Chapel Hill, NC (Sports Network) - The 20th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels
continue a three-game homestand on Saturday, as they play host to the East
Tennessee State Buccaneers at the Smith Center.
Roy Williams' squad has had a week off for final exams and hasn't played since
last weekend's 102-84 victory over UAB. With the win, North Carolina moved to
3-0 at home and 6-2 overall on the year. The victory also put some distance
between the Tar Heels and a humbling loss at top-ranked Indiana (83-59) prior
to that.
Murry Bartow's Buccaneers have struggled out of the gate in 2012-13, sporting
a mere 2-4 record overall. Playing out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, East
Tennessee State comes into this contest with a mere 1-3 road record, including
a 70-45 pasting at the hands of James Madison in Harrisonburg on Wednesday.
North Carolina has won all five previous meetings between the two teams,
although the last matchup took place back in 1987.
The Buccaneers were not a full strength and it showed against James Madison
this week, as without starting point guard Petey McClain, ETSU had very little
continuity on the offensive end, resulting in a mere 45 points. East Tennessee
State shot a mere .288 from the floor in the game and was guilty of 18
turnovers. Lester Wilson led the way for ETSU with 21 points, but took 23
shots to get there. Rashawn Rembert was the only other Buccaneer to reach
double digits, adding 12 points in the losing effort.
McClain isn't much of a scorer (4.0 ppg), but he is a solid distributor (3.4
apg) and is missed in the lineup. McClain is listed as questionable for this
contest (ankle). The team's lone offensive threat is Wilson with the arrests
of Marcus Dubose (15.5 ppg) and Sheldon Cooley (9.5 ppg) a couple of weeks
ago. The 6-foot-4 Wilson has now had to carry the scoring load and has done
his best in that regard, shooting .453 from the floor, including a better .476
from behind the arc (20-of-42) en route to 19.7 ppg. Unfortunately, there is
little else in terms of proven offensive commodities, with Hunter Harris (7.3
ppg) and Rembert (6.8 ppg) representing the best of the rest.
Leslie McDonald had a career game against UAB last time out, as he netted 24
points and dished out five assists (both career-highs) in an offensive
shootout with the Blazers. McDonald, who converted 7-of-11 from the floor,
drained five 3-pointers in the win. Reggie Bullock finished with 17 points,
six rebounds and five assists, followed by P.J. Hairston's 16 points. James
Michael McAdoo recorded a double-double, his fourth of the season, with 15
points and 12 rebounds, while Dexter Strickland just missed a double-double of
his own with 11 points and nine assists. Brice Johnson finished off the top
scorers with 11 points of his own.
North Carolina is obviously a dangerous offensive team and comes into this
contest averaging 84.1 ppg (eighth nationally), on a solid .466 shooting.
McAdoo has been the most impressive Tar Heel this season, averaging team-highs
of 15.8 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Bullock adds 12.3 ppg and has been
lights out from long range, knocking down almost half of his 3-point attempts
(19-of-39). Hairston (11.6 ppg) and McDonald (9.9 ppg) are also capable
snipers, combining with Bullock to account for 50 of the team's 63 3-pointers
to date. Further offensive depth comes in the form of Johnson (9.1 ppg) and
Strickland (8.9 ppg).
The Sports Network