UNC Basketball vs St. Francis: Tar Heels take on Red Flash in Chapel Hill
Tar Heels have one more home contest before meeting with Longhorns in Las Vegas
The North Carolina Tar Heels will have their final tune-up on Monday night before traveling to Nevada for the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational where they’ll face off with the Texas Longhorns. Both UNC and Texas are currently undefeated, and that’s likely to be the case when the two meet on Thursday night.
Tonight, though, the Tar Heels will face off with the St. Francis Red Flash in Chapel Hill in a game that currently has a 27-point betting spread favoring the home team.
The Red Flash have scored 80 points just once this season, while the Tar Heels’ lowest output was a 78-point road win at Wofford to open the season. Since then, North Carolina hasn’t scored less than 90 points in a game, and has accumulated totals of 108 and 116 in two of its last three contests.
St. Francis will have to score a lot, while limiting the Tar Heels’ point total. Both of those are a tall task for the 1-2 Red Flash who just lost on the road at UCLA on Saturday by 37 points.
Key to the game for North Carolina
Offensive rebounds will be a difference-maker in the game if North Carolina continues to struggle from beyond the arc. If the Tar Heels can turn three-point misses into second-chance buckets, then they won’t have a hard time putting the Red Flash away, and moving to 5-0 on the season.
The Tar Heels outrebounded Tennessee Tech on Friday night by 30, including an 18-9 advantage on the offensive glass. A performance like that on Monday night will make it difficult for St. Francis to keep pace with the Tar Heels, let alone if UNC actually starts hitting its threes.
Key to the game for St. Francis
Three-point shooting will be the key to the game for St. Francis, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.
If the Red Flash can defend the Tar Heels well on the perimeter, and force them into bad shots, North Carolina will become more one-dimensional. UNC has struggled from long-range this season, knocking down just 32.9 percent of its attempts. Luke Maye and Kenny Williams — two of the Tar Heels’ best three-point shooters — have hit just 5-of-28 from long-range this season.
The Red Flash finished the 2017-18 season as the second best three-point shooting team in the Northeast Conference. That’s the kind of shooting they need to display on Monday night to have a puncher’s chance at beating the Tar Heels. Unfortunately, for the Red Flash, though, they’ve connected on less than 30 percent of their three-point attempts to begin the season.
Last Meeting
In the only meeting between the two programs, North Carolina beat St. Francis 103-54 on January 2nd, 2011 at the Dean Smith Center.
Eight Tar Heels scored in double-figures led by John Henson and Dexter Strickland, who each had 13 points. Reggie Bullock and Leslie McDonald each added a dozen off the UNC bench, while Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and Justin Knox scored 11, 10 and 10, respectively.
St. Francis forward Will Felder scored a game-high 18 points on 8-of-20 shooting, and Umar Shannon (13 points) represented the Red Flash’s only other double-digit scorer for the game.
The Tar Heels’ 49-point victory move them to 10-4 on the season, while the loss dropped St. Francis to just 2-11.
Next. Roy Williams expects Kenny Williams to be okay. dark
What you need to know:
What? St. Francis (1-2) at UNC (4-0)
When? Monday, Nov. 19 – 8:00 p.m. EST
Where? Dean E Smith Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ACC Network, WatchESPN
Radio? Tar Heel Sports Network
All-Time series? UNC leads 1-0
Prediction? UNC 100, Tennessee Tech 64