Game of the Week: #8 North Carolina @ #17 Duke

The wounds are still fresh for UNC after their one point loss to Duke earlier this season. Although the Tar Heels were favored in the matchup, they were outplayed by a very young Blue Devil team.

Much of the blame falls on North Carolina’s abysmal 3 point shooting percentage. The Tar Heels shot 7 % from 3 point range in comparison to Duke’s 33% in the loss.  Marcus Paige and Joel Berry could not get anything going all game. If UNC wants to win this one they will need their talented backcourt to show up.

Thankfully for UNC, senior forward Brice Johnson has been a machine this year and he did not shy away in the Duke game. Johnson scored 29 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, but he was not able to make up for the lackadaisical play of his teammates.

Duke guard, Grayson Allen has garnered some attention for his late game heroics in multiple Duke wins this year. The sophomore worked his magic in their back-to-back wins over UVA and UNC a few weeks ago. However, Allen and the Blue Devils have not been able to find their groove since then, going 2-2.

Roy Williams took a lot of heat after the loss to Duke, when he chose not to use a timeout down by one in their final possession of the game. You can bet that Williams will take every opportunity to get the ball in the hot hands of Brice Johnson in this upcoming matchup. Johnson was a scoring machine in the Duke game, scoring 29 points, but he was not able to make up for the lackadaisical play of his teammates.

Prediction: Duke by 3

Since their loss to Duke a couple weeks ago, Marcus Paige has not been able to get back on board. The senior guard  has hit a rough patch at the worst possible time. Brice Johnson was able to keep the Tar Heels in the last game with an outstanding performance but it will be extremely hard to replicate against a disciplined Coach K defense. Without Paige putting up big numbers and taking the pressure off of Johson, I cannot see UNC coming up with this win.

Team to watch: #12 Indiana

The teams who finish at the top in March are usually not the best overall teams in the country, but simply the teams who peak at the best time.  Right now Indiana is playing as good as anybody in the country.

However, Indiana has put together a few great win streaks and is heating up under the consistent play of their guards, Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon Jr.  Ferrell has averaged 17.1 points per game and his clutch shooting has put him in Big 10 player of the year conversations. Both guards are shooting better than 42% from 3 point range this season.

Troy Williams has shown himself to be a monster on the board when they need him. In the late stages of their game against Iowa, Williams showed his incredible athleticism, skyrocketing for a few critical rebounds.

After their close win against Iowa, the Hoosiers just clinched the Big 10 title and they are on a 4 game win streak. Another win against # 14 Maryland can give them an even bigger boost and put them into prime position to make a run this March.