The North Carolina Tar Heels find themselves in unfamiliar territory as they reside near the bottom of the ACC, and will aim to build on a big win over Boston College when they arrive in Virginia to take on the red-hot Cavaliers on Monday night. [ad-4468020]
Date/Time: 7 p.m. EST, Monday, Jan. 20, 2014
Venue: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Virginia
Broadcast: ESPN
Spread: -7 Virginia
Over/Under: OFF
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North Carolina (11-6) steered clear of an 0-4 start in conference play by beating Boston College on Saturday.
Marcus Paige led the way with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting against the Eagles, after going 12-of-43 from the field over his previous three games for the Tar Heels.
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Paige is averaging 17.2 points per game this season, and UNC could use another strong outing from the sophomore guard against the Cavaliers, which allow just 56.6 points per game, and have lost only once in conference play thus far, falling to Duke by four.
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Malcolm Brogdon put up 16 points and six assists, while leading scorer Joe Harris reemerged from the shadows and is averaging 16.3 points over the past three games, including 18 points in Saturday’s win over Florida State.
That win boosted the Cavs (13-5) to 4-1 in league play, equaling their best start since 1994-95.
Now Virginia will aim to stay near the top of the ACC, while notching its 11th consecutive ACC win at home, which include a triumph over the Tar Heels last season.
Virginia ranks first in their conference in defensive rebounding percentage at 75.3, which also places them fourth in the country.
However the Tar Heels will make more three-pointers than the Virginia and do much better moving the ball around.
Free Pick: North Carolina-The two schools faced off twice last year, splitting the series.
However, the Tar Heels are 4-2 against the Cavaliers over the last four years and won the last meeting 93-81 on Feb. 16, 2013, to win 10 of the past 12 meetings.
I fully expect this to be a tight game, and even though the Tar Heels have had a slow start to begin conference play, I look for them to use their win over Boston College as a springboard to climbing back to the top of the heap in the ACC, starting with a win over Virginia.
