In the ACC Tournament, the North Carolina Tar Heels enter their first game facing a sneaky Miami Hurricanes team that has the power to make some noise by taking down the resurgent Tar Heels. By beating a Duke team that is down, North Carolina is still coming off the high and if they can’t beat Miami, that regular season win will mean nothing.
NCCA Basketball Picks for this matchup will be available late Thursday.
Even though Miami is not a team to back down, North Carolina brings a stifling defense and a team that plays hard under the basket. Miami gave North Carolina all they could handle, in the only meeting between the two teams early in the season. North Carolina breathed a sigh of relief when they walked out with the win as the final score was 74-71.
By winning seven of their last eleven and only four of their last seven, Miami has struggled. Miami made a run to the finals against Duke before they met their match as last season they turned it on in the tournament.
In this game shooting guard Malcolm Grant is the one to watch, who is the key shooting threat for Miami. By leading the team in scoring, he is hitting 46 percent from the three point arc.
For the Tar Heels, seven feet Tyler Zeller is the big man and leading scorer. By averaging more than seven rebounds per game, he is averaging 14.6 points per game. By averaging more than 14 points per game, Harrison Barnes is also a force down low for North Carolina.