North Carolina continues non-conference play with Davidson at home as the Wildcats are finishing up with playing non-Atlantic 10 teams in a game where both teams needs this win.
TV Schedule: Saturday Dec. 29, Noon ET, ESPN2
Arena: Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
North Carolina has had quite the season so far. They haven’t dropped outside the top-15 thanks to not losing any dumb games and picking up some good named wins. They split the four-team Tournament out in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. The loss came to a Texas team that seemed to be on the rise. Since then, the Longhorns have struggled. The win came to a talented yet disappointing UCLA team. The loss to Michigan is forgivable. The 100-point performance over Gonzaga was wonderful, but they had a hangover and lost to Kentucky on a neutral court.
Their opponent is Davidson who is looking to be the favorite in a down Atlantic 10 this season. They went 2-1 in Charleston with one win coming to Wichita State and the loss being to Purdue. There hasn’t been a big name win since. The Wildcats did get Temple on a neutral court, but lost. They traveled to Wake Forest and fell as well. The Demon Deacons are an ACC team, but Davidson probably thought it was more than winnable.
A big reason why Davidson fell to the Owls and Demon Deacons is because of an injury to star shooting guard Kellan Grady. He’s just a sophomore, was a top-100 recruit last season and is averaging over 19 points per game with 18 three-pointers in just nine games. Davidson still has all-name candidate Jon Axel-Gudmundsson who is turning into a very nice point guard. He’s averaging 18 points per game, almost six boards and five assists. When both guys are healthy, the Wildcats have a very underrated back court.
North Carolina has an All-American in Luke Maye. He isn’t blowing people away by his scoring this season, but is still averaging 9.6 boards to go along with 14.5 boards. His three-point stroke is still there as he is averaging just over one per game. Cameron Johnson is the one who is doing most of the scoring for the Tar Heels this season. He’s averaging over 16 points per game, hitting close to 30 three-pointers with five boards. Kenny Williams was thought to be the third guy among the leading scorers this season, but is struggling to find his shot from deep.
Davidson has a nice body in the paint in Luka Brajkovic who is a freshman that goes six-foot-ten and is averaging over 10 points per game and almost seven boards. He’s very active on the offensive glass which is a nice thing to have when facing North Carolina. Luke Frampton is the three-point specialist for the Wildcats has he has made 32 this season. Two other guys deeper in the rotation have made 12 or more.
The Tar Heels found a guy to help Maye on the offensive glass this season in Garrison Brooks. He’s made nice adjustments from first year to second and has been rewarded by starting all 11 games. The freshman that has seen the most minutes this season is actually Coby White. He’s started in every game that he has played in, has a nice consistent outside shot, taken reigns of the point guard position and is averaging over 14 points per game.
Roy Williams has received quite the heat for not starting a top-five recruit in Nassir Little. It’s all but certain Little will be a lottery pick in next year’s NBA Draft, but the head coach isn’t playing him lottery type minutes. Williams got criticized in the Texas loss, but was left alone the very next day when White totaled 11 three-pointers in two days out in Vegas. No one batted an eye when they beat Gonzaga, but the critics came flying in after the loss to Kentucky. Little played a season-low 14 minutes, but did shoot two-for-eight from the field which was his worst since the Michigan loss.
Both teams seem to be pretty deep. The offensive rebounding numbers favor North Carolina by quite a bit though. I’ll leave you with one more name and that’s Seventh Woods. He did miss two games, but has started one when White was unable to play. The top-50 recruit from 2016 has found himself a role as backup point guard in his junior season which is nice to see. North Carolina hasn’t played since the Kentucky loss and they will be out for blood at home.
Prediction: North Carolina 78, Davidson 68