How to watch UNC Basketball take on Kentucky

So the good news for Carolina basketball is that for the first time in a few years, this matchup against an SEC school won’t be following a long trip where the team played three games in a short span several thousand miles away from Chapel Hill. They took a week off before going to Fort Myers, Florida, and only played two games before coming back to Chapel Hill, so there really shouldn’t be a wear issue facing Carolina as they head up to Lexington, KY for their first trust road test of the season.

When ESPN announced that the ACC/Big Ten Challenge would be replaced with an ACC/SEC challenge due to the shifting television contracts, folks knew that a UNC/Kentucky matchup was an eventuality. Both teams are supposed to meet every three years at the CBS Sports Classic though Covid has changed that schedule around some, so it took a little bit of time for things to align to where ESPN was able to get this game. It should be fun with both squads having big wins under their belts and the atmosphere in Lexington will be electric.

Now for the bad news.

Thanks to the monster that is college football, ESPN has the reveal of the penultimate CFP rankings tonight before any action begins. It could be an email, but instead they need to do the slow reveal, talk about it, set up the big games for the weekend, and debate the rankings. That will take thirty minutes and then ESPN will lead to their first game in Durham. So, if you’re doing the math, that means that the tipoff for Carolina/Kentucky won’t be till at least 9:30 PM Eastern. If Duke/Florida runs long, you can bet they’ll delay the tip in Lexington as well.

There’s one more bit of bad news, depending on your perspective. The ESPN “A” crew of Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas will be in Durham which means the crew calling the Carolina/Kentucky game will be Red Sox TV Play-by-play man Dave O’Brien, Jay Williams, and Dick Vitale.

We all know the struggles that Vitale has gone through recently, and from a human perspective it’s great to see him still going and wanting to call big-time college basketball. In fact on Monday, it was announced that thanks to the licensing agreement ESPN and TNT Sports have with “Inside the NBA” Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale will finally get to team up to call a couple of games this season, including the NCAA Tournament. It’s been a wish for both of them and it’s great to see. No doubt Jay is there to take some of the stress off his shoulders so he doesn’t have to do as much as he used to.

But folks have opinions about Vitale, and he may not be your cup of tea. You’ve been informed.

All that said, if you aren’t going to be in Lexington tonight, here’s how you can catch the action:

Time: 9:30 PM ETLocation: Rupp Arena — Lexington, KYTV: ESPN; Dave O’Brien will handle play-by-play, Dick Vitale and Jay Williams will work color. Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell, either Tyler Zeller or Tyler Hansbrough and Adam Lucas. Here’s a list of affiliates airing the THSN broadcast. You can also listen to them on GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network, Tune In, and Sirius XM on channel 81.Streaming: Watch ESPNLines: UNC +5.5, Moneyline +185/Kentucky -5.5, Moneyline -225, Over/Under 161.5 (-108/-112)