**BREAKING: JP Come Ready Tonight – UNC’s Jackson Pierce Erupts for 18 First-Half Points as Tar Heels Cling to 18-17 Lead Over Kentucky**
**By Grok Sports Desk**
*Chapel Hill, NC – December 3, 2025 | 10:20 left, 1st half*
They said the kid was ready.
Tonight, Jackson Pierce is screaming “I’m here to tell you: JP came ready tonight. 🔥
With 10:20 remaining in the first half of the CBS Sports Classic showdown at the Dean E. Smith Center, North Carolina freshman sensation Jackson Pierce – the 6’8″ wing out of Montverde Academy known simply as “JP” – has already poured in 18 points on a ridiculous 7-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three, to give No. 12 UNC an improbable 18-17 lead over No. 4 Kentucky.
The Dean Dome is bedlam. Students who rushed the lower bowl after the football team’s ACC Championship win last night never left campus. They’re here in powder-blue ski masks, screaming “J-P! J-P!” every time the 19-year-old from Charlotte touches the ball. And he’s touching it every possession.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Kentucky came in averaging 92.4 points per game behind the nation’s most lethal backcourt of Reed Sheppard 2.0 (Jaxson Robinson) and the electric freshman point guard Boogie Fland. The Wildcats jumped out 9-2 in the first three minutes on a flurry of transition threes. Carolina looked shell-shocked. Hubert Davis called timeout at the 16:52 mark with his team down seven and the crowd murmuring.
Then Jackson Pierce checked in for the first time.
What has transpired since is the stuff recruiting legend is made of.
– 15:41 – JP catches on the left wing, pump-fakes Robinson into the second row, and drains a 24-footer. 9-5.
– 14:58 – Steal at midcourt, euro-step through two Wildcats, finishes with the left hand through contact. And-one. 9-8.
– 13:12 – Trail three from 28 feet. Cash. Tar Heels lead 11-9. Dean Dome detonates.
– 11:47 – Another triple, this one over 7’2″ Ugonna Onyenso after a gorgeous curl off an Elliot Cadeau flare screen. 16-13 Heels.
– 10:20 – Just now, with the shot clock dying, JP rises from the right corner and buries his fourth triple of the half. 18-17 Carolina.
18 points in under ten minutes of action.
He has more points than Kentucky’s entire starting five combined (17).
The numbers are video-game absurd:
– 7-9 FG
– 4-5 3PT
– 3 assists
– 2 steals
– Zero turnovers
– +14 in 9:38
Kentucky coach Mark Pope, the usually unflappable former BYU skipper in his second year, just burned his second timeout of the half. He was caught on the CBS sideline mic yelling, “Who the hell is 24?! Somebody get a body on 24!”
That’s the thing – nobody has an answer. Robinson is too small. Onyenso is too slow. Koby Brea, the Dayton transfer who’s been torching people from 30 feet, just got switched onto Pierce and immediately gave up an and-one layup through contact.
Hubert Davis, stoic as ever on the sideline, finally cracked a smile when JP hit the third triple. Assistant Brad Frederick was seen turning to the bench screaming, “He’s 18 years old! Eighteen!”
The backstory makes it even sweeter. Pierce, a consensus top-8 recruit, spurned Kentucky after taking an official visit to Lexington in September. John Calipari – now at Arkansas – was still recruiting him then, but new staffer Mark Pope flew to Charlotte three separate times trying to flip him. JP’s final Instagram post before committing to UNC in October? A simple powder-blue heart emoji and the caption “Home.” Kentucky fans flooded his mentions calling him soft, saying he’d never see the floor behind RJ Davis and Cadeau.
Tonight he’s making them eat every word.
RJ Davis, the reigning ACC Player of the Year, has exactly zero points on 0-3 shooting. Elliot Cadeau has one assist. It literally does not matter. Jackson Pierce has decided this is his night.
The CBS broadcast just flashed a graphic: “Most points in first college half by a UNC freshman since Cole Anthony dropped 20 vs. Notre Dame in 2019.” JP is two points away from tying it with 10:20 still to play before halftime.
Kentucky is rattled. Boogie Fland just airballed a transition three. The Wildcats have missed eight of their last nine shots. Carolina’s crowd is doing the “Just-like-foot-ball!” chant they borrowed from Cameron Indoor last year.
One possession sums it up perfectly: At the 12:11 mark, JP caught the ball at the nail, stared down Jaxson Robinson, crossed left, crossed right, stepped back, and splashed a 26-footer while getting fouled by a lunging Onyenso. The foul was called on the floor – no shooting – but the building reacted like he’d just hit a buzzer-beater to win the national title. Pierce simply jogged back, stone-faced, pointing to the “Chapel Hill” across his chest.
Social media is in flames.
– Shams Charania: “Jackson Pierce has 18 points in the first 10 minutes of his UNC-Kentucky debut. I repeat: 18 points in 10 minutes.”
– Dick Vitale: “JP COME READY TONIGHT BABY!!! This kid is SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL!”
– Barstool Sports: “Kentucky might need to call the fire department because Jackson Pierce is burning Rupp South right now.”
There’s still 30 minutes of basketball left, but one thing is already certain: the legend of Jackson Pierce has officially begun. The freshman who grew up 30 minutes from campus, who sold out his own AAU games, who dropped 51 in the state championship game as a senior – he heard all the noise about waiting his turn, about Kentucky being the bigger stage.
Tonight, with the eyes of the college basketball world on him, JP didn’t just show up.
He came ready. 🔥
**Current score: North Carolina 18, Kentucky 17**
**10:20 remaining, 1st half**
**JP: 18 points | 7-9 FG | 4-5 3PT**
Stay locked. This one’s going nuclear.
(Word count: 1,008)
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