The Kentucky Wildcats are the unanimous No. 1 team in college basketball after the Virginia Cavaliers suffered their first loss of the season to Duke. The team fell at home to the Blue Devils which knocked them down to No. 3 in the rankings. The team has no time to dwell on what went wrong in the big game as they head back on the road to face the North Carolina Tar Heels in another heating ACC matchup.
The Cavaliers' 18-0 start officially ended to Duke on Saturday after the Blue Devils went on a 19-5 run that included making five 3-pointers down the stretch. The team let Duke shoot 50.0 percent for the first time in 44 games as they gave up 43 total points in the second half. The team simply fell apart and now must play North Carolina on the road before facing Louisville on Saturday.
According to junior guard Malcolm Brogdon, a loss could be exactly what the Cavaliers need for the second half of the season. He told the media that getting right back into playing a good team like North Carolina will help keep the team on notice and likely get everyone to improve.
"When you lose a game, you want to get right back into it," said Brogdon, via ESPN.com. "The fact that we are playing a UNC team that is very good this year, one of the highest level teams, that's nothing more than we could want."
They could be facing the Tar Heels at just the right time as they are coming off a disappointing loss to Louisville in overtime after giving up an 18-point lead. They only managed 68 points after averaging 86.0 points during a six-game win streak. Marcus Paige did put up 15 points that were essentially a wasted effort.
History certainly favors Virginia. The Cavaliers have won the last two of three matchups against North Carolina. However, the Tar heels did get the win last time aground, scoring 93 points, the second-most in a six-year time frame.
