UNC Basketball: Battle 4 Atlantis vs Villanova Preview

Following its win in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis, the UNC Basketball program prepares to play Villanova in the second round.

Following the opening round 91-69 victory over Northern Iowa, the UNC Basketball program advanced to the semifinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis to face the winner of Villanova-Texas Tech. The winner of the game was the Wildcats, who beat the Red Raiders by a final score of 85-69.

This will be game number two of the three-day event for the Tar Heels in the Bahamas. The depth of this team will be tested over the next two days to see how it holds up against quality competition and playing on consecutive days.

This will be the fourth matchup between the Wildcats and UNC Basketball program. However, all four matchups have come with high stakes on the line in the NCAA Tournament, with two matchups coming in the Final Four. This will be the first time the two teams match up in the regular season. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series, 3-1.

I have a feeling we’ll be saying this often over the next several weeks with every game the Tar Heels play deeper into their non-conference schedule. This will be the toughest game North Carolina has played to date. The more games this team plays, the more we will find out about who they are.

Key to Victory for North Carolina

North Carolina needs to rebound better than they did against Northern Iowa in the opening round. The Tar Heels have more size and versatility than most teams in this tournament, and they need to use that to their advantage. They eventually out-rebounded the Panthers on Wednesday, but one reason they trailed 41-36 at the half was due to being out-rebounded 18-12.

Another key will be keeping the Wildcats off the free-throw line. Villanova is a very good free-throw-shooting team at 83.6% for the year. In their lone loss to Penn, the Wildcats were out-rebounded 38-35 and shot poorly from beyond the arc at just 27.3%.

Hubert Davis’ squad will need to limit Villanova from three-point range and also attempt to force the Wildcats into some miscues, they only turn the ball over 7.8 times per game. Carolina did a great job defensively against Northern Iowa, frustrating the Panthers and forcing 17 turnovers, including four shot-clock violations. More of the same against the Wildcats will go a long way to advancing to the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship.

Something to Watch For

Senior Guard Justin Moore and Senior Forward Eric Dixon are two players to watch in matchups against the Tar Heels on Thanksgiving Day. Moore is six-foot-five, and while RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau are super talented, they are some of the smaller guards in the country, and we’ve seen that cause some problems already with bigger players scoring over them.

While we aren’t sure about the defensive matchups yet, offensively, expect Moore to guard Davis or Cadeau. Moore is the leading scorer for the Wildcats with 16 points per game.

Dixon versus Bacot will be an interesting matchup. Dixon is an experienced senior and, at six-foot-eight, will be the most difficult test that Bacot has faced this year. He is averaging 8.5 points per game and is the second-leading rebounder for the Wildcats, with 7.3 boards per game.

Similar to the Tar Heels, the Wildcats have shown depth early on in the season as they have nine players averaging more than 12.3 minutes per game. The Tar Heels have ten players averaging more than 10.3 minutes per game. Both teams also have three players, each averaging double-figures in scoring.

Last Meeting

I’m really sorry, UNC Basketball fans… the last time these two programs matched up with each other was April 4th, 2016, in Houston, Texas. That game was, of course, the National Championship game that Tar Heel fans would love to erase from history.

North Carolina shot 42.9% from the floor, while the Wildcats were 58.3%. Three Tar Heels scored in double figures that evening as Marcus Paige led the scoring with 21 points. Joel Berry had 20, while Brice Johnson finished with 14.

The Tar Heels trailed 70-64 with 1:39 remaining in the game. Paige sparked a 10-4 UNC Basketball run beginning with 1:35 remaining with a three-pointer off an offensive rebound. He then corraled in another offensive rebound to make a layup to cut the deficit to 72-71 with 23 seconds remaining. And with 4.7 seconds left, he made one of the most miraculous game-tying shots in National Championship history to tie the game at 74. Of course, everyone knows what happened next.

Projected Starters

No. 3 Cormac Ryan (Gr. 6-5, 195) 9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg

No. 4 RJ Davis (Sr. 6-0, 180) 14.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.8 apg

No. 5 Armando Bacot (Gr. 6-11, 240) 19.5 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 0.8 apg

No. 7 Seth Trimble (Gr. 6-5, 195) 3.8 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.0 apg*

No. 55 Harrison Ingram (Jr. 6-7, 235) 13.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.0 apg

*Trimble started in place of Paxson Wojcik on Wednesday versus Northern Iowa, however, what lineup we see on Thursday could differ depending on the matchup with Villanova.