The Closers: Who The Tar Heels Face In The Year’s Final Month
Has North Carolina’s early season schedule had some bite?
Sure. An out hustled and outmuscled Tar Heels team looked sluggish from the opening tip in dropping the opener of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament 74-66 against unranked Butler.
One night later, UNC looked every bit the contender for national title squad running past 22nd-ranked UCLA 78-56 to set up a meeting with 18th-ranked Florida to try and salvage a fifth-place tourney finish.
And what will be served up on the Tar Heels’ plate looks just as meaty as dates with Iowa and Ohio State shine among the pre-Christmas foes. Oh, and glowing like the bulbs flickering around the Christmas tree is a Dec. 13 visit to top-ranked Kentucky, a team that has hardwood aficionados chattering about college basketball’s first undefeated run in 39 years.
Sprinkled among the three kingpins are potential pitfalls with definite Carolina connections that the Tar Heels will look to avoid as they prep for ACC play at the turn of the calendar.
Here’s a look at North Carolina’s final stops before embarking on it’s journey along the ACC road.
Iowa (Dec. 3)
The Tar Heels play host to the Hawkeyes on the last night of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge and will entertain a team that began the season ranked 25th in the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll but fell out of favor after falling 71-57 to Texas and 66-63 to Syracuse on back-to-back nights.
Head coach Fran McCaffery’s crew ranked 10th in the country a season ago averaging 81.5 points a game and finished 20-13 after a defeat to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round. Ten players are back this year, and a pair of 6-foot-9 frontcourt players are anchoring the Iowa offense through their 4-2 start this season.
Senior forward Aaron White is the Hawkeyes lone returning double-digit scorer and is off to a hot start posting 16.3 points and eight rebounds a game this year. Joining White up front is junior forward Jarrod Uthoff and his 11.7 points and 5.5 boards a night.
While the bulk of Iowa’s points will come in the paint, the backcourt tandem of Anthony Clemmons and Mike Gesell have been sneaky good from long range, combining to shoot 43.3 percent from beyond the arc.
East Carolina (Dec. 7)
Guided by former Tar Heels guard Jeff Lebo, the Pirates are off to a 3-3 start and looking to build on a 17-17 campaign last season that included a postseason invite to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Four starters return to an ECU team picked to finish 10th in the 11-team American Athletic Conference including the Pirates leading scorer from a season ago in sophomore guard Caleb White. It’s a first-year Pirate, though, who is leading four double-figure scorers early on.
Freshman guard B.J. Tyson has played the super sub role to perfection coming off the bench to average 16.3 points, while White is adding 15 points a contest. Rounding out the scoring quartet are Florida State transfer Terry Whisnant (13.5 points a game) and red-shirt sophomore forward Marshall Guilmette (12 points per game).
ECU is shooting 45.8 percent from the field but has struggled from long distance connecting on just 30.4 percent of its 3-point tries.
Opponents, though, have found the Pirates perimeter defense tough going, with foes shooting only 26.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Kentucky (Dec. 13)
Has there been a team in recent years to generate has much hype as the Wildcats? To their credit, they have done little to dispel the frenzy that has enveloped Big Blue nation these days.
North Carolina travels to Lexington to meet a squad springboarding off a 29-11 season that ended with a 60-54 NCAA Tourney title-game loss to Connecticut. The Wildcats may have been down after the disappointing finish, but they were certainly not out, reloading into a near-unanimous choice as the preseason No. 1 team and a group that has many uttering the mythical “U” word.
Running the table in undefeated fashion to a ninth national title may still be a bit premature, but Kentucky has done little to show why they should not be considered the prohibitive favorite to be snipping at the nets the first Monday in April.
The Wildcats feature a plethora of size throughout their roster as well as nine McDonald’s All-Americans including sophomore Aaron Harrison, the preseason choice for SEC Player of the Year. Twin brother Andrew Harrison, junior center Willie Cauley-Stein and junior forward Alex Poythress were tabbed as All-SEC second-team selections, and head coach John Calipari’s recruiting haul included four McDonald’s All-Americans in Karl Anthony-Towns, Trey Lyles, Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker.
Just how dominant has Kentucky been through its opening six games? Its average victory has been an average of 36.8 points and includes a 32-point throttling of then fifth-ranked Kansas.
While the Wildcats’ attack possesses plenty of flash, their stifling defense has been equally impressive. Opponents are hitting on a miniscule 27.9 percent of their floor attempts and turning the ball over 18 times a game. Kentucky’s most smothering display came in its 72-40 rout of the Jayhawks, limiting Kansas to only 11 field goals including just three in the second half.
But while the Wildcats appear invincible, there could be a slight chink in the armor. Their long-range shooting has hardly been lights-out. Kentucky has made good on just 32.5 percent of its 3-point attempts, inviting defenses to sag inside and force the Wildcats to shoot over the top.
UNC-Greensboro (Dec. 16)
The Spartans are the second December foe North Carolina will see guided by a Tar Heels alum.
Wes Miller, a member of North Carolina’s 2005 national title team, enters his third full season at the helm of a UNC-G squad picked as a seventh-place finisher in the Southern Conference.
The Spartans finished 14-18 last season and return four starters led by sophomore center R.J. White who is averaging 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Tevon Saddler adds 16 points while handing out 4.6 assists a game for a UNC-G team that has been shaky on the defensive end in starting 1-4.
Opponents are shooting 48 percent from the floor including nearly 41 percent outside the arc, while the Spartans are connecting on 42.4 of their floor attempts and 35.5 percent of their long-range tries.
Ohio State (Dec. 20)
The Tar Heels travel to Chicago to take on the Buckeyes who have two starters back from last year’s 25-10 team that was bumped from the NCAA Tournament with a second-round 60-59 loss to Dayton.
OSU was pegged for a third-place finish in the Big 10 behind Wisconsin and Michigan State, and North Carolina will be forced to contend with a potent frontcourt-backcourt blend that features veteran leadership along with one of the country’s more dynamic freshmen.
Senior forward Sam Thompson (12 points, 3.8 rebounds a game) and sophomore forward Marc Loving (12.8 points, three boards) will offer a rigorous challenge inside, while the Tar Heels also will have to match up against one of the nation’s top point guards in Shannon Scott and his 8.2 points and startling 10.4 assists a game.
Perhaps UNC’s toughest test, however, will come in freshman D’Angelo Russell. The McDonald’s All-American and Buckeyes’ shooting guard has soared out of the gate averaging 18.6 points and five rebounds a game.
Alabama-Birmingham (Dec. 27)
The Blazers begin their third season under head coach Jerod Haase, who played for North Carolina head coach Roy Williams at Kansas and served as an assistant in Chapel Hill for nine seasons before taking the reins of the UAB program in 2012.
Last season the Blazers finished 18-13 with their most memorable win coming in a pupil-over-teacher 63-59 victory against the Tar Heels in Birmingham.
This year UAB makes the trek to Chapel Hill and features talented senior forward C.J. Washington, a preseason All-Conference USA selection who is averaging 9.3 points and 4.7 rebounds a game.
The Blazers also offer a pesky backcourt in red-shirt junior guard Robert Brown (11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds per contest) and sophomore shooter Tyler Madison (9.3 points, 3.7 rebounds). The guard tandem has been productive, but UAB’s perimeter shooting has been a struggle, with the Blazers connecting on 28.6 percent of their shots outside the arc.
William & Mary (Dec. 30)
The last team on the Tar Heels schedule in 2014 could be a dangerous one.
Head coach Tony Shaver played in Chapel Hill under legendary coach Dean Smith from 1972 to 1976 and begins his 12th season at William & Mary with a team that has a Colonial Athletic Association championship in its sights.
The Tribe ended 20-12 a season ago and came agonizingly close to their fist NCAA Tournament appearance, falling to Delaware 75-74 in the CAA Tournament championship game.
William & Mary returns senior guard Marcus Thornton, the conference’s preseason player of the year pick who averaged 18.7 points and knocked down a league-leading 93 shots from beyond the arc last year.
Joining Thornton in the backcourt is sophomore wing Omar Prewitt, who averaged 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in receiving the CAA’s Rookie of the Year award.
The duo is one of the country’s top 3-point threats, with Thornton shooting 40.3 percent and Prewitt burying 37 percent last season.