Tar Heel Basketball: UNC Travels To Maryland To Take On The Terps

North Carolina Tar Heels (19-3 overall, 6-1 ACC) at Maryland Terrapins ( 13-8 overall, 3-4 ACC)

When: Sat. Feb. 4 at 4pm est

Where: Maryland (Comcast Center) College Park, Md. ESPN or ESPN2

Game day Tar Heel fans! Carolina travels to Maryland in ACC action (I LOVE this time of year!) It is unknown if UNC star forward Harrison Barnes will play or not after suffering an ankle sprain in the first half against Wake Forest. Barnes played through the injury and finished the game but has not practiced since. My gut, Roy Williams and the Heels are just being careful here and Barnes will play. Why push it and practice him when you don’t have to? It’s been four days since the injury and after all he did play on it for another half right after it happened.

UNC has looked good in each of its last four games since the humiliation in Tallahassee. The key is for Carolina not to lose its focus on the road in a hostile environment. The Heels are vastly superior to Maryland in every phase of the game. The only way Maryland pulls off the upset is if they shake Carolina early and take them out of their game.

I’m not impressed with Maryland whatsoever this season. They carry a 13-8 overall record and have lost four of seven in the ACC. The Terps are a weak offensive team averaging just 69.4 points per game. UNC should have its way with MD on the boards. No MD player averages more than 5.9 rebounds per game, whereas UNC has two player who average more than ten boards per contest. Carolina will have to watch out for Terrell Stoglin the sophomore guard leads the Terps averaging 21.8 ppg in 32 minutes. After that, the next highest scorer puts up just 10 ppg.

How it’s going to go down: I see Barnes killing MD today. UNC has something to prove on the road still despite it’s recent win at Wake Forest. Remember, the Heels haven’t won outside of North Carolina in a while. I expect to see high energy early to go with the recent trend of the last five games or so. The Tar Heels should be able to dictate the pace of the game easily and get the shots they want against the Terps. Carolina dictated the pace and got a ton of great shots against Wake but struggled converting. With four days rest, those shots are going to go down. I expect Reggie Bullock to continue his defense dominance since replacing the injured Dexter Strickland in the starting lineup. Carolina will dominate the boards and frustrate MD by creating second chance opportunities with offensive boards.

Player of the game prediction: Harrison Barnes explodes for 32 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists. Plays terrific defense on the perimeter, and shows everybody that when he wants to be, he’s the best player in the ACC.

Final Score Prediction: UNC 85 MD 63

Numbers to Know:

	POS	PPG	PPP	FLR%	Eff	eFG%	TS%	FTR	2P%	FTP%	3P%	OR%	DR%	A%	A/T	T%	S%	B%
UNC	1639.0	74.5	1.13	59.9	112.9	51.2	53.9	38.7	61.3	19.8	19.0	41.1	72.4	58.3	1.44	17.0	10.2	9.8
MARY	1409.0	67.1	1.03	53.4	103.4	48.0	52.1	51.2	51.9	25.9	22.2	36.3	67.6	46.1	0.79	20.1	5.8	7.4
UNC Opponents	1639.0	74.5	0.89	45.9	89.4	44.4	46.7	18.4	52.4	12.6	35.0	27.6	58.9	49.0	0.86	19.4	8.9	4.8
MARY Opponents	1409.0	67.1	1.04	52.7	104.2	48.7	52.1	29.3	55.2	18.1	26.8	32.4	63.7	51.7	1.17	16.8	8.5	7.9