The Tar Heels have an opportunity this week, to earn big-time wins, and have us all feeling better about the direction of this team heading into the holiday break, and it all starts tonight, when they meet the undefeated, and #7 ranked Florida Gators, in the third annual Jumpman Invitational. Carolina is coming off arguably their best performance of the season on Saturday, where they blew out La Salle, 93-67, behind 23 points off the bench from Cade Tyson. The win improved Caolina’s record to 6-4, but that’s not where we expected the team to be, after starting the season preseason ranked inside the top 10. A win tonight over Florida, could serve as the turning point for a group looking to find itself on and off the court.
The Gators have surged inside the top 10 of the rankings, behind a perfect 10-0 record, with three wins coming against ACC competition (Wake Forest, Virginia, and Florida State). Florida’s offense is spearheaded by a trio of guards, led by Walter Clayton Jr, who averages over 19 points per contest. In addition to their scoring abilities, this is one of the best rebounding teams in the country, as they average over 43 rebounds per game, which ranks inside the top 10 in all of college basketball. With the way that they play with multiple bigs on the floor at the same time, it’ll have a Roy Williams type of feel, and their size is something that Carolina won’t be able to avoid over the course of 40 minutes.
This event last year served as the turning point for Carolina, and coincidentally enough, the circumstances are very similar this year. Last year, Carolina, although ranked inside the top 20, beat an undefeated, top 10 team from the SEC (although they were in Big 12 technically last year), in the Oklahoma Sooners. From there, the Tar Heels turned into a defensive juggernaut, and it sent them on their way to winning an ACC regular season title and earning a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. A win over Florida would be Carolina’s most significant win of the season so far, and give them the confidence they need moving forward, to play with the best teams in the country, and take advantage of a down ACC.
Hubert Davis was pleased with the way his team played on Saturday, putting together their most complete performance of the season, on both ends of the floor. Now they will seek to build off that win and build some momentum before the holiday break. The task won’t be easy, but if the Heels play with energy, effort, and enthusiasm, anything is possible. Here are the keys to getting a win tonight in Charlotte:
Win the Race to 80: Both teams average well over 80 points per game, so expect there to be plenty of points scored tonight. Carolina lost the race to 80 to Alabama and ultimately lost the game. The same thing can be said in the losses to Auburn and Michigan State back in the Maui Invitational. With as much as both of these teams rely on their guards, combined with this being played on a neutral site tonight’s game will have a NCAA Tournament type of feel to it. Carolina’s backcourt is more than capable of out-producing Florida’s but it will take Elliot Cadeau taking care of the basketball, Seth Trimble being aggressive early on, and more importantly, RJ Davis looking like the All-American that he is. Whichever backcourt plays the best, will give their team the upper hand on the scoreboard.
Compete on the Glass: Carolina has outrebounded their last two opponents by double digits, but that’s asking too much of them tonight. Florida is among the 10 best rebounding teams in the country, looking like an old-school Roy Williams team during his time in Chapel Hill. One reason Carolina has been able to compete on the glass has been because of the way the guards have helped on the glass, and that will need to be the case tonight. Ven-Allen Lubin and Jalen Washington have yet to have a dominant game on the glass, so tonight would be a great time for that to happen. Outrebounding Florida might be too tall of a task, but they need to be competitive, to give them a chance. There’s no denying that Hubert’s small-ball lineup will be put to the test tonight.
Limit Turnovers: Elliot Cadeau limited his turnovers against La Salle, and set the tone for the entire team, to value each possession. That needs to carry over into tonight’s game as well, because live-ball turnovers will lead to points for the opponent going the other way. There will be a high number of possessions tonight, but Carolina still needs to value each possession and make sure they limit the turnovers because they’ll need to score with Florida, and maybe even outscore Florida tonight to win.
Series History:
Carolina is 4-2 all-time against Florida, but this is just the third they’ve played in the last 26 seasons. This is the first time they’ve played since 2014, a 75-64 UNC win in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
UNC in Charlotte:
Carolina has a long track record of success when playing in the Queen City, as they are 168-27 all-time in Charlotte, including going 3-0 last season, with wins in the Jumpman Invitational and NCAA Tournament. In the Spectrum Center, Carolina is 18-2.
UNC in the Jumpman Invitational:
Carolina is 2-0 in the Jumpman Invitational, with wins over Michigan and Oklahoma in the first two installments of the event.
KenPom:
North Carolina - 28th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 118.5 (21st) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 98.2 (40th)
Florida - 7th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 122.6 (7th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 96.5 (22nd)
NET:
North Carolina - 36th.
Florida - 5th.
TV Info:
Tonight’s game will tip at 7 PM on ESPN.
The Four Corners Podcast:
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