Preview: #3 North Carolina hosts the Clemson Tigers

 


(Photo Courtesy Jim Hawkins/Inside Carolina) 

Chapel Hill - A week after losing to Georgia Tech to complete the basketball schedule for January, but beginning February with a sweet win over #9 Duke, UNC will face the Clemson Tigers once more tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN. Coach Davis and his squad were able to enter Littlejohn Coliseum and leave with a win on January 6th, 65-55. Armando Bacot and RJ Davis shared the scoring load with 14 points each.
  
The victory against Duke was much needed after the disappointing and arguably worst game by the Tar Heels this season in Atlanta against the Yellow Jackets. A pair of 20 and 10 double-doubles by Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram highlighted the game against the Jon Scheyer-led squad. Ingram was able to get his scoring down in various ways, from three-point shooting to mid-range pull-ups. The versatile 6'7 forward was playing his brand of bully-ball. Bacot was doing Bacot-like things as he bumped bodies on the inside with Kyle Filipowski, one-time drawing an emphatic and-one that sounded the Dean Dome to a frenzy as the fifth-year senior along with the rest of his teammates celebrated with the "too small" hand signal. RJ Davis piled on to the scoring output mostly during the second half, as he finished the game with 17 points.
 
The Clemson Tigers, who were once atop the ACC beside North Carolina, have seen their season head in the opposite direction, as in their last game they fell to the hands of the Virginia Cavaliers on their home floor, 66-65. The starters did most of the work in this game, as PJ Hall (19), Joe Girard III (14), Ian Schieffelin (13), and Chase Hunter (12) finished in double-figures. Collectively, the team shot 36% (20–56) from the field, 35% (7–20) from downtown, and 86% (18–21) from the free throw line. Heading into tomorrow's contest, the Tigers average just under 80 points per game, 38 rebounds, and 15 assists. Hall, from Spartanburg, South Carolina, leads his team in scoring with 20 points a game and will be much needed for the Tigers to have a chance to slow down the Tar Heels.

Projected Starting Lineups 

Elliot Cadeau 
RJ Davis 
Cormac Ryan 
Harrison Ingram
Armando Bacot 

Chase Hunter 
Joe Girard III
Chauncy Wiggins
Ian Schieffelin
PJ Hall 

Key Matchup 

The inside matchup between Armando Bacot and PJ Hall will be the key matchup that determines the outcome of the clash. Last time out, Bacot was able to hold PJ Hall to 10 points on 4 of 13 shots from the field, for a total of 31%. Credit goes to Bacot's ability to alter and affect Hall's shot attempts on the inside around the rim. However, Hall sure looks to make his presence felt going into Chapel Hill.
 

The Projected Winner by the Numbers 

UNC is listed at 82.1%, according to the matchup predictor on ESPN Analytics.

 




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