Wednesday night in CBB will see the Texas Longhorns travel east to do battle with the North Carolina Tarheels. The game is scheduled for a 7:00 pm tipoff and will be televised live on ESPN2. Currently North Carolina is favored by 11.5 points with the total being set at 155 for this game. Expect a raucous crowd in Chapel Hill this evening, as the fifth- ranked North Carolina Tar Heels welcome the Texas Longhorns to town for what figures to be a competitive non-conference affair.
Free Analysis: Texas got off to a rather disappointing 2-2 start this season, but has since ripped off six consecutive victories. Last Saturday, the Longhorns treated the Austin faithful to a 77-65 triumph over Temple. All six wins during the current streak have come by double figures for the 'Horns, who will begin Big 12 Conference play on January 4. Since the first game of the season it has been obvious that J'Covan Brown is the go-to guy at the offensive end of the court for Texas. Brown has started all 11 contests and is averaging 19.3 ppg to go along with his 47 assists. He gets some help at the offensive end from Sheldon McClellan and Myck Kabongo, who are scoring 11.5 ppg and 10.8 ppg, respectively. The Longhorns have been strong offensively overall so far as they are generating 80.5 ppg on 47.7% shooting. Granted their recent schedule hasn't been that tough, but the Longhorns have been playing excellent defense of late as they have allowed just 48.4 ppg on 32.3 5 shooting in their last 7 games. Texas has also outrebounded teams by 5.6 rpg on the year. As for 5th ranked North Carolina, which opens the ACC portion of its schedule on January 7, it is fresh off a 99-49 romp over Nicholls State on Monday. That victory was the fourth in a row for UNC, which is now 10-2 overall and enters this evening's affair with a 7-0 home record. North Carolina may very well have the best frontcourt in all of college basketball, as the trio of Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller and John Henson is awfully tough to manage. Barnes, who has NBA Lottery Pick talent, is scoring 16.1 ppg to lead the way, while Zeller checks in with 14.5 ppg and 8.2 rpg. Henson is averaging an identical 14.5 ppg and also provides 10.3 rpg and 41 blocked shots. The Heels haven't played a great schedule of late either, but they have put up 94.3 ppg on 49.1% in their last 4 games and averaging 86.4 ppg on 48.7% shooting for the year. The Heels played some shaky defense at the start of the year, but they are 37th in the nation in defensive FG% (38.3%), while allowing 67.8 ppg. Texas owns a 4-2 series lead over North Carolina, which includes victories in each of the last two meetings.
Free Pick: Gotta go with the Heels here to try and stop my 2 game slide in these plays. Here's a great stat for you--- North Carolina has taken 71 straight non-conference home games versus unranked foes by an average of 26.5 points. Now that's domination. The Longhorns have won four straight in the series dating back to 1995, but with four freshmen among their top five scorers and Harrison Barnes headlining a group of returning Tar Heel stars, Texas coach Rick Barnes knows Wednesday's game presents a whole new challenge. Even though the longhorns have outrebounded opponents by 5.6 rpg size will be an issue for the Longhorns in this one, as they don’t have a proven big man who can match up with Carolina’s tandem of Zeller and Henson. Texas is holding opponents to 62.5 PPG on 36.5% shooting from the field, but those numbers have been skewed by matchups with lesser opponents. The Heels heels have a solid offensive edge, they have been playing better defensively of late and they have a size edge on the inside, plus with revenge on their minds and with them being at home I just don't see how this team doesn't win by 15 points or more.