Morehead State (4-1) at (3) Kentucky (4-1)

In between facing two of the most storied programs in NCAA history, Kentucky tries to recover from a loss and tune up for another big challenge when it hosts intrastate rival Morehead State on Wednesday.

The 10th-ranked Wildcats (4-1) suffered their first loss of the season with Saturday’s 91-78 defeat at then-No. 9 North Carolina. Kelenna Azubuike scored 24 points and Joe Crawford finished with 11 for Kentucky, which never led and was down 15 at the half.

The Wildcats were outrebounded 51-30 and Chuck Hayes was held to four points. Hayes, Kentucky’s leading scorer through the first four games, was plagued by foul trouble and did not score in the first half.

“I talked about being tested today and we failed this test,” Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. “A lot it has to do with UNC. North Carolina played their game. We allowed them to control the tempo from the start. The biggest thing we concentrated on was transition defense and we were very poor at that all day long giving up lay-ups after lay-ups.

“We gave up a lot of second shots. I don’t think I’ve ever had a team get outrebounded by 21. North Carolina was ready. You could just see the difference in their physical play. They took us out of it early, but we kept fighting back. I know we’re a better team than we showed today.”

The Wildcats, whose 1,880 victories are more than any other school, had won the previous four meetings with North Carolina—the second-winningest program in college basketball history.

Kentucky, which has seven national titles, takes on Indiana at Freedom Hall in Louisville on Saturday. The Hoosiers have five national titles and lost in the final of the NCAA Tournament in 2002.

While the matchup with Indiana is a highly anticipated one, the Wildcats have been concentrating on improving on their performance against North Carolina.

“I think our guys learned a lot from that game,” Smith said. “We have responded the right way in practice. They came out and had a very intense practice (Monday) in the areas where we needed more intensity, like our focus on our defense and in our rebounding that we’ve been harping about all year long.”

Morehead State (4-1) is coached by Kyle Macy, who led Kentucky to the 1978 national title. The former Wildcats point guard was a two-time All-American and holds the Kentucky record for free-throw percentage (.890).

“They’re an excellent team when it comes to their execution. With Kyle Macy, its always tough when you play against friends and family, as well. You feel like (Assistant Coach) Allen Edwards and Kyle Macy are part of the Kentucky Wildcat family,” Smith added.

“They’re having a good year at 4-1, and they have some people that we need to be concerned about that are playing well. We’ll pay attention to Chad McKnight and a young man by the name of Jonathan True who we tried to get to walk-on here and come to the University of Kentucky.”

The Eagles, who have lost seven all-time meetings with Kentucky, have won their last three games overall.

McKnight, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, scored 22 points in 24 minutes to lead Morehead State to a 64-52 victory over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne on Saturday. True, a 6-11 freshman center, had six points and seven rebounds.

Kentucky is 27-0 all-time against schools from the Ohio Valley Conference, including a 92-63 win over Tennessee Tech on November 30.