BLACKSBURG – Back in the friendly confines of Cassell Coliseum, the Virginia Tech men's basketball team will play host to North Carolina on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
The Hokies (13-5, 4-3 ACC) will go up against the Tar Heels (8-9, 1-5), a team that is looking for its first win in the month of January, while Tech is 3-2 this month.
UNC leads the all-time series 68-14 and is 21-5 in Blacksburg, but the Hokies got the best of UNC the last time in Cassell (80-69, 2018). The last time these two faced off was all UNC, as the Tar Heels scored 100-plus and cruised to a 103-82 victory in Chapel Hill.
This will be the first time since 2010 that Carolina has played the Hokies in Blacksburg unranked. That game was a 74-70 Tech victory.
Tech coach Mike Young is 1-2 all-time against UNC and coach Roy Williams, earning the W in 2017 at UNC, 79-75, when he was at Wofford.
The matchup will be broadcast on ACC Network, with Dave O'Brien (play-by-play), Cory Alexander (analyst) and Katie George (sideline) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Properties.
GAME INFORMATION
Wed. | 8 p.m. ET vs. North Carolina | Stats | Watch | Radio | Notes
The last time out, Tech trailed by as many as 16 points, cutting it to a one-point game with 10 seconds left, but missed in the final seconds to snap its three-game win streak with a 71-69 L to 'Cuse. The Hokies posted the second-most 3s (15) and assists (22) in a game this season, while Nahiem Alleyne had a team-high 17 points.
Tech is No. 1 in the country in in turnovers committed per game, averaging 9.5 miscues a contest. The Hokies have only had double-digit turnovers in two of their last nine games. Wabissa Bede owns a 3.86 assist-turnover ratio (112 assists, 29 turnovers), ranking third nationally & first in the ACC. He hasn't had more than three turnovers in a game all year.
SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA
• The Tar Heels are coming off a 14-point loss at Pitt (12-6, 3-4) this past Saturday, despite getting double-doubles from forwards Armando Bacot (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Garrison Brooks (16 points, 13 rebounds) in the 66-52 setback.
• Roy Williams enters his 17th season as the head coach in Chapel Hill, following his 15-year stint as the head coach at Kansas, where he racked up over 400 victories. At UNC, Williams has led his alma mater to three national championships, with the most recent in 2017.
• Carolina is paced by Brooks, who has the third-most double-doubles in the ACC with seven and is averaging 14.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, and Bacot (10.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg), who ranks seventh in the conference in blocks with 1.41 per game.
•. One of the better rebounding teams in the country, the Tar Heels rank third nationally in offensive rebounds per game with 14.7 and are eighth in rebound margin with averaging 9.1 more rebounds a game than their opponent. They average 29.12 rebounds a game, ranking first in the ACC and No. 15 in the country.
