North Carolina Basketball: 3 keys to a win over No. 10 Alabama

No. 20 North Carolina (4-3) is set to host No. 10 Alabama (6-2) on Wednesday night in what will be a heavyweight tilt as a part of the SEC/ACC Challenge.

The Tar Heels are riding in on the back of a 94-91 loss to Michigan State in the Maui Invitational, while the Crimson Tide are strolling in on a mission, looking to avenge an 83-81 loss to Oregon in the first annual Players Era Tournament Championship.

Let’s look at what UNC will have to do in order to overcome the Tide, who sit ten spots ahead of it in the AP Poll.

Guard Play

UNC has found most of its success through its guard play. 

The four leading scorers for the Tar Heels happen to be guards as RJ Davis (18.4) , Seth Trimble (16.1), Elliot Cadeau (14.4) and Ian jackson (9) manufacture most of the team's points. 

If the Tar Heels want to come out victorious, they will have to feed these four key players the rock. The only downside, which shined an unfortunate amount against Michigan State, is the lack of experience as Cadeau, a sophomore, blew a few layups and coughed up some costly turnovers against the Spartans. If Cadeau can settle in, which should be easier as the game is in Chapel Hill, then UNC should have a golden opportunity to win.    

Turnovers

The Tar Heels (9.6) average less turnovers than Alabama (12.8), however, against Michigan State it was their kryptonite. 

The Heels surrendered the ball 11 times against the Spartans and some came at the wrong time. If UNC wants to overcome the Tide, it will have to display a nearly mistake-free contest as this fire-powered Alabama squad will have a field day converting off of those. 

Home-Court Advantage

Finally, UNC has a solid foundation in place and that is the warmth of playing in Chapel Hill.

UNC has competed in seven games thus far, yet only two of them have occurred in the Dean E. Smith Center. The Heels can rock-and-roll with the juice provided by their fans that will surely fill in courtesy of the No. 10 ranked team coming into town. 

Alabama has only played one away game - at No. 13 Purdue - and lost 87-78. In that game, the Crimson Tide proved to be rattled, shooting less than 45% from the field and 31% from deep (9-29). With that, UNC already has a great stepping stone in place. 

The game tips-off at 7:15 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN.