HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (17-9, 10-6) VS #16 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (15-5, 9-4) 830PM ESPN

HOKIES HOOPS CENTRAL: NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (17-9, 10-6) VS #16 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (15-5, 9-4) 830PM ESPN

Let the games begin ✊#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2021

GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Mar 11 2021 830 PM
Opponent: UNCheat
Site: Greensboro Coliseum
Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Allison Williams (reporter)
Virginia Tech Sports Network. Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst)

Lot's changed the last year...Here we go 👊#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/VHmXsfjIaj— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2021

Return, Take Two
The Hokies will try to get their feet moving at the same speed as their heads and take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Hokies are 15-69 against North Carolina going into their 85th meeting. The Hokies are now 15-5 and ranked #22 in the AP Poll. The Hokies are coming off a second double digit delay and have to hope they come out better prepared than last time against Georgia Tech. UNC is fresh off a 101-59 execution of Notre Dame last night.

The Tar Heels are coached by Roy Williams, who has been at UNC since 2003. His first season is the only year the Tar Heels have not won at least 20 games (19 wins) under his tutelage outside of Covid last season and may fall short this year. They have 15 NCAA Tournament appearances, and one NIT appearance. They have made it to the Elite Eight seven times, the Final Four three times, NCAA runner up once and NCAA Champion twice all under Williams. The amazing thing about Williams is that before coming to UNC, his Kansas teams also only failed to reach 20 wins once (19 wins), also in his first season there. He has a career 78% winning percentage as a coach and just recently reached 900 career wins.

Defensively, the Tar Heels run almost exclusively a man-to-man defense. Coach Williams relies on the talent of his players to win out in one-on-one matchups. Their defense is designed to drive their offense, as Williams like to tell his players that they need to be playing 94 feet of offense all the time.

Offensively, North Carolina runs a constant motion offense with the goal of being primarily a transition offense. Coach Williams tells his guys that if there are less than 2 defenders back they they should score with 2 or less passes. If more than two they need to move to their motion offense. Expect to see two bigs in play in the lane at the same time. They are trying to find the point where the defense lapses on one or the other and take advantage of it. The Tar Heels also don't focus nearly as much on shooting from outside, especially compared to the competition. The Tar Heels are twelfth in threes attempted and made in the ACC this year.

The most important part is the amount of movement in the offense. You don't see one guy dribbling the ball for 20 seconds while the other 4 guys just stand around and watch. When someone passes the ball, they immediately move to a different spot on the court, and another player moves to replace them. Even when guys are taking their man 1 on 1, the other 4 players are still moving to find open spots on the floor.

Tar Heels Backcourt

Caleb Love
#2 FR G 6-4 195 lbs
St. Louis, MO Christian Brothers (MO) 13 (2020)
10.6 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 3.8 Ast
Shooting 32% from the floor, 25% from the perimeter, 80% from the line

RJ Davis
#4 FR G 6-0 160 lbs
White Plains, NY Archbishop Stepinac HS 43 (2020)
8.2 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Shooting 35% from the floor, 31% from the perimeter, 80% from the line

Kerwin Walton
#24 FR G 6-5 205 lbs
Hopkins, MN Hopkins HS
8.1 Pts, 1.5 Reb, 1.9 Ast
Shooting 44% from the floor, 41% from the perimeter, 94% from the line

Leaky Black
#1 JR G 6-8 195 lbs
Concord, NC Cox Mill HS 64 (2018)
5.6 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 2.5 Ast
Shooting 37% from the floor, 21% from the perimeter, 70% from the line

Andrew Platek
#3 SR G 6-4 205 lbs
Guilderland, NY Northfield Mount Hermon School
4.1 Pts, 1.8 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Shooting 39% from the floor, 33% from the perimeter, 83% from the line

Tar Heels Frontcourt

Armando Bacot
#5 SO F 6-10 240 lbs
Richmond, VA IMG Academy 23 (2019)
12.0 Pts, 7.8 Reb, 0.8 Ast
Shooting 63% from the floor, doesnt from the perimeter, 67% from the line

Garrison Brooks
#15 SR F 6-10 240 lbs
Lafayette, AL Auburn HS
10.6 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 1.4 Ast
Shooting 48% from the floor, 50% from the perimeter(Less than 1 attempt every three games), 61% from the line

Day'Ron Sharpe
#11 FR F 6-11 265 lbs
Greenville, NC Monteverde Academy 12 (2020)
9.8 Pts, 7.9 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Shooting 52% from the floor, doesnt from the perimeter, 51% from the line

Walker Kessler
#13 FR F 7-1 245 lbs
Newnan, GA Woodward Academy 18 (2020)
4.6 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Shooting 62% from the floor, 25% from the perimeter, 53% from the line

What to expect from North Carolina?
Bacot, Love and Brooks come in averaging double digit points per game. North Carolina goes deep on the bench for significant minutes or contributions, regularly playing nine players each game for ten or more minutes a contest.

Opponents are averaging 70.7 points per game in ACC play. Opponents in ACC play are shooting 43% from the floor against the Tar Heels. UNC does better on the perimeter, only allowing 34.7% from the perimeter. They still have been allowing ACC opponents a third of their points from the perimeter on 7.7 (23 points) allowed threes per game.

The Tar Heels are committing 15 turnovers per game possessions or about 19% of their possessions. Every UNC starter is committing at least one turnover per game. Three players are committing at least 1.9 turnovers per game.

North Carolina forces 13.3 turnovers per game and average nearly 15 points per contest off turnovers.
The Tar Heels commit 16.6 fouls per game. Opponents have shot 15.6 free throw attempts per game so far this season. This accounts for 14% of opponent scoring. This may be a factor in this contest as most of the North Carolina opponents so far are not nearly as likely to get to the line as the Hokies have been this season but North Carolina commits fewer shooting fouls than most of the ACC. The Hokies average 19.1 attempts per game in ACC play. Four Tar Heels starters average at least 2 fouls per contest but Brooks is the most likely to foul inside.

As a team the Tar Heels are shooting 32.9% from the perimeter on 18.1 attempts per game. Walton shoots better than 41% from the perimeter while no one else is shooting better than 32.7%. Walton attempts more than a quarter of his teams perimeter shots.

North Carolina dominates inside on rebounding as you might expect with their large roster with a +10-rebound differential per game. They have four players, Bacot, Brooks, Sharpe and Black, averaging more than 5.1 rebounds per game. UNC outrebounded Notre Dame last night 54-31 which led to a 77-61 shot advantage.

Love, Davis and Black are the key distributors, averaging 2.4+ assists each. The Tar Heels average 16.9 assists on 28 made baskets per game, roughly 60% of all baskets are assisted.

We got five!Five of our players make the ACC All-Academic Team 🤓#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/Troh44kI2W— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 9, 2021

The Hokies
Expect to see the Hokies employ zone defense as the majority of the Tar Heels losses have come against Zone or Pack Line defenses. They struggle defensively against speed so that could also work in favor of the Hokies. The goal is to force the ball into the UNC guards hands to shoot but dont foul them and be prepared to foul the UNC bigs to not let them have easy inside baskets. Ojiako and Pemsl may both be called upon to knock their bigs around a little. The UNC guards struggle to shoot from the floor but are excellent at the line while their bigs shoot extremely well inside but are terrible at the line.

The two biggest things the Hokies must be prepared to do: preventing offensive rebounds as best possible and on offense, they must improve on their perimeter shooting. UNC is very tough on the perimeter and making perimeter shots is crucial in remaining competitive with a team that is dominant inside on both ends of the floor.

It does not appear that Cone will be a factor in this game. He may return in time for the NCAA Tournament but as of yesterday Coach Young indicated his sharpshooter is still sidelined by his ankle injury.

Tech's perimeter shooting will rely on Cattoor, Alleyne and Mutts going forward. 23.8 attempts per contest is the average. Wake is better defensively against the three but single focused shooters have been successful against the Tar Heels, as Wake tends to sag off the perimeter to clog the lane.

The Hokies have to hope they have corrected the sloppy passing we saw against Georgia Tech after the first layoff or Hokies fans could be in for a long night. The Hokies committed 19 turnovers leading to 19 points. That is something very few teams can overcome especially with how UNC dominates the boards already.

Highlight of the Wake Forest Game

We were firin' on all cylinders vs. Wake 🤟#StoneByStone | #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/6G5IAbJJ7H— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 1, 2021

Monumental win...

In Closing
The points of emphasis remain the same to beat any ACC team, Double digits: Preventing UNC from getting offensive rebounds, forced turnovers, offensive rebounds, made free throws, and FIVE scorers.

The Hokies speed and ability to shoot outside keep them hanging around, UNC bigs get in trouble foul wise opening the door for the Hokies

Hokies start to get their legs back under them but I think the delay and the momentum UNC has are probably too much to overcome. Its Tourney Time though so I will bet on Orange and Maroon. Final 77-73.

Two Popcorns- The Hokies have to show me they have shaken loose of the cobwebs before I can go higher.

Confidence Factor:

Congrats to JRob for making the G League Finals, although unfortunately Delaware is getting blown out tonight.

Check out @5Alive_ in the title game now on ESPN2 https://t.co/9oFi0NCWrr— Virginia Tech Men's Basketball (@HokiesMBB) March 11, 2021