UNC Basketball vs Appalachian State Mountaineers Game Preview

The UNC basketball program will take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers in their final non-conference game of the season.

The Tar Heels’ weekend trip to Las Vegas was one fraught with disappointment and, quite frankly, embarrassment, as they were the recipients of a 29-point beatdown by the 21st-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in the revised CBS Sports Classic.

The demoralizing defeat abruptly ended their five-game win streak and brought to the surface a number of legitimate questions regarding the team’s will and toughness. John Calipari’s squad was not only better from start to finish, but quicker to loose balls and hungrier for a big primetime win over a fellow blue blood program. Those things were evident in what turned out to be no more than a glorified midseason practice for the Wildcats.

"“Right after the game I shook hands with Coach [John] Calipari and I thanked him,” Hubert Davis said following the game. “I said, ‘I appreciate that you guys played this well because you put us in a position to be the team that we need to be,’ and I said, ‘I appreciate that.’ You can’t walk away from this game at all and not be able to look yourself in the mirror and say we’ve got to be better. You just can’t. I thanked him after the game for that.”"

After licking their wounds and taking any lessons from the loss that they could — and burning the game film thereafter — the Tar Heels hopefully did some serious soul searching. Anyone with eyes or ears trained on the game could tell you that the necessary effort simply wasn’t there, nor was the focus or desire. At least, what took place on the court from buzzer to buzzer certainly didn’t make it seem that way.

Tar Heel fans hope that’s not the case moving forward, particularly with the bulk of their Atlantic Coast Conference schedule beginning next week. They’ll get one last tune-up against a non-conference opponent when they take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers on Tuesday night.

Against an outmatched and undersized Sun Belt squad, North Carolina would be well-served to get back to the basics. They need to play quick, fundamental, hard-nosed basketball and leave it all out on the court. If they aren’t willing to do that, then it’s going to be a long season of hoops in Chapel Hill, and one that fans will want to forget just a quickly as they did the prior two.

Key to Victory

The Tar Heels are going to win this game because of their sheer size and athletic ability, if nothing else. But those things alone aren’t going to win them many games during conference play. Hubert Davis’ team needs to show that they can play cohesive inspired basketball rather than the soft, selfish, lackadaisical nonsense we’ve seen for much of the season. If they can do that, then the results on the court will undoubtedly be better. Now, imagine what might happen if they could combine that with the ball going through the net.

Something to Watch

After an absolutely dreadful outing against the Wildcats over the weekend, will the UNC back court show some semblance of competent guard play? The Tar Heels will need it if they’re going to be successful this season, and they simply can’t afford for the duo of Caleb Love and R.J. Davis to be as simultaneously bad as they were in Las Vegas.

Last Meeting

The seventh-ranked Tar Heels beat the Mountaineers, 94-70, at the Dean Smith Center on December 21, 2015. Brice Johnson had a game-high 22 points on a sensational 9-for-12 shooting performance and 4-for-4 at the free throw line. He added nine rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 28 minutes of play.

Sophomore starters Justin Jackson and Joel Berry II gave the Tar Heels 12 and 11 points, respectively. Jackson led all players with 10 rebounds and Berry had a game-high 11 assists. Junior big man Isaiah Hicks scored a dozen points and pulled down six rebounds in 20 minutes off the UNC bench.

Projected Starters

No. 4 R.J. Davis (So., 6-0, 175) – 12.8 ppg, 3.7 rpg
No. 2 Caleb Love (So., 6-4, 195) – 15.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg
No. 1 Leaky Black (Sr., 6-8 200) – 4.7 ppg, 4.6 RPG
No. 13 Dawson Garcia (So. 6-11, 235) – 11.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg
No. 5 Armando Bacot (Jr., 6-10, 240) – 15.0 ppg, 9.8 rpg

What You Need to Know

WHAT? Appalachian State Mountaineers (6-6, 0-3 away) vs North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3, 6-0 home)
WHEN? Tuesday, December 21 – 7:00 p.m. EST
WHERE? Dean E. Smith Center – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ACC Network
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
LINE? UNC -16
LAST MEETING? UNC beat Appalachian State, 94-70, in Chapel Hill on December 21, 2015.
ALL-TIME SERIES? UNC leads all-time series 6-0
PREDICTION? UNC 82, Appalachian State 63

For complete coverage of the game, and everything else on the UNC basketball program, check back with Keeping It Heel.