucky has now won their last two games after suffering a loss to the Seton Hall Pirates on December 8th.

Keldon Johnson taking a jumper against the North Carolina Tar Heels (Photo by Quinn Foster | UK Athletics)

The Tar Heels fell to 8-3 with the loss. North Carolina had its two game win streak snapped with this defeat.

Two of their three losses have come to ranked teams. They lost to then-No. 7 Michigan Wolverines, 84-67, on November 28th.

The team also lost 92-89 to the Texas Longhorns on November 22nd.

Keldon Johnson led the Wildcats with 21 points. He also had two rebounds and three assists.

Johnson was one of four Kentucky players, who scored in double-figures. Reid Travis had 20, while Tyler Herro added 15, and PJ Washington contributed 11.

The Wildcats had six bench points. Immanuel Quickley, Nick Richards, and EJ Montgomery had two points each off the bench.

Cameron Johnson led the Tar Heels with 17 points. He also had four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

Johnson was one of three North Carolina players, who scored in double-digits. Luke Maye scored 16, while Kenny Williams added 11.

The Tar Heels had 13 bench points. Seventh Woods led the bench with seven points. He also had one rebound, three assists, and one steal.

Tar Heels ink 68-year-old Williams to new deal

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

The North Carolina Tar Heels have signed Roy Williams to an eight-year contract extension on Wednesday morning. Financial terms of the extension were not disclosed.

Williams is now signed through the 2027-28 season. He has been the head coach at his alma mater for the past 16-years.

Roy Williams reacts during a play against the Texas A&M Aggies in the 2018 Men’s Basketball Tournament second-round game (Getty Images)

“I’m grateful and humbled in the University’s continued faith in my leadership of the basketball program,” Williams said. “When I coached at Kansas, my contracts with Nike and our media partner were private, and UNC respected and honored that for 15-years. However, times have changed and understanding the environment that college basketball faces now, Chancellor Folt, Bubba [Cunningham], and I agreed the correct and proper thing would be to disclose those terms.”

The Tar Heels also announced that there are personal service contracts with Nike with four head coaches. Nike has also agreed to a 10-year extension with the Tar Heels Athletic Department.

The school also announced a 12-year extension with Learfield Communications.

The personal service contracts for head coaches are for Williams, women’s soccer head coach Anson Dorrance, baseball head coach Mike Fox, women’s basketball head coach Sylvia Hatchell, and football head coach Mack Brown. Brown’s personal service contract with Nike has not begun yet.

This season, Williams has guided the team to an 8-2 record. The team upset No. 8 Gonzaga Bulldogs, 103-90, on Saturday, December 15th before the extension.

At North Carolina, he has gone 432-128 in 560 games. Since returning to his alma mater, he guided the team to the National Championship in 2005, 2009, 2017.

Martelli: Jay Wright deserved Big 5 Coach of the Year

Saint Joseph’s University head coach Phil Martelli did a pretty selfless act to recognize a fellow Philadelphia-area head coach. Martello gave his coach of the year award to Villanova head coach Jay Wright.

The Big 5 held its annual award dinner on Monday night, where it honors those that had a good year. Three of the Big 5 teams advanced to the NCAA March Madness tournament.

Temple and Saint Joe’s were eliminated early on — and the Wildcats won the National Championship over the historic North Carolina Tar Heels with a buzzer-beater by Kris Jenkins. However, at The Palestra dinner, Wright did not receive the Coach of the Year honors.

Saint Joe’s took home the most awards as DeAndre Bembry took home the Big 5 Player of the Year and Martelli the Coach of the Year. Bembry has decided to enter the NBA Draft — and is considered a legit NBA prospect, whose expected to go in the first-round.

While Saint Joe’s performed better than expected, the Wildcats was expected to be the better team all season from the area. They were ranked 9th and 11th from two different, major preseason polls.

“Seriously, there’s not one person in here that would say, ‘Big 5 Coach of the Year? It must be Phil Martelli! It’s not Jay Wright!’,” Martelli said. “The man won the National Championship. I’m cool. We had a hell of a year. But Philadelphia, I’m going to save you from yourself.

“Threw snowballs at Santa Clause. Threw batteries at J.D. Drew. Cheered when Michael Irvin got a concussion. And did not give Jay Wright the Coach of the Year — the year he won the National Championship.”

Then, later, Martelli added, “Jay this is yours. I’m going to borrow it for an hour and if I can get into your gated community in Newtown Square, I’ll drop it off.”

He then put a sticky-note on the trophy with Jay Wright, as you can see in the photo.