UNC Basketball vs. Notre Dame: Game preview, info, prediction and more
By Zack Pearson
The UNC Basketball program opens up the 2019-20 season by hosting Notre Dame on Wednesday night in Chapel Hill
The day is finally here!
Wednesday marks the official start of the 2019-20 college basketball season for the North Carolina Tar Heels as they are in action against Notre Dame. UNC will begin this new season with an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown against the Fighting Irish as part of the new 20-game schedule for the conference. It will also be the first men’s basketball game broadcasted on the new ACC Network.
In addition to UNC taking on the Fighting Irish in November, the Tar Heels will also play at Virginia in December.
The Tar Heels enter this game with a new look. They have lost five of their top six scorers from a season ago, returning only junior forward Garrison Brooks out of that group. But they have reloaded again in the form of a really good recruiting class headlined by Cole Anthony and Armando Bacot. Joining the two five-star players are guards Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis.
In addition to the recruiting class, UNC will also welcome in graduate transfers Christian Keeling and Justin Pierce. Both should add some more scoring options for the Tar Heels on the wing this season.
While UNC will look different, the storyline early on will be their health.
The Tar Heels enter this game banged up already with senior Brandon Robinson dealing with an ankle injury, Sterling Manley is still battling a knee injury and hasn’t practiced, and freshman Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis are also battling injuries. This could open up some minutes for a player like Andrew Platek off of the bench.
It will be interesting to see the rotations from Roy early on in the season as he has to manage these injuries. We will get our first look at those rotations in this game and it might give us an indication of how Roy wants to play this moving forward.
Let’s get into our preview for the first ACC matchup of the season for UNC:
Key to victory for UNC
Rebounding. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. But the key to this game for the Tar Heels will be rebounding. With Manley not expected to play and only Garrison Brooks as the big man who earned key minutes returning from last season, rebounding might be a challenge for the Tar Heels early on.
UNC does welcome in the freshman Bacot who will get key minutes right from the start in this season. But how well will he rebound? If Bacot can be a spark and grab close to 7-8 rebounds a game, UNC will be in good shape. Add that into what Brooks is going to give you, likely around 10 a game, and UNC should be fine.
Early on, the Tar Heels will have a challenge.
Notre Dame will be led by senior John Mooney who is returning for another year after a breakout campaign last season. Mooney averaged 14.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game last season and had a big double-double last season vs. UNC finishing with 16 points and 19 rebounds. The Tar Heels had to hold off a tough Notre Dame team when they met last year and were able to win the rebounding advantage 47-36.
Mooney is going to get his but the Tar Heels need to limit the damage from everyone else. If they do that and win the rebounding battle, they should have a good shot to win this game.
Player to watch for UNC
For this game, let’s go with freshman Cole Anthony.
There is a lot of hype surrounding Anthony as he enters his first career college game on Wednesday night. Anthony not only has the chance to be one of the best players in the conference but in the entire country. We will get to see Anthony’s skill-set in a game that counts for the first time as well.
Anthony will start at point guard and for UNC to win this game, he will need to have a good one especially shooting the basketball. If Anthony can pace this offense and fill up the scoring sheet, UNC should be in good shape for this one.
Let the Cole Anthony era begin.
What you need to know
WHAT? Notre Dame 0-0 (0-0 in ACC) AT No. 9 North Carolina 0-0 (0-0 in ACC)
WHEN? Wednesday, November 6th, 7 p.m. EST
WHERE? Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ACC Network
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
LINE? —
ALL-TIME SERIES? UNC leads 24-7
LAST MEETING? UNC beat Notre Dame 75-69 last season
PREDICTION? UNC 70, Notre Dame 66