Throughout the past week, plenty of talk in the college basketball world has centered on UNC’s impressive 7-0 start to the season.
Winners of the Maui Invitational thanks to a dominant win over a top-25 team in Wisconsin, the Tar Heels have also steadily risen up to No. 3 in the polls.
On Wednesday, however, UNC will face its toughest test to date when it travels to Bloomington for a date with the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Not long ago the Hoosiers were in a similar spot as the Tar Heels. A season-opening win over then No. 3 Kansas sparked speculation that Indiana could be one of the teams to beat for a national title.
Senior Kennedy Meeks will be counted on to shut down Indiana’s sophomore center Thomas Bryant on Wednesday. (Todd Melet)
After rising to No. 3 in the polls themselves, the Hoosiers then suffered a dramatic upset loss on the road against tiny Fort Wayne University.
Despite that off-night, head coach Tom Crean still boasts one of the most talented units in America–led by junior guard James Blackmon Jr. and sophomores O.G. Anunoby and Thomas Bryant.
Anunoby is a hyper-athletic wing projected to be a first-round pick in next June’s NBA Draft, while Bryant is a 6-foot-10 center scoring nearly 14 points and grabbing over eight rebounds per game.
Blackmon, meanwhile, has emerged as Indiana’s workhorse. In a team-high 33 minutes a night, the 6-foot-4 guard has scored at a clip of 20.5 points per game thanks to a 46 percent success rate from three-point range. He’s also second on the team with seven rebounds per game.
At his press conference on Tuesday, UNC head coach Roy Williams acknowledged this will be a much different animal than anything else his team has faced thus far.
“We’ve had two true road games, at Tulane and at Hawaii,” Williams said. “That’s not what we’re gonna face tomorrow night–to say the least.”
Although junior point guard Joel Berry has been the most impressive performer for the Tar Heels early in the season, Wednesday’s game could depend on how well the UNC big men are able to defend Indiana’s two frontcourt stars.
That’s where Berry comes into play, though. Both Williams and the rest of the players have raved about how Berry’s intensity on the defensive end has spread down to everyone else on the team.
Berry’s on-ball defense has received high praise from both coaches and teammates alike early on this year. (Todd Melet)
Should he be able to contain Blackmon, it could spark the rest of the team to follow suit.
Opponents are currently averaging just 65.6 points per game against the Tar Heels on 37 percent shooting from the floor.
This, Berry told reporters, has been the biggest difference from this year to last.
“We’re starting to learn that defense is the key,” Berry said. “I think it’s just because we have veterans returning from last year who knew that once we stepped up our defensive game [later in the season] that we were able to win games.”
Like UNC, Indiana has also been forced to replace a veteran presence in the backcourt. Last year’s Sweet 16 matchup between the teams–a game won by the Tar Heels–showcased Marcus Paige for the Tar Heels against the Hoosiers’ Yogi Ferrell.
Both squads are filled with talented returning players who have fit nicely into bigger roles without missing a beat.
These are two powerhouse programs that aren’t the type to go through long rebuilding phases. Should Berry and Blackmon take center stage on Wednesday–taking over the roles of Paige and Ferrell–it would simply serve as the latest reminder.
Although Indiana’s loss prevented this from technically being a top-5 matchup, the amount of skill out on the floor may say otherwise.
Game Notes:
- The game is scheduled for 9 p.m. Wednesday and will be televised on ESPN.
- It will be Roy Williams’ 1000th career game as a head coach. His record currently sits at 790-209.
- UNC ranks second in the nation in offensive rebound percentage, while Indiana ranks third. The Tar Heels rebound 46.6 percent of their misses. The Hoosiers get 42.4 percent of their misses.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines