Lexington, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - The top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats will put their unblemished record in harms way on Saturday afternoon, as they play host to the 21st-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels at Rupp Arena. John Caliparis Wildcats have opened the season with 10 straight wins to solidify their position atop the national polls. Kentucky was last in action on Tuesday and may have shown some chinks in the armor, with a rather bland 56-46 victory over Columbia. This game closes out an eight-game homestand for the Wildcats, who will tangle with UCLA in Chicago next week. Roy Williams Tar Heels have a pair of losses on the season, falling to Butler (74-66) and Iowa (60-55). However, the team got back in the win column and moved to 6-2 on the season with Sundays 108-64 rout of East Carolina. This game begins a three-game road trip that has UNC playing at UNCG and against Ohio State in Chicago next week. North Carolina holds a 23-13 advantage in the all-time series with Kentucky and won last years matchup in Chapel Hill, 82-77. When North Carolina is at its best, it dominates play at both ends of the floor. The Tar Heels enter this contest averaging a hefty 81.6 ppg and boast of an impressive +17.8 scoring margin. The team also lives comfortably in terms of rebounding (+6. and turnover margin (+3.0). The starting five has been instrumental in UNCs success thus far, as the entire set averages double figures. Marcus Paige leads the perimeter assault with a team-best 14.0 ppg. Kennedy Meeks has been a monster in the paint, delivering on nearly 64 percent of his shots and averaging a double-double with 13.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per outing. Further scoring depth comes in the form of Brice Johnson (11.3 ppg), Justin Jackson (10.4 ppg) and J.P. Tokoto (10.0 ppg). The Tar Heels erupted for a season-high 108 points last time out, blowing past East Carolina. UNC shot 60 percent from the floor, including a scorching 71.9 percent in the second half, where they tallied a whopping 60 points. Johnson (19 pts, 17 rebs) and Meeks (12 pts, 11 rebs) both posted double-doubles. Tokoto poured in 19 points and doled out eight assists, while Nate Britt tacked on 10 points off the bench. The Wildcats have dominated the competition this season thanks to stifling defensive play. Kentucky leads the nation in both scoring defense (45.8 ppg) and field-goal percentage defense (.287), while also outrebounding foes (+12.4) and forcing more turnovers (+6.2). A young team did take a hit in terms of its veteran leadership this week however, as big man Alex Poythress suffered a torn ACL on Thursday and is lost for the season. Kentucky still has plenty of talent in the frontcourt to assuage the loss, with junior Willie Cauley-Stein (10.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg), sophomore Dakari Johnson (9.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and freshman Karl-Anthony Towns (9.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.8 bpg). Balance comes in the form of guards Aaron Harrison (9.8 ppg), Devin Booker (8.4 ppg) and Andrew Harrison (7.3 ppg, 3.7 apg). The usually efficient Wildcats really struggled offensively against Columbia last time out, shooting a mere .367 from the floor, a number weighed down by an ugly 2-of-17 effort from behind the arc (.11. However, Kentucky did own a huge advantage over the Lions on the boards (41-2 and held Columbia to just .375 shooting efficiency. Aaron Harrison led the team with 14 points in the win. Cauley-Stein recorded a double-double for Kentucky, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Wholesale Reds Jerseys . - Chelseas 1-0 win at the Etihad, spoiling Manchester Citys perfect home record continues to be the talking point of the week. Reds Jerseys 2019 . Perhaps as important, shes sending a message to 17-year-old gold medal favourite Sara Takanashi of Japan. Iraschko-Stolz relegated Takanashi, who has 10 World Cup victories this season, to second place in two of three training jumps Saturday. https://www.cheapredsjerseys.us/ . The Mavericks were not going to let San Antonio beat them with 3-pointers, and they did not want Tony Parker using the lane as his personal playground. Reds Jerseys 2020 .Best moustache: How can we not give this to Lanny McDonald? Check out the duster for yourself. Stitched Reds Jerseys . Howard hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.TORONTO -- R.A. Dickey hasnt had the best of luck at home this season, giving up 21 more runs at Rogers Centre than he has while pitching on the road. But on Saturday afternoon, the Toronto pitcher was close to flawless. Dickey worked eight solid innings, striking out six and giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks as the Blue Jays defeated the Kansas City Royals 4-2. For the 38-year-old, Saturdays success was about taming his wild knuckleball by controlling its velocity. "An observant person probably saw that I changed speeds quite a bit today and was able to keep the slower knuckleball down and got some outs with it," Dickey said. "When you can add and subtract speed in the strike zone, youre going to have a better chance of your opponent mis-hitting balls and that was helpful for me today. "I took some risks and they paid off and hopefully I can just continue to get better." When Dickey (11-12) left the game after the top of the eighth, Toronto was down 2-0. But as he sat in the dugout with another pending loss hanging over his head, the Blue Jays came alive, taking advantage of some sloppy defence and ineffective pitching to score three unearned runs in the eighth inning. Shortstop Alcides Escobar blew a tailor-made double-play ball and Aaron Crow would later walk in two runs as the Blue Jays won their third game in a row. Jose Reyes hit three singles and Casey Janssen pitched the ninth to pick up his 26th save for Toronto (62-74). "It is very rare, especially late in the game like that because most of the time your opponents better relievers are coming in with a one-, two-, three-run lead so you dont see that happening very often," Dickey said of his teammates late rally. "I was very fortunate. "It wasnt an expectation. I certainly thought we had a chance to tie it, but the way that it happened, you dont see that very often." Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was impressed with his starters outing. "Its been a battle for him here this year but hes on a nice little run, too. Hes pitching very well," Gibbons said. "They scored those two runs early on but that was it, so thats all you can ask for -- eight strong innings. "After Buehrle last night, Dickey today, thats just what we need. Thats why we brought them over, to pitch games like this. Youre not going to get shutouts every time but you want them to hold the game within reason and give you a shot late." Blue Jays rookie Ryan Goins reached base on the Escobar error in the eighth while Reyes moved to second. Edwin Encarnacion walked to load the bases, with Crow coming in to replace Will Smith. Crow strruck out pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa for the second out but unravelled from there, walking Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.ddddddddddddC., to put Toronto in front and then giving the Blue Jays another run by walking Rajai Davis. Ned Yost came out to replace his pitcher and had some words for home-plate umpire Will Little, who ejected the Kansas City manager. Tim Collins came on in relief and got J.P. Arencibia to fly out. "Crow finally throws a strike and it gets called a ball," Yost said. "A strike is a strike ... you dont miss a pitch on a crucial situation like that. If he throws a ball, OK. But I think the replay will show it was definitely a strike." First baseman Eric Hosmer had two hits and drove in a run for Kansas City (69-66) and Escobar picked up the Royals other RBI on a two-out single to score Salvador Perez. Former Blue Jay Emilio Bonifacio had a triple and scored in the third inning for Kansas City. He also struck out three times. Jeremy Guthrie pitched seven strong innings for the Royals, allowing one run on eight hits while striking out four. Kelvin Herrera (5-7) shouldered the loss. The Blue Jays scored their first run in the seventh inning when Josh Thole drove a ball down the left-field line to score Davis. Thole was thrown out at second base on the play. The Blue Jays made a few other base-running blunders during the game. Goins was thrown out trying to go from first base to third on a single by Adam Lind in the first inning, and Reyes was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single into a double in the third. "Baserunning wasnt good today," Gibbons said. "The one with Goins going to third base, thats right in front of him. Hell learn theres certain left-fielders -- Gordons one of the best, a gold-glover. Reyes, Ive got no problem. He runs, thats the way he is. "The Thole one, we cant do that, especially in a tight ball game. Were lucky that didnt come back to bite us." Goins picked up a single in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to eight games. That tied Jesse Barfields team record for the longest hitting streak to begin a major-league career. Barfield set the mark in 1981. NOTES: Encarnacion is one home run shy of becoming the fourth Blue Jay in club history to record 35-plus home runs in back-to-back seasons. The other three players are Carlos Delgado, Shawn Green and Jose Bautista. ... Attendance at Rogers Centre was 34,315. ... The Blue Jays wrap up their three-game series with Kansas City on Sunday. Toronto left-hander J.A. Happ (3-4, 5.46 earned-run average) gets the start for the Jays against Royals right-hander James Shields (9-8, 3.14 ERA). ' ' '