HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: #18 UNC (5-3) AT VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (7-1) 3PM ACCN

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: #18 UNC (5-3) AT VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (7-1) 3PM ACCN

𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧𝙨 🦃🔒ℹ️: https://t.co/mb0g2DD02S🤝: English Meadows#BeatUNC pic.twitter.com/U6OQCOPktX— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) December 4, 2022

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Sunday, Dec. 4 | 3 p.m. ET
Cassell Coliseum (Blacksburg, Va.)
vs. North Carolina
Series: North Carolina leads 72-16
Game Notes: Virginia Tech (PDF) | North Carolina (PDF)

TV Broadcast
ACC Network
Play-by-Play: Jay Alter
Analyst: Randolph Childress

Local Radio
Virginia Tech Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Zach Mackey
Analyst: Mike Burnop

Current Spread: Hokies -1.5
Over/Under: -141.5

A sea of 𝑜𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 awaits 🟠🔥🟠🔜 Sunday, Dec. 4🆚 UNC🕒 3PM🏰 Wear your 𝑜𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 pic.twitter.com/rgoNhBnenn— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) December 3, 2022

Defend the Cassell
The Hokies (37th in AP Poll/33rd in Coaches Poll) look to continue their success at home by beating the Tar Heels. The Hokies are 16-72 against UNC, last beating the Tar Heels in the ACC tournament last year. The Hokies come off their most steady performance in a win over the Minnesota Gophers in helping the ACC win the ACC/B1G Challenge.

The Tar Heels are coached by Hubert Davis, an alum that played for the Tar Heels from 1998-2002. He began his college coaching career at UNC as an assistant coach in 2012 after a 12-year career in the NBA. UNC is his only college head coaching job. He took over the UNC position in 2021 and has a 34-13 overall record guiding the Tar Heels to the National Title game in his inaugural season

The Tar Heels come into this contest on a three-game losing streak after starting the season ranked #1 and with five straight wins. The Tar Heels lost to #10 Indiana as part of the ACC/B1G Challenge. The other losses in this streak are to #11 Alabama and #23 Iowa State. Even in winning their first five games, they struggled to put away teams like Gardner Webb and Portland. This team is made up on 11 players that ranked in the Top 100 of their recruiting classes.

The Tar Heels come into this season with a most of their key starters back from last season's run to the Championship game while adding in a couple key transfers. Grad Transfer Forward Pete Nance from Northwestern, has been an instant starter underneath, averaging 12.3ppg and 6 rpg. His contributions are a major factor in this team winning some of the games that they struggled in.

The graduation of Brady Manek and transfer of Forward Dawson Garcia, who the Hokies saw against Minnesota has left the Tar Heels with a bit of an identity crisis down low. In their three losses the one consistent theme was poor interior defense. This team does not have much depth so expect to see the starters on the floor more than 30 minutes each barring foul trouble. Fatigue has been a factor late in several losses, especially the 4OT loss to Alabama where several starters played over 50 minutes. Three starters average more than 3 personal fouls per game so that could definitely be a factor late in this game.

Tyler Nickel, a key freshman Forward recruit from Virginia was expected to have a larger role on this team but that has not been the case so far. He is only getting five minutes per game, mostly when the games have already been decided.

Coach Davis defensively uses as an aggressive man-to-man defense, especially on the perimeter. The aggressiveness though has worked against them though in backside forwards getting wide open under the basket when they aggressively try to trap o the perimeter.

Offensively, Coach Davis uses a heavy dose of ball screens and dribble hand offs to create dribble penetration opportunities while keying in on finding Bacot open underneath. Bacot though may be limited dealing with two injuries in the last two games. He turned an ankle late against Alabama and then injured his primary shooting shoulder going up for a layup against Indiana. He was fouled hard and after the game told the press he heard a loud pop when it happened and he struggled offensively afterward.

The Tar Heels Backcourt
Caleb Love (#2, JR, G, 6-4, 195) 19.1 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 3.0 Ast
RJ Davis (#4, JR, G, 6-0, 160) 15.1 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 3.3 Ast
Leaky Black (#1, SR, G, 6-8, 195) 7.6 Pts, 6.6 Reb, 1.1 Ast
Puff Johnson (#14, JR, G, 6-8, 190) 5.6 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.8 Ast

The Tar Heels Frontcourt
Armando Bacot (#5, SR, F, 6-10, 240) 16.1 Pts, 11.1 Reb, 1.1 Ast
Pete Nance (#32, SR, F, 6-10, 225) 12.3 Pts, 5.9 Reb, 2.0 Ast

What to expect from UNC?
As a team the Tar Heels focus on getting the ball inside to score or go to the line. Bacot and Nance scoring inside frees up Caleb Love to get open. No one on the team averages more than two made three pointers per game. They average nearly 40 points a game in the paint and are averaging 19.6ppg from the free throw line.

The Tar Heels prefer an extremely fast paced game and struggle when forced into long shot clock games. They are averaging 80 points per game, although that's heavily skewed by breaking the 100-point barrier in two games so far. In their losses to Iowa State and Indiana they were held to 65 points in both.

The Tar Heels struggle with fouls and a very short bench. They are committing 17 fouls per game and closer to 20 against other top teams. Considering they play mostly just their starters there is a chance starters are off the floor for key stretches which has been the case in all their losses. Opponents are averaging 16 free throws per game, although Alabama went to the line 38 times in that loss. Facing teams with better interior scorers the fouls numbers are much higher as well.

Turnovers for or against are not a significant factor so far this season. Both numbers are around 11 per game. UNC does a better job preventing those turnovers from converting into points by a small margin.

Rebounding will likely not be a major separator, as UNC has been +/- 3 rebounds in all but two contests. Not that it will make Hokies fans feel better, but UNC was outrebounded by College of Charleston.

The Hokies
The Hokies need to play a methodical game, not giving up quick baskets and not settling for the first shot option on offense. UNC gets frustrated by this style of play. The Hokies also need to repeat the interior defensive improvements we saw against Minnesota. Blocks or contested shots in the paint is another area that can separate these two teams.

Working the ball inside to Mutts or which ever other Forward is in the game puts UNC at its biggest risk. They struggle on defensive shifts and allow cutting guards or back side forwards to score a significant number of points in every game. The Hokies come in averaging 36 points per game (284) in the lane this season.

Even in victory against Minnesota the Hokies struggles on the perimeter continued. The Hokies shot 5-14 from outside. At this point even though individually, they have done better historically, it seems to be a consistent weak spot. Pedulla creating shots after dribble penetration could be a tipping point in this contest.

Highlight of the Minnesota game
W...and an ACC W for both Mens and Ladies

In Closing
The Hokies looked good down low against Minnesota, which if that continues, bodes well for the outcome of this game. I expect a double-double for Mutts in this contest. One of the other forwards will also have a 10+ point performance.

UNC will be looking to make this a high paed game. The onus will be on the Hokies to slow this game down. Stout interior defense will be crucial to doing this.

Sean Pedulla gets 24 points and 8 assists and the defense holds UNC under 70 points. Hokies win the ACC opener 77-69.