Minus Mike Scott, Virginia plays its second ACC game of the season today at home against North Carolina. The Tar Heels come in at 10-4, not having played a conference game, while the Cavaliers are 10-5, and 1-0 in the ACC with the road win over Virginia Tech.
UNC has been sort of up and down all season, like last year. The Tar Heels beat Kentucky at home 75-73, but also gave up 91 points to Long Beach State (although they won that game as well). They lost to Minnesota (a team Virginia beat), and Vanderbilt, Illinois and Texas. UNC has a healthy Tyler Zeller this year and the 7-footer is averaging 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The Heels also have Harrison Barnes and John Henson scoring in double figures. Barnes is a freshman, and was a preseason all-American. He hasn't lived up to the hype, but is still obviously capable of scoring points.
I'm most worried about Zeller though. We have no one that can matchup with him with Scott out. And even if Scott were playing, he would give up four inches. Assane Sene is seven-foot, and will probably be tasked with guarding Zeller, but Sene is the best defender and tends to get into foul trouble. It'll be interesting to see how Tony Bennett decides to defend Zeller. It'll need to be a team effort.
If UNC pounds it inside to Zeller, our chances of winning are probably low. But UNC, being very athletic, might start running and gunning and that could actually work in our favor--if we slow it down on offense when we need to. We don't want to run with them, but if they do, we'll need to try to neutralize their speed with a measured offense that gets good shots and hopefully makes them, to limit their fast break.
The Cavaliers will probably need some good things to happen early to win this game. Hopefully early on, we can get hot shooting and really get the crowd into it. Anything's possible then. If we revert back to our cold shooting of a couple games ago, it could get ugly Without Mike Scott, our chances take a hit but we can win this game. UNC is young, and hopefully a little undisciplined like last year, when Virginia went on the road and beat UNC 75-60. If we get up early, maybe we can force UNC to take bad shots and hurry, and fall right into our hands.
UNC has been sort of up and down all season, like last year. The Tar Heels beat Kentucky at home 75-73, but also gave up 91 points to Long Beach State (although they won that game as well). They lost to Minnesota (a team Virginia beat), and Vanderbilt, Illinois and Texas. UNC has a healthy Tyler Zeller this year and the 7-footer is averaging 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The Heels also have Harrison Barnes and John Henson scoring in double figures. Barnes is a freshman, and was a preseason all-American. He hasn't lived up to the hype, but is still obviously capable of scoring points.
I'm most worried about Zeller though. We have no one that can matchup with him with Scott out. And even if Scott were playing, he would give up four inches. Assane Sene is seven-foot, and will probably be tasked with guarding Zeller, but Sene is the best defender and tends to get into foul trouble. It'll be interesting to see how Tony Bennett decides to defend Zeller. It'll need to be a team effort.
If UNC pounds it inside to Zeller, our chances of winning are probably low. But UNC, being very athletic, might start running and gunning and that could actually work in our favor--if we slow it down on offense when we need to. We don't want to run with them, but if they do, we'll need to try to neutralize their speed with a measured offense that gets good shots and hopefully makes them, to limit their fast break.
The Cavaliers will probably need some good things to happen early to win this game. Hopefully early on, we can get hot shooting and really get the crowd into it. Anything's possible then. If we revert back to our cold shooting of a couple games ago, it could get ugly Without Mike Scott, our chances take a hit but we can win this game. UNC is young, and hopefully a little undisciplined like last year, when Virginia went on the road and beat UNC 75-60. If we get up early, maybe we can force UNC to take bad shots and hurry, and fall right into our hands.
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