The thing about North Carolina basketball, Tom Crean said, is, well, it’s North Carolina basketball.
So in Roy Williams’s 1000th career game, No. 13 Indiana (4-1) already knows what’s coming when the teams meet at 9:15 p.m. at Assembly Hall.
“There’s no deviating from what they do,” Crean said. “They’re got all the players that can make plays. They find ways to score, but they’re going to weakside board every time. Not 90 percent of the time. Every time. They’re going to go through the paint the majority of the time whether it’s a post-up or the drive.”
No. 3 North Carolina (7-0) is a traditional post team. The Tar Heels have some of the nation’s top big men in senior forwards Kennedy Meeks (6-foot-10) and Isaiah Hicks (6-foot-9) along with junior forward Justin Jackson (6-foot-8) and freshman Tony Bradley (6-foot-11).
UNC, a program that KenPom ranks No. 3 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 6 in adjusted defensive efficiency, is particularly strong on the glass thanks to its heavy dose of big men in the paint.
“It’s just going to be a war down there in the trenches,” IU sophomore forward Juwan Morgan said. “We’ve got to be ready to fight.”
Williams agreed, using practically the same language as Morgan.
“When (Indiana) played Kansas, that was a war,” Williams said. “We have not had any battles like that, so we will have to wait and see if we get anything like that.”
North Carolina’s size has played a large role in the Tar Heels holding an offensive rebound percentage of 46.6 percent. That ranks No. 2 in the country behind only Rutgers.
Indiana isn’t too shabby on the glass either. The Hoosiers have a 42.4 percent offensive rebound percentage, ranking No. 3 in the country. IU holds a significant advantage keeping opponents off the offensive glass, ranking No. 16 compared to UNC’s No. 160.
“We’ve got to be unbelievably good on the backboards and blocking out,” Crean said.
Crean raved about the big men North Carolina has in its rotation from the young to the old. The Hoosiers will have to throw a mix of Morgan, and fellow sophomores OG Anunoby and Thomas Bryant at the Tar Heels in response. IU may also need to call on freshman center De’Ron Davis, among others.
“Bradley is big and wide and long and can run and jump,” Crean said. “And Jackson, he was already a great athlete. His first step is crazy. I mean it really is. I don’t have a better word for it. He’s got a great first step. So when he gets not only on the dribble, but when he gets a chance to do that to the boards, then that gets you behind, too.”
Few teams can completely control the glass against North Carolina, but Indiana will need to try.
Because if Williams gets his way, his big men will dictate the game.
And IU will need to counter.
“We have to come out and pretty much set the tone as far as who’s going to hit who first,” Morgan said. “Who’s going to hit the class harder?”
