North Carolina Basketball: Possible 1st Round Matchups this coming Thursday

Howard

The Howard Bison, located in Washington, D.C. led by fifth-year coach Kenneth Blakeney who accomplished 2022-2023 MEAC Coach of the Year is coming off their second conference tournament championship win in his tenure. This year's tourney is the fourth time ever that the program has made an appearance in March Madness. The previous three times were during 1981, 1992, and 2023. Furthermore, the Bison have accumulated five conference tournament championships (1980, 1981, 1992, 2023, 2024) and were named the regular season champions (1980, 1983, 1987, 1992, 2023) on five different occasions as well.

Check out the team's reaction on hearing their name called out as Selection Sunday unfolded.

In terms of the player personnel that Coach Blakeney possesses, he has junior Bryce Harris, the guard out of Brentwood, New York, who averages 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. Harris shoots 39% from the three-point line, as he has made 27 on the year. However, Marcus Dockery, a junior out of Washington, leads the team with the most made shots from Curry range with 93 made splashes. Dockery has been averaging 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

The rim protector in the middle, Seth Towns, is out of Columbus, Ohio, and stacks up 14 points, and six rebounds, to go alongside 3 assists as well. Towns also leads the team in the most assists throughout the whole season with 76.

Collectively, the Bison averaged 75 points, 35 rebounds, and 14 assists and shooting a 38% clip from downtown.

The last time UNC and Howard squared off was on January 2nd, 2000, when the Tar Heels blew them out by a score of 86-53 at the Dean Dome.