The North Carolina Tar Heels will take on the Northwestern Wildcats on Monday night in the semifinals of the CBE Classic. Northwestern comes into this game 3-0 but are unranked while North Carolina comes in 3-1 and ranked ninth in the nation.
North Carolina is coming off a disappointing loss to Northern Iowa on Saturday and will look to rebound against a good Wildcats team. UNC came into this season ranked as the number one team in the nation as they return almost everyone from last year's sweet sixteen team but they are missing a key piece in Marcus Paige. Paige has not yet played this season due to a broken bone in his right hand and the Tar Heels missed their best player in Saturday's loss.
With Paige out the Tar Heels have relied more on their frontcourt guys through the first four contests. Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson have gotten off to nice starts as both guys are averaging more than 14 points, 10 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.
Sophomore guard Justin Jackson is a player to watch in this one for North Carolina as he got off to a rough start to the season but was able to drop 25 points in their most recent game. Jackson has only made three of his 16 three point attempts so far this year (19 percent) a number which he will surely need to improve.
As for Northwestern they have yet to lose a game but they have also not played any teams quite like North Carolina yet. This will be the Wildcats' biggest test so far this season and it's a big game for them as there are people who believe they have a shot to make the NCAA Tournament this season for the first time in school history and a win over UNC would be nice for their resume.
Northwestern is led by sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh who is off to a tremendous start to the season averaging 21.3 points and 6.3 assists through three games. McIntosh is coming off a career high 32 point effort against Columbia on Friday in an overtime win and he is shooting 56 percent from both the field and three point range.
Another player to watch for Northwestern is senior guard Tre Demps. Demps struggled in his first two games this season making just seven of his first 25 shots but he broke out of the slump a little bit on Friday as he scored 22 points. If the Wildcats have any chance of winning this game they are going to need their two guards to play extremely well.
This will be the first meeting between these two schools since 1978 a game in which North Carolina won by 30 points. Overall UNC has won three of the last four meetings with Northwestern and will look to get back on track after their loss on Saturday. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the Missouri vs. Kansas State matchup on Tuesday in the championship.
The game tips off at 9:30 Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the North Carolina radio broadcast go here and for the Northwestern radio broadcast go here.
