UM basketball team plays North Carolina on ESPN Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know
In normal times, when the North Carolina Tar Heels are in town to play against the Miami Hurricanes in a nationally-televised basketball game, the Watsco Center sells out and the student section is packed.
This year, not even ESPN legend Dick Vitale will be in the building as the Canes face the six-time national champions. Vitale and Dan Shulman will call the 8 p.m. game remotely because of the network’s strict COVID-19 precautions.
Miami (4-4, 0-3 ACC) is coming off a 66-65 loss to Clemson. North Carolina (6-4, 1-2 ACC) is coming off a 66-65 victory against Notre Dame. Both were one-point games, but the Tar Heels got a boost from theirs while the Canes were left deflated.
Although the Hurricanes are highly motivated to knock off the Tar Heels, they won’t be able to feed off the energy of a home crowd as they did in 2017, when they beat then-No. 9 UNC. Bruce Brown went 8 of 11 for 30 points that night.
On Tuesday, the Canes will have to energize themselves.
“Everyone is aware there won’t be fans in the arena, at least for a while,” said Larranaga. “It is very, very different not having a sellout crowd. The excitement is not there. But everybody’s still tuned in on TV, we’re still playing for the chance to go to a post-season and compete for a league and national championship. For coaches and players, every game is hugely important.
“The tough part is after the game, when you’ve lost, like we have the last couple of games, your emotions are down. When you get to your next game, if there’s a packed house, all of a sudden you can get psyched up and re-energized very, very quickly. With no one in the arena, that’s far more challenging for the players.”
The coach said he hopes his players realize the importance of the game.
“We’re already 0-3 in conference play, and have never been 0-4 since I’ve been here, so we want to get a win under our belt,” Larranaga said.
The Tar Heels feature five McDonald’s All-Americans and are considerably bigger than the Hurricanes.
Among the players on UNC’s roster are: 7-1 and 245-pound freshman Walker Kessler, 6-11 and 265-pound freshman Day’Ron Sharpe, 6-10 and 240-pound Armando Bacot, and 6-10 and 240-pound senior Garrison Brooks, the ACC Preseason Player of the Year.
“We’re not going to grow any taller, and they’re not going to shrink, so it’s a matter of they have the advantage in size,” said UM coach Jim Larranaga. “What we have to do is instead of one guy guarding them, the whole team has to guard those big guys. We’ve got to surround them and rebound with them.”
Guards Harlond Beverly, Isaiah Wong and Earl Timberlake have been strong on the glass, and they will be counted on again to help neutralize North Carolina’s size. Freshman Matt Cross is also expected to play a big role.
Miami will be without preseason all-ACC guard Chris Lykes, who has missed six games with an ankle injury and has not even practiced.
Asked if it is tough to prepare for a UNC team that is still working out its starting rotation, Larranaga chucked and replied: “When you’re good enough to take the preseason player of the year and bring him off the bench, I wouldn’t worry too much about their rotation.”
Miami is 6-9 against UNC since Larranaga took over the program in 2011-12. That is the third-most wins of any team against the Tar Heels during that stretch. One of those victories was in the 2013 ACC title game.
UM guard Elijah Olaniyi said of playing UNC: “As a fan, that’s always a game you have your eyes on when you get your schedule at the beginning of the year because it’s notable to everyone who watches college basketball. But as a player, we can’t look at it like that because you can’t go into the game being fans of the guys you’re playing, so it’s just another ACC team we honestly feel we can beat.”