Preview: Lights, Camera, Action! Round 1 between #3 UNC vs. #7 Duke

(Photo Courtesy Jim Hawkins/Inside Carolina) 

Chapel Hill - The first meeting of #3 UNC and #7 Duke will go down tomorrow night at the Dean Smith Center at 6:30 p.m. This marks the third meeting between Hubert Davis and John Scheyer, as the new era between these two schools is just beginning.

 

Looking back on UNC's last outing this past Tuesday against Georgia Tech, the Heels took their first conference loss by a score of 74-73. The game concluded on a missed RJ Davis floater that bounced off the back rim. For a moment, it seemed that there was a foul on the play; however, ultimately, nothing was called in favor of Carolina. Davis finished the game with 28 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while shooting 11 of 24 from the field. The lack of production from transfers Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan did not help much either, going for a combined 6 of 28. Armando Bacot had a total of eight attempts throughout the entire game, an area as of late that seems to need more emphasis considering that we all know what Bacot can do on the interior. The entire team left key points at the charity stripe, only making 9 of their 17 attempts, or 53%.

 

Duke goes into Chapel Hill following a win against the Virginia Tech Hokies on the road, beating them by double figures, 77-67. Jeremy Roach, off the bench, scores 16 points through 29 minutes of action, shooting 5 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 from deep. On the stat sheet, Kyle Flipowski, Bacot's counterpart heading into the matchup, had an efficient night, scoring 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting. The Blue Devils completed the game by shooting 55% FG, 53% 3PT, and 60% FT.

 

Projected Starting Lineups 

Elliot Cadeau 

RJ Davis 

Cormac Ryan

Harrison Ingram 

Armando Bacot 

Tyrese Proctor 

Jared McCain

Caleb Foster 

Mark Mitchell

Kyle Filiposki 

Key Matchup

The inside battle with fifth-year senior Armando Bacot and sophomore Kyle Filipowski identifies as this game's most crucial matchup. The two bigs have very different playstyles, as Bacot goes the back-to-the-basket route and Filipowski leans more towards his shooting abilities from the perimeter. The battle will be decided on who can get their opposition into foul trouble first, as a loss by either player will tremendously alter their team's play for the rest of the contest.

 

The Projected Winner by the Numbers 

UNC is listed at 67.7% on the matchup predictor on ESPN Analytics.