Tyler Hansbrough apologizes to Kentucky basketball fans. (But he still gets in some digs.)

Former North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough has had some fun — and ruffled some feathers — at Kentucky fans’ expense since joining the Field of 68 podcast as a college basketball analyst.

He was back at it Monday night — 48 hours after UK defeated his Tar Heels 87-83 in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta — with a message for followers of the Wildcats, but this time he came in peace. Seemingly.

“Hey, what’s up, Big Blue Nation,” the UNC legend started. “It’s Tyler Hansbrough, your favorite analyst and former college basketball player. I owe you guys an apology. You smacked my Tar Heels, and I’ve got to give you some credit.”

Nice enough, after Hansbrough picked the Heels to beat Kentucky on a Field of 68 preview show before the game. He wasn’t finished, however.

“I underestimated you,” Hansbrough continued. “I was just going off the fact that you guys lost to UNCW. At Rupp. And you guys almost lost to Saint Joseph’s. At Rupp. And you blew a 14-point lead to Kansas, late in the game. I thought for sure my Tar Heels would win. But they didn’t. So congratulations on your first Quad 1 win of the whole year. You guys are a young and developing team. And, also, I’ve gotta give Cal a lot of credit. Not fouling, up three, late in the game, when we turned it over — that was a great coaching decision. So, Cal, good job.”

In a matter of seconds, Hansbrough ran through UK’s shocking upset to UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2, a near-loss to Saint Joseph’s on Nov. 20, and a heartbreaking loss to No. 1-ranked Kansas in the Champions Classic six days before that.

Hansbrough was correct that Saturday marked UK’s first Quad 1 victory, an important stat for Selection Sunday. His compliment of John Calipari also recalled the 2008 national title game, when Memphis didn’t foul Kansas in a similar situation, leading to Mario Chalmers’ overtime-forcing 3-pointer and the Jayhawks’ eventual championship victory.

Calipari said the night of that game that the Tigers were trying to foul KU, and he said Saturday night that his instructions were to foul before UNC could get a shot off. The Tar Heels turned it over almost immediately after crossing halfcourt, ultimately ending their chances.

Going into the game, Hansbrough said on Field of 68 that he was picking Carolina to win.

“Of course I’m takin’ my Tar Heels,” he said. “I’ve got a lot at stake, because I’ve talked a lot of smack to Big Blue Nation, and they’ve deserved every bit of it — what they’ve come to me with on Twitter. And you better not let my Tar Heels roll into Atlanta and smack you guys like UNC Wilmington just did in Rupp.”

Hansbrough was 4-0 in his career against Kentucky, playing against the Wildcats in the final two seasons of Tubby Smith’s tenure and the only two years of the Billy Gillispie era. He was the national player of the year as a junior and led the Tar Heels to the NCAA title as a senior in 2009, which was Calipari’s last season at Memphis before coming to Lexington. (Calipari is now 8-4 against UNC as Kentucky’s head coach.)

“The key to this game is going to be defense,” Hansbrough said when breaking down the game. “If we can lock down (Antonio) Reeves, and not let some other guy — like Reed Sheppard — come off the bench and just have a highlight night, I think we win.”

Reeves scored a season-low nine points. Rob Dillingham led a balanced effort for the Wildcats with 17 points.

“And also, I know that Kentucky’s big man just came back and is playing — um, I can’t think of his name off the top of my head,” Hansbrough said.

“Aaron Bradshaw,” a co-host said.

“Yep. Bradshaw,” Hansbrough continued. “I’m looking for the Bradshaw and Armando (Bacot) matchup. That’s gonna be a great one to keep your eye on — two bigs going at it. One’s a veteran — a lot of experience. The other guy is a new guy, but highly athletic and has a lot of shot-blocking ability, so that’s going to be an interesting matchup to me.”

The Bacot-Bradshaw matchup was indeed entertaining, and both bigs got into foul trouble along the way. Bradshaw, playing in his third college game, had 12 points, three rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes. Bacot, a fifth-year player and preseason All-American, had nine points, six rebounds and six turnovers in 31 minutes.

“If we come and play defense, I think we win,” Hansbrough finished. “But Kentucky is a team full of younger players, and they can get hot and they can play with anybody. But, also, they’ve shown their vulnerability, and they can also lose to anybody as well.”

His final prediction: North Carolina 96, Kentucky 84. The final score, again, was UK 87, UNC 83.

Hansbrough ended his “apology” video Monday night with a parting shot, a reference to UNC’s buzzer-beating victory over Kentucky in the 2017 Elite Eight after the Cats had defeated the Tar Heels 103-100 in the regular season.

“Don’t feel too good about this stuff,” he said. “You know what happened last time my Tar Heels lost to you in Vegas. We came back in the tournament. My guy Luke Maye hit a huge shot to send us to the Final Four. So don’t forget that.”

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