Former North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough has had some fun — and ruffled some feathers — at Kentucky fans’ expense since joining the Field of 68 podcast as a college basketball analyst.
He was back at it Monday night — 48 hours after UK defeated his Tar Heels 87-83 in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta — with a message for followers of the Wildcats, but this time he came in peace. Seemingly.
“Hey, what’s up, Big Blue Nation,” the UNC legend started. “It’s Tyler Hansbrough, your favorite analyst and former college basketball player. I owe you guys an apology. You smacked my Tar Heels, and I’ve got to give you some credit.”
Nice enough, after Hansbrough picked the Heels to beat Kentucky on a Field of 68 preview show before the game. He wasn’t finished, however.
“I underestimated you,” Hansbrough continued. “I was just going off the fact that you guys lost to UNCW. At Rupp. And you guys almost lost to Saint Joseph’s. At Rupp. And you blew a 14-point lead to Kansas, late in the game. I thought for sure my Tar Heels would win. But they didn’t. So congratulations on your first Quad 1 win of the whole year. You guys are a young and developing team. And, also, I’ve gotta give Cal a lot of credit. Not fouling, up three, late in the game, when we turned it over — that was a great coaching decision. So, Cal, good job.”
In a matter of seconds, Hansbrough ran through UK’s shocking upset to UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2, a near-loss to Saint Joseph’s on Nov. 20, and a heartbreaking loss to No. 1-ranked Kansas in the Champions Classic six days before that.
Hansbrough was correct that Saturday marked UK’s first Quad 1 victory, an important stat for Selection Sunday. His compliment of John Calipari also recalled the 2008 national title game, when Memphis didn’t foul Kansas in a similar situation, leading to Mario Chalmers’ overtime-forcing 3-pointer and the Jayhawks’ eventual championship victory.
Calipari said the night of that game that the Tigers were trying to foul KU, and he said Saturday night that his instructions were to foul before UNC could get a shot off. The Tar Heels turned it over almost immediately after crossing halfcourt, ultimately ending their chances.
Going into the game, Hansbrough said on Field of 68 that he was picking Carolina to win.
“Of course I’m takin’ my Tar Heels,” he said. “I’ve got a lot at stake, because I’ve talked a lot of smack to Big Blue Nation, and they’ve deserved every bit of it — what they’ve come to me with on Twitter. And you better not let my Tar Heels roll into Atlanta and smack you guys like UNC Wilmington just did in Rupp.”
Hansbrough was 4-0 in his career against Kentucky, playing against the Wildcats in the final two seasons of Tubby Smith’s tenure and the only two years of the Billy Gillispie era. He was the national player of the year as a junior and led the Tar Heels to the NCAA title as a senior in 2009, which was Calipari’s last season at Memphis before coming to Lexington. (Calipari is now 8-4 against UNC as Kentucky’s head coach.)
“The key to this game is going to be defense,” Hansbrough said when breaking down the game. “If we can lock down (Antonio) Reeves, and not let some other guy — like Reed Sheppard — come off the bench and just have a highlight night, I think we win.”
Reeves scored a season-low nine points. Rob Dillingham led a balanced effort for the Wildcats with 17 points.
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