UNC Basketball Game Preview: Miami vs. North Carolina
We preview Saturday’s big ACC matchup between UNC and Miami
The No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (21-5, 10-3) are coming off a heart-breaking loss to the Duke Blue Devils on this past Wednesday night. Today, Carolina faces the No. 11 Miami Hurricanes (21-4, 10-3). Both teams sit atop the ACC conference. The winner of today’s game will be the lone first-place team in the conference.
The Tar Heels have been struggling to score as of late. Against Duke, Marcus Paige and Joel Berry II struggled from the field. Collectively, Paige and Berry connected on four of their 22 field goals.
Brice Johnson, however, was dynamic in the Duke loss. Johnson scored 29 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, while connecting on 13 of his 17 field goals. The sad thing about the Duke game was that Carolina out-rebounded Duke on the boards 44-29. Usually, this type of advantage on the boards equates to a win, but it did not for Carolina. The Heels could not hit shots on Wednesday night.
Miami is not chopped liver. They are solid offensive and defensive team. Carolina must get Johnson involved on the offense early in the game. Isaiah Hicks needs to rebound from his dismal performance against Duke, also. He had four points and four rebounds in that game. Likewise, Paige and Berry must shoot better. When they hit shots, teams cannot double down on the interior which is Carolina’s bread-and-butter. However, their offense must continue to run through Johnson. This season, he is the go-to player for Carolina; not Paige. Carolina cannot change what works for them – getting the ball to Brice Johnson. If he needs 25 shots to keep UNC ahead in the game, then feed him the ball until the buzzer sounds.
Miami has one of the top ACC point guards, Angel Rodriguez. He averages 4.44 assists per game, ranking him fifth in the ACC behind James Robinson (Pittsburgh), Demetrius Jackson (Notre Dame), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (Florida State) and Anthony Barber (N.C. State). Miami’s Tonye Jekiri ranks fifth in rebounds in the ACC (9.6 per game). UNC’s Johnson is tied for first place in rebounds in the ACC with Georgia Tech’s Charles Mitchell (10.38).
Miami’s heart and soul is guard, Sheldon McClellan. McClellan is having a great season, with current averages of 16.1 points per game, 52.1% field goal percentage and and 87.4% free throw percentage. Together, Jekiri, McClellan and Rodriguez could give Carolina problems today.
You may look at each team’s records and notice that although UNC lost to Duke, Miami beat Duke. Likewise, Miami lost to Clemson whereas UNC did not. Also, Miami beat Pittsburgh at home by two points whereas UNC beat Pittsburgh by 21 points. Mathematically, the Pythagorean Theorem makes sense, but you cannot apply the “If a=b and b=c, then a=c” mindset to basketball.
Today’s game will be close. These teams match up well together. This game may be just as close as the Duke-Carolina game from Wednesday night. Carolina wins a close game. UNC will avenge their recent loss and Johnson will continue his 2016 ACC Player of the Year campaign.
WHAT? Miami Hurricanes @ North Carolina Tar Heels
WHEN? Saturday, February 20, 2015
TIME? 1:00 p.m. E.T.
WHERE? Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? CBS
RADIO? Tar Heel Sports Network
PREDICTION? UNC beats Miami, 82-77