Matchup: #5 North Carolina (3-1, 0-0 ACC) vs #22 UCLA Bruins (4-1, 0-0 Pac 12)
Date & Time: Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 27, 2014 @ 7:00pm EST
Location: Imperial Arena at Atlantis Resort in Paradise Island, Bahamas
TV/Radio: Radio - Tar Heel Sports Network (list of affiliates)
AXS TV. - visit http://www.axs.tv/subscribe for providers
Teams with a combined 16 National Championships will face-off Thanksgiving Day as North Carolina will try to right the ship against a talented UCLA squad. Both teams suffered disappointing upset losses in the quarterfinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Paradise Island, Bahamas. #5 UNC was defeated by Butler 74-66 in a contest where the Heels lacked aggressiveness on the boards, giving up 29 offensive boards to the Bulldogs en route to being outrebounded 57-40. #22 UCLA fell victim to a late, explosive Oklahoma Sooners run that spelled doom for the Bruins as the Blue & Gold lost 75-65. Given the nature of tournament play, there is a quick turnaround for the teams, which will allow one school to erase the pain from the night before and the other to soak in the sorrow of back-to-back defeats. No doubt, with pride on the line, you should see both teams bring more energy, passion, and determination for 40 minutes.
Carolina will need to fix the rebounding issue that popped up versus Butler. Up until this point, UNC had played some inferior opponents and rebounding seemed to be OK with Kennedy Meeks, Brice Johnson, and J.P. Tokoto gobbling up (had to do that...It's Thanksgiving Day, folks!!) the boards. However, an inability to box out and show the complete effort to finish on defense allowed for the opponent to dominate the offensive glass. Coach Roy Williams wrote "57-40" in big numbers on the locker room whiteboard and "Off. Reb. 29-14" right beside it after Wednesday's game sending a definitive message to UNC players. It was heard loud and clear.
"As a big man, I feel like we could've done better being physical with them," remarked sophomore Isaiah Hicks. "We let them (Butler) push us under the rim, and they got the ball."
Key Word...PHYSICAL. Look for Meeks, Johnson, Hicks, and the rest of the Tar Heels to bring a more physical approach to UCLA. I expect there to be plenty of banging downlow between the big fellas because the Bruins, also, do not lack in size and strength in the middle.
UCLA freshman Kevon Looney, a 6-foot-9 forward, has exceeded all expectations so far this season. With his dynamite performance yesterday against Oklahoma (16 pts, 15 reb), he became the first UCLA freshman in school history to post at least four double-doubles in his first five collegiate game. Keep in mind, Kevin Love (former UCLA and current NBA Superstar playing alongside LeBron James) only had three double-doubles in his first five games. Looney averages 15.0 pts/gm and 12.6 reb/gm so he should be a handful for the Heels. Being physical with Looney and keeping his numbers at a minimum is crucial for Tar Heels success.
Late in the game yesterday, Marcus Paige began to show the first signs this season of leading the Heels with his scoring prowess. Yes, maybe the Heels have not truly needed him to score effectively in its first three games. But, yesterday was a different story. Paige took a while to heat up, but when the Heels reached desperation mode, Paige was there to keep the game somewhat close. It is imperative that the sensational junior (avergaing 13.5 pts/gm so far) start off with a nice scoring flow as the Heels would like to see Marcus contribute a bit more in the scoring column in the first half (not just the second half). Look for Paige to try to find his shot early.
UCLA has a rising star on its roster as well. Son of Coach Steve Alford, Sophomore Bryce Alford has sprinted out of the gates this year scoring the ball effectively and dishing out a staggering amount of assists. Alford is averaging 19.8 pts/gm on 46.4% shooting (90.9% Free throws) but it is his uncanny ability to find the open man for baskets that is raising the nation's eyebrows. He has tallied 41 assists so far this year and averages 8.2 ast/gm. That 41 assists mark is 19 more assists than the leading Tar Heel player, Tokoto, in that category. Carolina's perimeter defense will have a tough task in front of them, but it is paramount that the Tar Heels keep Alford at bay as much as possible. Hounding the ball on defense, getting deflections in the passing lanes, and creating transition baskets will go a long way in taking down the Bruins.
The Junior Paige has taken over the leadership role for a Tar Heels roster that is low on Seniors. And, UCLA, knows what that feels like. The Bruins return one starter from their 2014 NCAA Sweet 16 team and that player is senior guard Norman Powell. As the team leader, Powell is second, behind Alford, in Bruins scoring this season and was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday with sparkling performances against Nicholls State (23 pts) and Long Beach State (26 pts) last week. The Alford/Powell guard connection is an explosive and creative backcourt that will test the Heels ability to defend and produce on the offensive end.
With 18 and 17 appearances, respectively, North Carolina and UCLA have made the most all-time NCAA Final Four appearance in college basketball (that's a whopping 35 Final Fours between the two perennial powerhouses). The teams have combined for 3,906 wins, 91 NCAA Tournament appearances, and the before-mentioned 16 NCAA championships.
The Tar Heels lead the all-time series with the Bruins, 6-3. Carolina has won 5 of the last 6 meetings, but Thursday's matchup will be the first meeting between UNC and UCLA since the 2000-01 season.
That means that Roy Williams will coach the Tar Heels against UCLA for the first time. Williams is 4-2 versus the Bruins (all games as coach of Kansas).
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