The North Carolina men’s basketball team will continue rolling with its light schedule when it faces Davidson Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena.

The Tar Heels remain ranked at No. 6. According to Head Coach Roy Williams, Carolina is using this game as preparation for younger players before meeting tougher competition in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas next week.

“I’ve always said pre-conference games are supposed to get you ready for conference play,” Coach Williams says. “The quality of the opponents we have in pre-conference play this year are some of the best teams in the country.”

UNC forward Brice Johnson says this young team is still looking for their identity as the season progresses. Johnson led scorers with 23 points in Sunday’s victory over Robert Morris.

“I mean, everybody’s been playing zone lately so I can’t post up the way I really want to,” Johnson said. “Hopefully this week, (Davidson) won’t play as much zone and we’ll be able to post up and run our plays the way we want to. We’ll just be able to do the things we need to do on the offensive end instead of trying to adjust to what their defensive scheme is.”

In Carolina’s last meeting with the Wildcats in 2013, Davidson forced the Heels into overtime before UNC overcame with a 97-85 victory in Chapel Hill. Coach Williams says he does not want another close call.

“We needed to let them rest because we played Friday, practiced Saturday, played Sunday so we gave them Monday off; but Tuesday and Thursday we went pretty doggone hard. And I think we need the practice time,” Coach Williams says. “We’ve got to continue working to build a strong foundation but this week of practice was good for us.”

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