Ohio State faces one of their many big tests this season tomorrow night against the #4 ranked and defending National Champions North Carolina Tar Heels. The game is being played in Madison Square Gardens as part of the 2k Sports “Coaches vs. Cancer” Challenge. Here’s everything you need to know about North Carolina.
| School: | North Carolina |
| Location: | Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
| Founded: | 1789 (Chartered), 1795 (First Student) |
| Student Population: | ~25,000 |
| School Type: | Public |
| Division: | Division 1 |
| Conference: | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Stadium: | Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center |
| Seating: | 21,750 |
| Built: | 1986 |
| Head Coach: | Roy Williams |
| Year: | 7th |
This game is going to be an absolute shootout. Two of the best teams in the nation are going to be on the floor, and it’s going to be a blast no matter who pulls out the victory. Ohio State has arguably one of the best backcourts in the nation with Evan Turner, David Lighty, William Buford and Jon Diebler along with some solid backups in Jeremie Simmons and PJ Hill. This Buckeye team has made it their business to run the court and put up points in a hurry.
The Tar Heels are much younger – relatively speaking – than they have been in the last couple of seasons. Four of their top players, including much touted center Tyler Hansbrough and spectacular guard Ty Lawson have left for the NBA. This leaves Head Coach Roy Williams with a dirth of experience, but with the massive quantity of talent at his disposal it isn’t much of a worry for him.
North Carolina counters OSU’s backcourt with a frontcourt that many have said is the best in the nation this year, even after losing Hansbrough. Starting Sophomore Forward Ed Davis (6-10, 215) was the team leader in rebounds during the National Championship game against Michigan State last year. This year he is mopping up on the boards averaging 8.3 rebounds per game in 23 minutes of play on average. He’s also posting around 12 points per game, making him a solid presence in the paint. Backing him up is Sophomore Forward Tyler Zeller (7-0, 220) who is posting slightly more impressive numbers with 12 points and 5 rebounds per game in 17 minutes of play. Also playing down low on the starting lineup is Senior Forward Deon Thompson (6-8, 245) who is a big body capable of pushing people around. His near 18 points and 8.3 rebounds per game make him the most dangerous player on the team.
The North Carolina backcourt is not particularly strong or deep. They are lead by Senior Guard Marcus Ginyard (6-5, 220) who averages 11 points and 4 assists per game. Sophomore Guard Larry Drew II (6-1, 180) and Junior Guard/Forward Will Graves (6-6, 245) round out the lineup. Three backup guards are worthy of mention, but don’t contribute much on the stat sheet on average. They are Sophomore Justin Watts (6-4, 205) with 4.7 points and 3 assists in 10 minutes, Freshman Dexter Strickland (6-3, 175) with 14 minutes for 4.3 points and 2 assists and Freshman Leslie McDonald (6-4, 185) with 3 points and 2 rebounds in 9 minutes of play.
North Carolina has played 3 games thus far this season. The first two games were part of the 2k Sports Challenge, while the third, a matchup against Valparaiso, was a simple out of conference affair. This will be the first road game for both North Carolina and Ohio State – though the Buckeyes are the defacto “home team” and will wear white or gray. Considering that each team played is approximately on the same level, lets compare the stats for these two teams.
| Team Averages | GM | PTS | REB | AST | TO | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Ohio State |
2 |
86 |
45 |
21 |
7.5 |
0.496 |
0.667 |
0.36 |
| North Carolina |
3 |
88.3 |
44 |
25.3 |
19.7 |
0.571 |
0.716 |
0.366 |
So far this season, the Buckeyes are playing a much better game than the Tar Heels. Keep in mind, though, North Carolina faced a substantially better opponent in Florida International (coached by none-other-than Isiah Thomas, hats off please) in their first game than the Buckeyes did in either of their matchups (Alcorn State, James Madison). Also worthy of note is that the Buckeyes struggled mightly in the first half against James Madison before blowing them off the floor in the second. Coach Thad Matta admitted that the Buckeyes had been a little tired after 7 straight days of practice and luckily found extra reserves of energy after the half. The level of effort the Buckeyes displayed early in that game won’t likely come back to haunt them against the Tar Heels, but if it does, it could really hurt this teams chances to pull off the early season upset.
The Starting lineups for the game will look something like this:
| Ohio State | GM | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | TO | STL | BLK | PF | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Evan Turner |
2 |
32 |
19 |
17 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0.548 |
0.75 |
0.333 |
| William Buford |
2 |
21.5 |
15.5 |
3 |
2.5 |
0 |
1.5 |
0 |
0.5 |
0.52 |
1 |
0.333 |
| Jon Diebler |
2 |
27.5 |
14.5 |
3 |
2.5 |
1 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.529 |
1 |
0.583 |
| David Lighty |
2 |
25.5 |
11 |
2.5 |
5 |
1.5 |
2 |
0.5 |
3 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0.2 |
| Dallas Lauderdale |
1 |
13 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| North Carolina | GM | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | TO | STL | BLK | PF | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Deon Thompson |
3 |
24 |
17.7 |
8.3 |
1.7 |
2.3 |
1.3 |
0.3 |
0.7 |
0.588 |
0.867 |
0 |
| Ed Davis |
3 |
23 |
11.7 |
8.3 |
1.7 |
1.7 |
0.3 |
3 |
1.7 |
0.737 |
0.875 |
0 |
| Marcus Ginyard |
3 |
26.3 |
11.3 |
2 |
4 |
3.3 |
1.7 |
0 |
1 |
0.7 |
0.667 |
0.444 |
| Larry Drew II |
3 |
23 |
8.3 |
1.7 |
6 |
3.3 |
1 |
0 |
1.7 |
0.474 |
1 |
0.455 |
| Will Graves |
3 |
18 |
6.3 |
3.3 |
1 |
0 |
0.7 |
0 |
0.7 |
0.429 |
1 |
0.273 |
Honestly, I see this game going the Buckeye’s way. OSU has the talent to match with the Tar Heels, and while the frontcourt will be a mismatch in North Carolina’s favor the backcourt game will almost certainly be a Buckeye advantage. This Ohio State team has much more experience than the Tar Heels and will be more than capable of taking it to them.
Look for the Buckeyes to spread the court and try to generate lots of open three pointers to counter a strong inside defense for North Carolina. Also expect the Bucks to run the fast break as often as they can to generate easy points. North Carolina committed no less than 26 turnovers in their first game against Florida International, so Thad Matta will have coached his team to play tight, aggressive defense to see if they can’t force another high turnover outing for the Heels.
North Carolina will spend the game trying to get the ball down low to their big men, to try to take advantage of what they’ll see as a weakness in the Buckeyes on the defensive side of the ball. They’ll also try to crash the boards and outrebound the Buckeyes, at which they will likely be successful. Lauderdale, Madsen and Big Z Sarikopoulis will have to play a fantastic game to shut down North Carolina’s frontcourt. I doubt they will be able to be entirely successful, however I also don’t believe that they need to be in order for the Bucks to carry this one.
The game will air tomorrow night (Thursday, November 19th) at 9:00 PM Eastern Time on ESPN2.
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