UNC going for 6th Straight Win
by Sharon Thorsland
North Carolina keeps cruising. The Tar Heels (19-11, 12-6 ACC) rolled to an easy win over Miami on Saturday, pushing their win streak to five games. Next up is a road trip to Cassell Coliseum to take on Virginia Tech. The Hokies snapped a five game losing skid with an overtime win over Syracuse on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7:00 tonight on WBT.
This is a young Hokies squad, and consistency has been hard to come by. They opened the year with three straight wins, then promptly lost six in a row. They’re 8-8 over their last 16 games. Scoring has been a problem, the Hokies are barely putting up 70 points a game and only have one player averaging in double figures. That’s VCU transfer Tobi Lawal, who leads the team with 12.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. The forward missed the Syracuse game with an illness and will be a game time decision tonight. Inside it’s big man Mylyjael Poteat, who takes up a lot of space at 6-9, 260 pounds. He’s averaging 9.8 points a game and will pose a challenge for Tar Heels’ bigs Ven-Allen Lubin, Jalen Washington and Jae’lyn Withers.
Former Duke guard Jaden Schutt starts in the backcourt alongside fellow sophomore Jaydon Young, they combine for over 16 points a contest. Schutt is a threat from outside, he’s shooting 36 percent from three this season. Holding on to the ball has been a problem for the duo – the Hokies lead the ACC with a whopping 377 turnovers on the season.
The Tar Heels have been putting up big numbers over the past five games, scoring at least 80 points and over 90 in three of them. Withers has been key over that stretch, along with freshman Ian Jackson and Drake Powell.
North Carolina easily beat the Hokies last season in Chapel Hill, but Cassell Coliseum has not been kind to the Tar Heels of late, they’ve lost three of their last four games there. This is a must-win for UNC though, as the Heels remain on the NCAA Tournament bubble ahead of Saturday’s show down against Duke. They sh