Keeping It Heel
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Sweet 16: Tar Heels vs Butler preview

By Alec Lasley

Mar 16, 2017; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels huddles during practice for the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 16, 2017; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels huddles during practice for the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 17, 2017; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Joel Berry II (2) handles the ball against Texas Southern Tigers guard Dulani Robinson (11) during the second half in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 17, 2017; Greenville, SC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels guard Joel Berry II (2) handles the ball against Texas Southern Tigers guard Dulani Robinson (11) during the second half in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

Impact Players

Butler: Junior F; Kelan Martin

As mentioned earlier, Martin is the Bulldogs leading scorer at 16 points a game as well as leading rebounder at 5.8 a game.

He is Butler’s do it all wing that, get this, comes off the bench.

Yep, you read that right.

The 6-foot-7 junior forward is a matchup nightmare for most teams as he is usually played as a stretch four. Able to shoot the three at a respectable percentage (35 percent), Martin will spread the floor and make a tough decision for the Tar Heels on whether or not they need to go to a small lineup or not.

Though he comes off the bench, he can score in bunches. He has scoring outputs of 30, 28, and 25 this year as well as seven other 20+ point performances.

Martin has put up 14.5 points per game and 7 rebounds a game so far in the NCAA Tournament.

North Carolina: Junior G; Joel Berry II

All Tar Heel fans held their breaths in the Tournament opener as Berry went down with an ankle injury early in the second half. Luckily,  he was fine and came back in the game a couple minutes later.

After a poor shooting performance against Arkansas, 2-for-13, Berry needs to be on top of his game going up against a good 1-2 point guard punch in Tyler Lewis and Kamar Baldwin.

Averaging 14.5 ppg and 3.9 apg in the regular reason, Berry is shooting just 3-21 from the field and averaging just 6.5 points a game through two tournament games.

With Butler wanting to play a much slower pace than the Heels, Berry will be a very crucial piece in speeding up the tempo.

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