UNC BASKETBALL PREVIEW

Clemson (17-5, 5-3 ACC) @ #5 North Carolina (22-2, 6-2 ACC). Saturday, February 10th, 6:30 PM, Fox Sports Net, XM Radio Channel 190, WCCPFM 104.9 in the upstate (Live feed).

Line: North Carolina -8.5


The more you know: UNC has never lost to Clemson at home, going 52-0.

Preview:

Right now, the Clemson Basketball team is well into rollercoaster mode as it has already seen it is fair share of extreme highs and lows just… and we’re only midway through the in conference schedule. One thing is certain and that is UNC is an extremely good team. So good in fact that the regular season championship as well as the ACC Tournament championship will probably come down to either Duke or the Tarheels. On the other hand, Clemson has shown flashes of brilliance and hope as well as terrible form and lack of concentration.

Tyler Hansborough's senior page in his high school yearbook. And yes, from as much as I can tell, he was being serious about it.

The keys to victory will be to do two things they’ve had relative trouble doing all season: make their free throws and not fall prey to the stab and pass offense. All season teams have driven the ball inside only to hit a man wide open on the arch. UNC can shoot the lights out from that range and it’s extremely important for us to not leave them uncovered. Also, for as long as I can remember Clemson Basketball has been known for their poor free throw shooting percentage. That’s one of the key points that Clemson has to address before they can actually expect to consistently beat teams as good as UNC. The time we faced UNC was at Littlejohn earlier this season and we dominated most of the game. A big factor in that game was the fact that the Tigers were able to play patiently and Trevor Brooker was able to be aggressive with Tyler Hansborough and get him off his game. The Dean Smith Center can be a very hostile environment so the Tigers have to act quickly and make smart decisions and keep the Tarheel crowd a non-factor. You can fully expect the Tarheels to show up in their usual cookie-cutter national contender form, let’s just hope the Tigers show up like they did back on January sixth.

Beating North Carolina would be about as awesome as this video. Random, but enjoy.