North Carolina at Virginia, 7 p.m. ESPN
At work, not a lot of time to look at this game, but I'll say this: For some reason, I had forgotten or overlooked the fact that P.J. Hairston did not play at all for the Tar Heels this season. Hairston was ruled ineligible for several missteps over the past several months. He was last year's leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, and had an excellent second half of the season, averaging close to 20 ppg.
But without Hairston, the Tar Heels beat Louisville, Michigan State, and Kentucky this season. The same lineup has also lost to Belmont, UAB, Texas, Wake, and Miami. Most recently, UNC got in the win column in the ACC by beating Boston College at home on Saturday, 82-71.
The Tar Heels (11-6, 1-3 ACC) rely on sophomore point guard Marcus Paige to score a lot of points. He has upped his average from around eight points per game to 17.2 ppg. He is dishing out 4.2 assists per game, which is actually slightly down from last season. His 3-point shooting is up about a percentage point to 35.8 percent. Senior forward James Michael McAdoo is second on the team with 14.6 ppg and also grabs 6.6 rebounds per game. Brice Johnson (10.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) is the only other Tar Heel in double figures. Two players, though, J.P. Tokoto (9.9) and Leslie McDonald (9.8) reside right under 10 ppg.
One of UNC's bugaboos this season has been free-throw shooting. The team is only at 62 percent on the season, which is last in the ACC. The Tar Heels also struggle beyond the arc, shooting 30.7 percent.
If UVa can jump on UNC early like the Cavaliers have done in their recent wins, I think they can break the Tar Heels' will. They need to be ready, though. This team, without Hairston, has done some really impressive things this season. It is just a matter of who shows up. Luckily, UVa doesn't have a number beside it because it isn't in the top 25 so hopefully UNC won't take UVa as seriously as some of those really good team it has beaten.
At work, not a lot of time to look at this game, but I'll say this: For some reason, I had forgotten or overlooked the fact that P.J. Hairston did not play at all for the Tar Heels this season. Hairston was ruled ineligible for several missteps over the past several months. He was last year's leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, and had an excellent second half of the season, averaging close to 20 ppg.
The Tar Heels (11-6, 1-3 ACC) rely on sophomore point guard Marcus Paige to score a lot of points. He has upped his average from around eight points per game to 17.2 ppg. He is dishing out 4.2 assists per game, which is actually slightly down from last season. His 3-point shooting is up about a percentage point to 35.8 percent. Senior forward James Michael McAdoo is second on the team with 14.6 ppg and also grabs 6.6 rebounds per game. Brice Johnson (10.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) is the only other Tar Heel in double figures. Two players, though, J.P. Tokoto (9.9) and Leslie McDonald (9.8) reside right under 10 ppg.
One of UNC's bugaboos this season has been free-throw shooting. The team is only at 62 percent on the season, which is last in the ACC. The Tar Heels also struggle beyond the arc, shooting 30.7 percent.
If UVa can jump on UNC early like the Cavaliers have done in their recent wins, I think they can break the Tar Heels' will. They need to be ready, though. This team, without Hairston, has done some really impressive things this season. It is just a matter of who shows up. Luckily, UVa doesn't have a number beside it because it isn't in the top 25 so hopefully UNC won't take UVa as seriously as some of those really good team it has beaten.
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