IU men’s basketball knows what it’s in for Wednesday night when No. 3 North Carolina visits Bloomington for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with tip-off at 9:15 p.m.
The Tar Heels ended the Hoosiers’ season during the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament a year ago and have shown no signs of slowing down since then.
North Carolina has steamrolled its competition to begin the 2016-17 campaign. It has won its first seven games by an average of 27 points and won the Maui Invitational.
IU’s upset overtime loss to Fort Wayne last Tuesday, which caused the team to drop 10 spots in the latest AP Top 25 poll to No. 13, adds even more fuel to the fire that was burning from last season’s Tournament loss.
Sophomore forward Thomas Bryant said IU thinks about the loss to North Carolina but knows the Hoosiers have to stay poised when going up against the Tar Heels.
“Carolina is obviously a tremendous program, and they’re having a great season,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “When you watch them play on film, knowing how Roy coaches, knowing how they play and what type of season they had last year, they look even better to me.”
Both the Hoosiers and Tar Heels have two of the most potent offensives in the country. IU averages more than 88 points a game, and North Carolina is scoring nearly 93 points per contest. North Carolina’s offensive efficiency is third in the country according to KenPom.
The Tar Heels boast five players that average double figures with junior guard Joel Berry leading the way with more than 17 points per game.
Both teams pride themselves on the glass too, especially offensively.
UNC is second and IU is third in offensive rebounding percentage in the nation. North Carolina grabs 46 percent of its own misses, and IU gets 42 percent. North Carolina forwards Tony Bradley and Kennedy Meeks lead the nation in offensive rebounding efficiency, and the battle on the boards could go a long way in result of Wednesday night’s game.
“They go every time, and they cover the weak side board every time,” Crean said. “If we had clips to show our guys where they don’t then we’d show them, but we haven’t found any in the seven games that they’ve played and we have to make sure we’re there too.”
IU is expected to get an added boost to its lineup because Crean said junior guard James Blackmon Jr. will be available Wednesday night.
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Averaging a bit more than 20 points per game, Blackmon suffered a knee injury in the upset loss to Fort Wayne last Tuesday and missed Sunday’s matchup against Mississippi Valley State.
Crean said Blackmon is healing and doing a little bit more every day. The nine-year head coach isn’t committing 100 percent to Blackmon being on the floor, but if he stays on his current rehab track, then he’ll be able to play.
Blackmon and his fellow guards will be pressured early on offense by North Carolina, and five games into the season, one of the Hoosiers’ biggest issues has been turnovers. That’s one aspect of the game the Tar Heels take advantage of very well.
IU is averaging 18 turnovers per game, and North Carolina is forcing more than 15 a game on defense and turning those into 18 points per contest.
North Carolina has forced opponents to turn the ball over 14 or more times on five different occasions so far this year.
In those games, they’re scoring more than 23 points off turnovers, and the Tar Heels want to do just that against the Hoosiers.
“If we continue to compete on the defensive end, that will take care of anything,” Berry said. “If we can stop them from scoring and be able to rebound the ball or get a steal and get out on the break, that’s what we want to do.”
The 1981 IU team that defeated North Carolina for the National Championship will be honored at halftime Wednesday night. IU alumnus and World Series champion Kyle Schwarber will be an honorary captain for the game.
Although North Carolina has played just two home games this year, North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said facing IU is a different animal, and Crean said it will be different for his own team as well.
“It will be the first time these guys this season will play in an environment like this,” Crean said. “My greatest fear is keeping it simple and dealing with the pressure of their defense. Not the pressure of how big our crowd is — we need our crowd — but we’re not going to be in a situation of where we’re playing to the crowd. We need to play for each other.”
