UNC Facing Tough Task in Providence in Round of 32

No. 1 seed UNC will enter Saturday night’s round of 32 matchup against Providence as near double-digit favorites to come away with a win, but the Tar Heel players and coach Roy Williams said on Friday they know how tough of a matchup the Friars will pose.

No. 9 Providence, coming off of a 70-69 first round win over No. 8 Southern California, is led by two of the premiere players in the Big East Conference this season, junior guard Kris Dunn and sophomore big man Ben Bentil. Dunn came into the season as the clear leader of the team after a tremendous sophomore campaign, and he followed up on that with a junior season where he scored 16 points per game while adding six assists.

UNC senior guard Marcus Paige said the length of the 6′ 4″ guard Dunn is going to present challenges.

“What really sticks out to me is his defense and his length,” Paige said on Friday. “He’s got really long arms, and he uses his quickness to get a lot of steals. So, he’s going to be a problem for us, but we’re going to throw different guys at him and try to contain him and keep him out of the lane.”

Williams compared Dunn to another big guard that Paige had to defend in Atlantic Coast Conference play, ACC Player of the Year Malcolm Brogdon.

“Kris Dunn, that’s a challenge that there’s not many like him,” Williams said. “Brogdon is a different animal, too.”

Williams said while he knows Dunn will be a big challenge, Paige has the skill set to be up to the challenge.

“Marcus know the defensive principles. He has quick feet; he has toughness; he gets where he wants to be; he sees the man and sees the ball at the same time.”

The question for Providence was who would be the second option. That question was answered with the outstanding season from the forward Bentil. He made a huge jump from six points and five rebounds per game as a freshman to averaging 21 and eight as a sophomore.

Williams said that means UNC will need a big performance from all of the big men, not just the All-American Brice Johnson.

“I think Kennedy [Meeks] will play a lot better [than in the round of 64]. I really do,” William said. “Brice is playing at a pretty high level; I want him to continue doing that. But I don’t want everybody to get caught up in just those, it’s North Carolina against Providence.”

Williams added that he doesn’t put any stock in the fact that Providence went 6-6 over its last 12 games entering Saturday’s matchup.

“Those games don’t mean anything now,” Williams said. “We’re playing a very good basketball team with two marquee players and other guys that are pretty doggone good, and so we’ve got to try to guard them.

“But, I think our guys will play hard.”

UNC will tip off against Providence at 9:40 Saturday night, which Williams is none to happy about.

“Jiminy Christmas, you know, what can you say? 9:45, 9:50 for a start time. Don’t we have a East, South, Midwest, West? Don’t we have some games out there that we can show on TV at that time? But, you know, it’s like spitting in the wind; it’s stupid because you can’t do anything about it, but I despise it. I gotta sit in the dadgum hotel room; I’ll wake up at six o’clock in the morning, don’t even get to go to work until frickin’ 9:30 at night.”

Despite the objections from Williams and print reporters across the country, UNC is in for a late night on Saturday. Now we’ll have to see if it’s worth the wait for the Tar Heels.

UNC Facing Tough Task in Providence in Round of 32

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