Matchup: #15 North Carolina (14-4, 4-1 ACC)
vs
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (9-9, 1-4 ACC)
Date/Time: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 @ 7:00pm EST
Location: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC
TV/Radio: ESPN2 or ESPN3 / Tar Heel Sports Network
#15 North Carolina looks to continue its winning ways on Wednesday night in Winston-Salem as Carolina faces off with the Demon Deacons for the only time this season. The Tar Heels, behind their best ACC start (4-1) in three years, are searching for their fourth conference win in a row and definitely hoping to shake off the sloppy performance of the victory over Virginia Tech Sunday evening. Wake Forest (9-9, 1-4 ACC) has battled tough all year long under the guidance of first-year coach and NCAA Champion Danny Manning, but the Black & Gold does not have much to show for it in the win column. The Deacs played Dook, Louisville, State, and Syracuse wire-to-wire only to come up short in all those games. Holding a 1-4 ACC record (only win was versus lowly Georgia Tech) and having not played since January 13th, Wake Forest figures to bring all its high-octane energy inside Lawrence Joel versus the Tar Heels as it desperately longs for a signature win.
Carolina (14-4, 4-1 ACC) has won its first two conference road games (vs Clemson and NC State) and would love to move that record to 3-0 with a solid win over the Deacs. It has been awhile since the Heels have tallied a record such as that this early in conference play. In fact, the last time it happened was during the 2007-2008 Final Four season with the likes of Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, and Wayne Ellington. Even with the success in ACC action so far, UNC Head Coach Roy Williams believes the team "regressed" in its 68-53 win over the Hokies. Williams was extremely ticked off with the lackluster effort in controlling possessions as the Heels reverted back to early season turnover woes by coughing the rock up 17 times. Roy pointed to his team's lack of practice as the catalyst for the careless basketball shown on the court in that VA Tech game.
"I've never worked a team as lightly as this year," Williams said during an interview following the game versus the Hokies.
In order to prepare for a stiff road challenge in Winston-Salem, Coach Williams knew his team needed a swift kick in the butt. That is why he planned a brutal Monday night practice for the guys to send a message that uninspired play will not be tolerated and it is especially not the type of basketball that North Carolina wants to engage in. Hopefully, the vigorous practices and workouts tuned the Carolina squad back in and will lead to more crisp and sound offensive production on the court Wednesday night against the Demon Deacons and beyond.
One player that fared much better on the offensive end last time out was freshman standout Justin Jackson. The 6'8" swingman from Tomball, Texas delivered an outstanding showing versus the Hokies with 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists and extended his good play as of late. The Heels would love for Jackson to become that consistent cog in the machine that produces double-digit points and solid minutes each and every game. Coach Williams does not believe it is asking too much of Jackson to be that guy this early in his career and, as a matter of fact, Roy is awaiting that true, Grade A breakout game that JJ was close to generating Sunday night.
"Just a little bit more effort, a little bit more strength, and he could have had an even better game," Roy said of Jackson. "He was really close to a big-time game."
The other Carolina stars must shine bright tonight, as well. Marcus Paige, still dealing with a rough case of plantar fasciitis, will have to once again carry the minutes along with Nate Britt in the backcourt. Joel Berry II will be out for another two weeks recovering from a groin injury that has kept him out of the last two contest. Stillman White is three weeks away from returning and Luke Davis is probably done for the season. Paige must find a way to battle through his annoying injury and lift the Heels on the perimeter. After an incredible performance at NC State, Paige only scored eight points on 3 of 10 shooting versus the Hokies. Carolina will look to its top scorer (13.6 ppg) for immediate results in a demanding road conference game.
As has been well-documented, Carolina has destroyed most of their opponents on the backboards, especially offensive rebounding. Tonight, versus the Demon Deacons, the Heels go into the game with only a slight advantage in total rebounds (Carolina averages 44.3 reb/game and WFU snags 40.1 boards/game); however, UNC gets the slight nod by averaging 16.5 offensive reb/gm to WFU's 12.4 per game. Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson both amass more than 7.4 rebounds/game for the Heels and it is imperative to control the glass against the Deacs. That will be no small task, though, as Wake Forest is led by junior big man Devin Thomas down in the paint. Thomas has owned the glass so far this year, pulling down 9.7 rebounds per game for the Deacs and collecting seven double doubles along the way. He is no slouch downlow and does not shy away from contact as he averages 6.2 free throw attempts a game. The Carolina frontcourt will have its hands full boxing out Mr. Thomas and keeping him from winning the rebounding battle of the bigs.
Wake Forest relies so heavily on its rebounding because the Demon Deacons have really not performed well offensively. Thomas and Codi Miller-McIntyre provide most of the point production as they both average double figures (Miller McIntyre leads the way with 13.3 pts/gm and Thomas is a close second with 12.9 pts/game). Miller-McIntyre is coming off an excellent game of 24 points, six rebounds, and six assists in the overtime loss to Syracuse last Tuesday. Off the bench, Dinos Mitoglou has contributed significantly averaging 8.6 pts/game including a remarkable career-best game against Syracuse. The Heels will need to bring a strong bench effort versus the Demon Deacons, because WFU has been known to have an advantage in bench scoring. For example, against the Orange, Wake's bench outscored Syracuse 31-3. Isaiah Hicks, Britt, and Theo Pinson will need to turn it up a notch on both ends of the court to completely take Wake's bench production out of the game.
Overall this year, WFU has had its problems putting the ball in the basket. Based on KenPom's statistics, Wake is ranked 158th nationally in offensive efficiency (average amount of points scored by the team per shot taken, including missed field goals as well as free throws) and ranks sub-150 nationally in 2-point and 3-point field goal percentage. Speaking of free throws, The Deacs get to the free throw line an average of 26 times a game, but they are only making 64.5% of those free throws (16.7 makes a game). What is even worse is that their leading scorers, Miller-McIntyre and Thomas, average sub-60% free throw percentages. Not a good sign for WFU. If the game gets tight late against the Heels, free throws could have a major impact on the way things play out. All five of Carolina's starters average above 63% from the line with Jackson connecting on 78.9% and Paige shooting 81.4%. Britt leads the team with a 92.3% free throw percentage and has only missed three free throws in his career during ACC play.
Coach Williams has cringed a good chunk of the season when Carolina turns the ball over at a high rate (12.9 turnovers/game) but not as much cringing as Coach Manning has done in WFU's games. The Deacs have turned the ball over on average 14.7 times a game. For both UNC and Wake Forest, cutting their own turnovers down into the single digits could definitely be the key to coming away the victor Wednesday night.
Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum has been a conundrum for the Heels since its opening. The Heels are only 12-10 historically in the facility. Remember, Wake beat Carolina 73-67 last year in Winston-Salem and the 2005 and 2009 UNC National Championship teams both lost there, as well. Carolina leads the all-time series by a 156-66 margin and have won 9 of the last 12 contests. The 156 wins over Wake is the most wins UNC has against any opponent. Wake is 7-5 at home this season (1-2 at home in ACC games). Coach Williams is 12-6 as coach versus the Demon Deacons (10-5 at Carolina, 2-1 as head coach of Kansas).
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