For the first time, the North Carolina Tar Heels will take on USC Upstate. The Spartans have had a few opponents from the Old North State this season, taking on UNCW, NC Central, and Western Carolina.
Both Carolina and USC Upstate were victorious against their common opponent, NC Central.
The only other exposure to UNC on the other bench is Assistant Coach Jon D’Angelo — as a student assistant at Miami, he went 1-2 against Carolina, including a loss in the quarterfinals of the 2017 ACC Tournament. D’Angelo’s next stop was as a graduate assistant at Virginia, and he fared much better there during the 2017-18 season. The Cavaliers won both games against the Tar Heels that season, capping off the sweep with a win in the ACC Tournament Championship. When he was Director of Operations at Furman, D’Angelo was with the program when the Paladins lost in Chapel Hill in December 2021.
These are pages in the books written each season, and Saturday is part of a new story.
The Tar Heels have confidence, but there is still room for improvement. Focusing on sharp execution of the offense, limiting mistakes, and maintaining defensive intensity will make this a better team when it matters most.
But those things just do not happen. The players and coaches must work for it, no matter the opponent. Let’s see what kind of story the Tar Heels write this afternoon.
Here’s how to catch the action:
- Time: 2:00 PM ET
- Location: Roy Williams Court at the Dean E. Smith Center – Chapel Hill, NC
- TV: The CW with Tom Werme, play-by-play, and Mike Gminski, analyst
- Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell, either Tyler Zeller or Tyler Hansbrough, and Adam Lucas. Here’s a list of affiliates airing the THSN broadcast. You can also listen to them on GoHeels.com, The Varsity Network, Tune In, and Sirius XM on channel 193.
- Streaming: ACC basketball games are unavailable on The CW app.
- Line: UNC -28.5
