Where: Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
When: Wednesday, January 9th, 7:00 PM
TV: ESPNU
Records: UNC 15-0, UNCA 11-3
UNC Asheville should not be taken lightly.
The Bulldogs and Heels both are coming off wins over the two major universities in South Carolina with UNCA surprising SCAR. And, no Dave Odom always looks like his eyes are going to pop out of his head. Anyway, UNCA also boasts the biggest man in college basketball, one Kenny George who is 7-7 and 360 pounds. I was at the game against UNCA last season and George was not very good. He was often two seconds slow reacting to everything around him and had trouble making it up and down the court more than twice in succession. Everything I am reading says he is vastly improved and the stat sheet verifies it with a 16 point, 13 rebound performance versus SCAR.
UNC is coming off the huge emotionally draining win over Clemson which could bring the Heels out a little flat. It will also be interesting to note how well Tyler Hansbrough plays considering he was visibly frustrated by the Clemson defense on Sunday and he now faces a player significantly bigger than him. Hansbrough has not traditionally performed as well versus taller players. Alex Stepheson is back in Chapel Hill and Roy was non-committal about his playing time citing concerns about his conditioning from being away from the team a week. Stepheson could be a necessary cog to help Hansbrough deal with the behemoth in the lane.
I expect UNC to own the other matchups on the floor, especially at point guard. This will be the last out of conference affair before UNC hosts NC State on Saturday to begin the rest of the ACC schedule in earnest.
UNC 90 UNCA 66