Winners of three straight, the fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels begin a brief two-game road trip, starting with a clash with the Florida State Seminoles this evening from the Tucker Center in Tallahassee.
Roy Williams' squad is regarded as one of the top teams in the country, but UNC got off to a brutal start to ACC play, dropping back-to-back league games to Boston College and Wake Forest. The team has dug itself out of that early hole with three consecutive wins, including one of its most impressive of the year, a 94-70 rout of nationally-ranked Clemson in Chapel Hill last week.
Leonard Hamilton's Seminoles are in a similar position, also sitting at 3-2 in league play. FSU has won three of its last four games, including a 73-62 road win at Virginia last weekend. The team is now off to its best start in ACC play since going 3-2 to start things off during the 1998-99 season.
North Carolina holds a 39-8 advantage in the series and has won nine straight meetings with the Seminoles, and 20 of the last 23 overall.
There is no secret as to how North Carolina will fight its way back into the ACC race. It will be up to the team's superior offensive firepower, as UNC ranks first in the ACC at 93.0 ppg (second in the nation). It certainly doesn't hurt to have a premier player patrolling the interior in National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough. The 6-9 senior is once again proving a difficult obstacle for all opponents, leading the Tar Heels with 22.7 ppg. Hansbrough leads the way, but is by no means alone, as the other four starters are also averaging double figures. Fellow forwards Danny Green (12.8 ppg) and Deon Thompson (12.2 ppg) give Hansbrough plenty of frontcourt help, while the backcourt tandem of Ty Lawson (14.9 ppg) and Wayne Ellington (14.0 ppg) is a lethal perimeter duo. Lawson is regarded as one of the country's top point guards, leading the ACC in both assists (127) and steals (45) and pacing the nation with a 3.74/1 assists to turnover ratio. In the lopsided win over Clemson last week, UNC shot a sizzling .530 from the field, as four players notched double digits. Ellington led the way with 25 points. Hansbrough was once again masterful in the paint with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Lawson finished with 16 points and seven assists, while Thompson netted 15 points in support.
The Seminoles led from wire-to-wire in Charlottesville on Saturday, claiming an 11-point win over the Cavaliers. Toney Douglas hit 8-of-11 shots from the floor to lead FSU with 21 points. He was joined in double figures by Solomon Alabi, who tallied 10 points. The Seminoles turned the ball over an alarming 22 times in the game, but shot 50 percent from the floor overall, while forcing Virginia into 19 miscues. The Seminoles lack the offensive depth to keep things close in the shootout with North Carolina. The team relies more on its defensive play to set the tone, holding foes to just 62.5 ppg and a meager .380 shooting. Offensively, the team looks to Douglas to lead the way and to his credit, he is one of the ACC's most explosive scorers, averaging nearly 20 points per game (19.6 ppg). Chris Singleton is a distant second in the scoring column at 9.0 ppg, but he does lead the team with 5.9 rebounds per outing.
