Virginia Tech Hokies (12-1) at North Carolina Tar Heels (11-4)
Time: 7:45 p.m.
Date: Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010
Place: Dean E. Smith Center (21,800), Chapel Hill, N.C.
TV: Fox Sports Net
Radio: XM 190? Not listed on xmradio.com schedule.
Spread: Virginia Tech +8.5
Resources: SBN Coverage | Carolina March | VT Notes | UNC Notes
What to Watch: We still don't know officially if Malcolm Delaney will play and judging off published reports and his Twitter feed I don't know if I think he'll play or not ... there's probably a 50-50 chance he'll play ... UNC's Marcus Ginyard will miss the game with a sprained right ankle ... that means if Delaney plays he'll have more success getting to the hoop ... for the second consecutive game the Hokies will play a team nearly identical to them in Ken Pomeroy's rankings ... UNC is No. 47 (.8832) and VT is No. 49 (.8807) ... neither team relies much on three-point shooting and both get less than 20 percent of their points from 3s ... it should be crowded in the paint and Tech will need a big game from Jeff Allen the Tar Heels do a tremendous job of getting offensive rebounds and getting to the free throw line ... both teams play excellent defense so it should be low scoring.
North Carolina: The Tar Heels are 10-0 at home this season ... three of the Heel's top four scorers are forwards ... Deon Thompson averages 15.9 ppg, Ed Davis 15.2 ppg and Tyler Zeller 10.1 ... Larry Drew II is UNC's point guard and has just over two assists per turnover this season ... UNC is coming off a loss to College of Charleston, but was without Ginyard in that game ... the Charleston loss was the first surprising loss of the year for the defending champs ... their other three losses came to Syracuse, Kentucky and Texas.
History Lesson: The Hokies are 12-59 all-time against the Tar Heels and 5-26 in Chapel Hill ... Tech's last win against the Heels was in Chapel Hill in 2007 to complete a season-sweep of UNC ... those two wins are the Hokies' only wins over the Heels in their last 24 meetings ... Tech has lost four consecutive games against UNC including two meetings in the ACC tournament.
Score Prediction: North Carolina 70, Virginia Tech 60
Game Thread: Use the comments section to discuss the game.