North Carolina received an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East region and will face the No. 9 seed Marquette in the first round on Thursday in Fort Worth. The winner could potentially face a second round showdown with defending national champion Baylor.
But Carolina (24-9) should know from last year’s experience not to peek ahead to a matchup with the Bears. When it did last season as a No. 8 seed, it got pummeled by No. 9 seed Wisconsin 85-62 and never faced No. 1 Baylor.
The tenure of coach Hubert Davis began in earnest last year after their first round loss to the Badgers when he essentially led the postgame remarks. Former coach Roy Williams was too emotional, as he knew it was his final game as head coach although he still hadn’t revealed it to anyone.
The Tar Heels finished tied for second the ACC standings in their first year under Davis. A month ago, they were projected to be a bubble team and possibly a double-digit seed, but the Heels finished the season strong to earn the eighth seed.
Marquette’s personnel looks nothing like the team that won 83-70 in Chapel Hill last season. Greg Elliott is the only Golden Eagle player from that game who is still on the roster.
The Heels enjoy a 4-2 all-time series record, but are 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament. Carolina beat Marquette in the 2011 Sweet 16. Until last year’s loss, the Golden Eagles’ previous victory came in the 1977 national championship game.
Here’s a look at the matchup:
Common ground
Carolina and Marquette did not have any common opponents this season, but Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart is very familiar with the Heels’ personnel. He coached Texas to a 69-67 win over UNC last season in the Maui Invitational title game.
Smart coached against UNC’s Brady Manek for four years while he played for the Longhorns’ rival Oklahoma. He also heavily recruited Carolina’s starting backcourt in Caleb Love and R.J. Davis, eventually offering both scholarships to play at Texas.
How Marquette got here?
When Smart left Texas to take over at Marquette, the Golden Eagles’ roster was depleted, which included players like Dawson Garcia, who left for UNC, and Theo John, who left for Duke. Sophomore forward Justin Lewis and Elliott were the Golden Eagles’ lone rotation players on the roster. Needless to say, not much was expected from them in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll. Marquette was picked to finish ninth, just one point ahead of 10th place Georgetown.
Smart changed that narrative early in the season, by guiding the Eagles to an upset of then-No. 10 Illinois. Their season highlights included a season sweep of conference rival Villanova and they finished the regular season tied with Creighton for fifth in the Big East standings.
What players should UNC focus on?
Lewis, a 6-foot-7 forward, led the team in scoring with a 17.1 average and led the team in rebounding averaging 7.9 per game. He was also named First team All-Big East and won the league’s Most Improved Player award.
Darryl Morsell, a 6-foot-5 graduate transfer from Maryland, was second on the team scoring with 13.5 points per game. Like Lewis, Morsell shoots 35 percent from the 3-point line.
The Eagles rely heavily on those two for their scoring production. Lewis and Morsell accounted for 40 percent of all of Marquette’s field goal attempts. According to Ken Pomeroy, Lewis takes 28.9 percent of the shots when he’s on the floor. Morsell’s is not far behind him taking 24.4 percent of the shots when he’s playing.
Don’t be surprised to see UNC’s top defender Leaky Black paired against Morsell to start the game. If Carolina can slow one or both of those players, Marquette could have difficulty scoring.
Who is Carolina’s best bet for a big game?
The Eagles don’t really have a post player who can matchup with Armando Bacot. The Heels junior forward has been dominant his last three games shooting 10-for-11 at Duke, 5-for-11 against Virginia, and 9-for-10 against Virginia Tech.
Bacot hasn’t just notched 25 double-doubles for no reason. He could be equally effective on the boards. Marquette has had a weakness when it comes to rebounding, as they allow opponents to collect an offensive rebounding percentage of 31.4, according to Ken Pomeroy.
