The North Carolina Tar Heels are set to take on the UCLA Bruins on Saturday afternoon in a matchup of two storied college basketball programs in the CBS Sports Classic taking place in Brooklyn. UNC comes in at 8-2 and ranked 11th in the nation while UCLA comes in at 8-3 and ranked 22nd in the nation.
North Carolina came into this season as the number one team in the nation but they were playing without their best player, Marcus Paige, for a few games and likely because of that they lost to Northern Iowa. When Paige came back UNC picked up a marquee win over Maryland but they haven't been perfect with Paige as they lost at Texas last weekend on a buzzer beater. This Tar Heels team is very good but they are far from perfect and UCLA will pose another very tough test.
The aforementioned Paige leads the team in scoring in his four games since coming back from his hand injury and he has shot the ball extremely well. Paige is averaging 17.3 points per game on 50 percent shooting from the field and 54 percent shooting from three. Paige has made at least two three pointers in every game since coming back and seems to be fully healthy.
UNC will be without starting center Kennedy Meeks in this one as he is dealing with a bone bruise that will keep him out until around when ACC plays starts. In UNC's last game, a blowout win over Tulane, Joel James started in place of Meeks but it was Brice Johnson who picked up the slack as he scored 25 points and added 10 rebounds. Johnson will need to continue to produce big time numbers while Meeks is out especially in this game.
Unlike North Carolina, UCLA was not ranked in the preseason polls and they weren't getting much love either as they only recieved two points in the preseason AP Poll. The Bruins have been on a role though as they have won their last five games including wins over then first ranked Kentucky and Gonzaga which has them ranked now.
UCLA is led by junior guard and coaches son Bryce Alford who started off the season struggling with his shot but he has really come around. Alford leads the team with his 16.9 points per game and he is coming off his best game of the year in a win against Louisiana Lafeyette when he scored 27 points and added six rebounds and seven assists.
Also in that game against Louisiana Lafeyette junior guard Isaac Hamilton continued his hot streak as he scored 19 points on 8-12 shooting from the field. Hamilton has averaged 20 points in his last three games and has his scoring average up to 14.4 points per game which is third on the team.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 1 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the North Carolina radio broadcast go here and for the UCLA radio broadcast go here.