North Carolina vs Brown: 2021-22 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

The No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels will look to make it two-straight to open the season when they host the Brown Bears on Friday night.

Game time: Friday, November 12, 9:00 p.m. ET
TV schedule: ACC Network
Location: Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC

The Hubert Davis era is off to a good start. The North Carolina Tar Heels are 1-0 thus far on the young season under their new head coach, and they’ll look to keep things rolling on Friday night. And given some of the close calls (and upsets) that have befallen ACC teams in the first couple of days, UNC can’t treat any game like a gimme. And with a tough Brown Bears squad coming into Chapel Hill for a late-night tilt, it’ll be a decent test for the #18 team in the country. Here’s what to expect.

The Heels logged a convincing 83-67 win over Loyola (Maryland) on Tuesday night in front of 14,992 clad in Carolina Blue. And the numbers were impressive: UNC shot nearly 53 percent from the field, 38 percent from three, and led wire-to-wire. There are big expectations for this squad this year despite the departure of Roy Williams, and their fans should have plenty to be pumped up about despite the weaker opponent.

Sophomore guard Caleb Love led the way with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting while Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek added 20 to go along with five boards. North Carolina proves they can score from both the paint and the perimeter, so they’re probably going to pose some match-up issues against a lot of teams this season. Tuesday was no exception.

R.J. Davis, Leaky Black, and Armando Bacot will round out the starting five for UNC. Davis, a sophomore guard, only dropped six in the opener. But he logged a triple-nickel, adding five boards and five assists in the win. Black, an assist-to-turnover wizard, added just two points but scoring it’s his forte (he averages just five points per game in his 3+ year career). His four assists were second only to Davis, and that’s where his value is for the most part. Big man Bacot chipped in with eight and six to go along with two blocks. At 6’10”, he’ll be taller than any guy Brown can run out there.

Speaking of the Bears, they pasted local foe Salve Regina (D-III) 89-59 in their opener. Brown went 17 deep — and 16 of them scored — as they took it as an opportunity to get sharp before they play what could be their toughest game of the season. It’ll be right into the fire with their first game against D-I competition. Only one player — Paxson Wojcik — played more than 20 minutes for the Bears, and he finished with 12 points thanks to three-point shooting exclusively.

The Loyola-Chicago transfer took seven shots, all from three, and drilled four of them. Fellow guard David Mitchell poured in 13 points in just 16 minutes, and Nana Owusu-Anane rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 off the bench.

Brown’s best player was held in check against Salve, so they’ll need to get him right to take down UNC. Fith-year senior Tamenang Choh scored just three points, well below his 13.4 average in 2019-20. Choh also averaged 8.3 boards and 3.1 assists two years ago (the Ivy League canceled its season in 2020-21), good for second-team all conference. The bet is he’ll be much more around those numbers when the dust settles on Friday night.

So how is this one going to shake out? Well, probably the way everyone expects it to. Brown is a tough Ivy League squad that will likely finish near the top of the Ivy the season. But Carolina is… Carolina. The Bears have the talent to avoid a serious blowout, but the better team will take this one down.

Prediction: North Carolina 81 – Brown 68