After a huge win at Kentucky on Tuesday – Carolina’s first at Rupp Arena in 18 years – the Tar Heels host Georgetown this Sunday to kick off a three-game home stand.
It’s the first meeting between these
programs since the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert-led Hoyas stunned the #1-seeded Tar Heels in the Elite Eight, and the second ever to take place in the Dean Dome (the first was a 2003 NIT quarterfinal game, which Georgetown also won). Carolina’s last win over Georgetown came in the 1999 Maui Invitational.
This year’s Georgetown squad comes to Chapel Hill looking for a marquee win, as it currently sits unranked with a 6-2 record. We’ll have a more detailed breakdown of the Hoyas on Saturday, but for now, here are three things to watch for in this matchup.
Will Carolina avoid a big win hangover?
Four days after beating Kansas on Nov. 7 for their first big win of the season, the Tar Heels hosted Radford in a buy game. They didn’t begin separating from the Highlanders until late in the first half; the score was tied at 22 with six minutes to go. That’s not an ideal start against a bad Big South team. If Carolina takes a similarly long time to get going against a seemingly competent Big East squad, it could be a lot more difficult to overcome.
To be fair, the game against Radford was also the Tar Heels’ first without Seth Trimble, and there’s little reason to doubt that his absence was a significant factor in the team being slow to heat up. This is still a group without much experience together, and we’re learning more about their collective mentality every game. How they come out of the gate in this one will further paint that picture.
Will the offense get its groove back?
The Tar Heels were held to their two lowest scoring outputs of the season against Michigan State and Kentucky, both of which boast top-15 defenses per the KenPom ratings. KenPom has Georgetown ranked outside the top 100 in that category, and Hoyas head coach Ed Cooley pointedly called out his team’s lack of intensity and discipline on defense following a 90-81 win over UMBC on Wednesday. Even if he’s able to inspire a huge turnaround heading into Sunday’s game, there’s plenty of reason to expect that the Tar Heels will have a much better outing offensively than their last two matchups. Just how much better may depend on the answer to my next question.
Will Derek Dixon continue to outperform Kyan Evans?
Kyan Evans had a solid start to his Carolina career after transferring from Colorado State this season, but he’s fallen off a cliff since then and may have reached rock bottom in the Tar Heels’ last two games. Against Michigan State and Kentucky, Evans shot a combined 2-of-12 from the field – including 0-of-7 from 3-point range – and recorded a total of three assists. With Evans limited by foul trouble against the Wildcats, freshman Derek Dixon played a career-high 24 minutes and hit a pair of massive shots in the final 60 seconds to help Carolina steal the win. Dixon finished that game with nine points to Evans’ two and a plus/minus of +5 to Evans’ -2.
It’s only one game, but it feels like the strongest case we’ve seen for Dixon (a four-star recruit coming out of high school) to take over the starting job at point guard. He’s now proven he can be trusted in clutch situations, and if he continues to do more with his minutes than Evans, he’ll make it harder for Hubert Davis to justify keeping him in a bench role.
