UNC Basketball vs Michigan Wolverines Game Preview

The UNC basketball program will take on the Michigan Wolverines in the 2021 Big 10/ACC Challenge. The Tar Heels are in search of their first victory in the annual tournament since 2017.

The Tar Heels are coming off of a 19-point victory over UNC Asheville, and have won four of their first six games of the season. They are still looking for a marquee victory to add to their resume this season, having lost both games they played against ranked opponents. To this point, they haven’t looked like the team that many of us thought they would, but they’ve got plenty of time to change that.

In order to do so, they’ll have to do a number of things better than they have to this point in the season. Some of the fixes are as simple as making crisper passes and not missing easy shots around the basket. Others seem slightly more complex, like figuring out how to defend three-point shooters better than they have since any of us can even remember.

A game against Michigan in the Big 10/ACC Challenge seems like a good place to start, as it would obviously be their most impressive victory of the season, even though the Wolverines have had their own early struggles. The Tar Heels lost to the Wolverines the last time the two teams met in this tournament back in 2018, but they beat them the season before.

The latter was actually the Tar Heels’ last victory in the Big 10/ACC Challenge, as they’ve dropped blowout losses to Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan over the past three seasons. Can they break their streak on Wednesday night when they welcome the Wolverines to the Dean Smith Center? Sure they can, but they’ll likely have to play better than they have for the majority of their previous six games this season, and it all begins on the defensive side of the ball.

Key to Victory

The Tar Heels have to do something against the Wolverines on Wednesday night that they haven’t done much of this season; play defense.

Prior to their victory over under-manned and outmatched UNC Asheville last week, North Carolina surrendered 182 points in a pair of games against Purdue and Tennessee at the Cheez-It Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. Granted, those are solid teams, particularly the Boilermakers, but those weren’t the only squads that UNC has struggled to defend in the early goings this season.

Even in the three games before that against Loyola, Brown and College of Charleston, the Tar Heels gave up nearly 80 points a contest. That’s a decidedly bad thing considering that they’re only scoring an average of 83.2 points per game themselves.

Their current scoring differential is just 4.5 points per game. Some of that has to do with how much they’re turning the ball over — 13.5 times per game — as they continue to give opponents more possessions and additional opportunities to score. They’re currently committing 4.8 turnovers per game more than their opponents, too. If there’s any aspect of the game other than defense that they should be focused on at this point, it’s taking better care of the basketball. If they could somehow do both, it would make a world of difference.

Something to Watch

I’m anxious to see how many minutes and what kind of impact Kerwin Walton has on Wednesday night’s game. His playing time has steadily decreased over the team’s last three games, and he’s scored just 10 points over his past 70 minutes on the court. Early in the season, he appeared to be the Tar Heels’ main guy from beyond the arc, but he’s shot just 2-for-11 in games against Purdue, Tennessee and UNC Asheville.

He’s also looked very one-dimensional, struggling to do much of anything on the court if it’s not a long-range shot. He’s accumulated just four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal in the three aforementioned games, which may be part of the reason for his declining usage during that span.

Last Meeting

North Carolina lost to Michigan on November 28, 2019 in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena in Nassau, Bahamas. Cole Anthony had a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds for the Tar Heels, while Garrison Brooks added 13 points and eight boards. North Carolina went into halftime facing a five-point deficit and trailed the entire second half.

Projected Starters

No. 4 R.J. Davis (So., 6-0, 175) – 13.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg
No. 2 Caleb Love (So., 6-4, 195) – 15.2 ppg, 4.2 apg
No. 1 Leaky Black (Sr., 6-8 200) – 4.8 ppg, 5.0 RPG
No. 13 Dawson Garcia (So. 6-11, 235) – 10.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg
No. 5 Armando Bacot (Jr., 6-10, 240) – 15.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg

What You Need To Know

WHAT? Michigan Wolverines (4-2, 0-0 away) vs North Carolina Tar Heels (4-2, 3-0 home), Big 10/ACC Challenge
WHEN? Wednesday, December 1 – 9:15 p.m. EST
WHERE? Dean E. Smith Center – Chapel Hill, North Carolina
TV? ESPN
RADIO? Tar Heels Sports Network
LINE? Michigan -1.5
LAST MEETING?  Michigan won 73-64 on November 28, 2019
ALL-TIME SERIES? Tied 4-4
PREDICTION? UNC 80, Michigan 72

For complete coverage of the game, and everything else on the UNC basketball program, check back with Keeping It Heel.