The North Carolina Tar Heels will host the Maryland Terrapins on Tuesday night in a marquee matchup of top ten schools as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. North Carolina comes in at 5-1 and ranked ninth in the nation while Maryland comes in at 6-0 and ranked second in the nation.
The Tar Heels enter this game having won their last two contests over Northwestern and Kansas State after losing a shocker to Northern Iowa. UNC was the number one ranked team in the preseason poll but dropped after that stunning loss.
We can write the loss off as a hiccup because the Tar Heels have won every other game by double-digits and they will be getting some reinforcements in this one as Marcus Paige is expected to make his season debut. Paige hasn't played yet this season due to a fractured bone in his non-shooting hand but he has been practicing and is cleared to play. Head coach Roy Williams has announced he will start in his one and that is huge as he has led them in scoring and assists the past two seasons.
The key player for UNC so far this season has been Justin Jackson. After getting off to a slow start Jackson has come on lately as he leads the team with 14.7 points per game and has gotten his shooting percentage up to 51 percent. Jackson still hasn't found the touch from deep yet this season (26 percent) but having Paige back should help with that.
Maryland comes into this game undefeated but they have had their share of close calls. The Terps beat a good Georgetown team in a close game but they also struggled in victories over Rider and Illinois State. Maryland is considered one of the favorites to win the championship this season but they have yet to play like that so far.
Maryland's top player so far this season had been sophomore guard Melo Trimble who is one of the most talented players in the country. Trimble is averaging 14.8 points and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 51 percent from the field. He has yet to get hot from three so far this season but he has still made a big impact through six games.
Both of these teams are veteran squads for the most part as they both return a lot of players from last year's teams but a player to watch for Maryland is Duke transfer Rasheed Sulaimon. Sulaimon is averaging 11.2 points per game but he has made 50 percent of his threes and has a great ability to stretch the defense.
Both of these teams also boast solid frontcourts but UNC's starting frontcourt of Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks have an experience advantage over freshman center Diamond Stone and junior transfer Robert Carter which could play a role in this game.
This is the 180th meeting between these two schools as they used to play regularly as members of the ACC but this is the first non-conference meeting between them in 55 years. This is also the first time these two programs are meeting as top ten ranked teams since 1999 a game in which Maryland won by 13. Maryland lost their last eight ACC meetings against the Tar Heels so they are looking to break a losing streak and they certainly have the talent to do it.
The game tips off at 9:30 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the North Carolina broadcast go here and for the Maryland broadcast go here.
