University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Visit Northern Iowa On Saturday
November 20, 2015 | Men's Basketball
CEDAR FALLS, IOWA--North Carolina will play its first road game of the 2015-16 season when it visits Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon at the McLeod Center. It will be the first meeting between the Tar Heels and the Panthers.
Tipoff is scheduled for just after 2 p.m. Eastern Time (1 p.m. locally in Iowa) in the McLeod Center.
The game is a homecoming for Iowa native and Tar Heel senior Marcus Paige, a product of Linn-Mar High School in his hometown of Marion.
The game will be televised locally in Iowa by the Panthers Sports TV Network and will be streamed online by ESPN3 and Comcast Sports Net Chicago-PLUS.
Tar Heel Sports Network radio coverage for the game also will be unusual because the 2 p.m. (ET) tipoff conflicts with the UNC football team's noon kickoff at Virginia Tech. Tar Heel Sports Network affiliates will carry the football game. Radio markets that will include coverage of both games include Raleigh (106.1 FM for football, 95.3 FM for basketball), Roanoke Rapids (97.9 FM for football, 1400 AM for basketball), Sanford, N.C. (1050 AM) and Martinsville, Va. (1450 AM for football, 1370 AM for basketball).
A radio stream of the basketball game will be available for free on GoHeels.com. Dave Nathan and Eric Montross will have the call.
The Tar Heels hope to improve to 4-0 in 2015-16 after posting wins by an average of 23.7 points over Temple, Fairfield and Wofford last week.
TAR HEEL STORYLINES
♦ Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the Associated Press and USA Today coaches' polls for the second consecutive week.
♦ The Tar Heels are shorthanded, however, playing without senior All-America Marcus Paige for three or four weeks due to a broken bone in his right hand suffered on Nov. 3. His return date is to be determined.
♦ Joel Berry II (15.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 5 of 12 three-point shooting) and Nate Britt (13.0 ppg and 8 of 12 three-point shooting) have started and played well in Paige's absence thus far.
♦ Kennedy Meeks (16.3 ppg & 10.3 rpg) and Brice Johnson (16.0 & 11.7) are both averaging a double-double thus far in 2015-16.
SERIES HISTORY
♦ Carolina and Northern Iowa will be meeting for the first time on Saturday.
♦ Roy Williams also has never faced Northern Iowa as a head coach.
PREVIEWING THE PANTHERS
♦ UNI went 31-4 last season and reached the NCAA Tournament third round, posting a 16-game winning streak along the way to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship. The Panthers limited their opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the floor on the season.
♦ Two starters return from that team, including senior guard Matt Bohanan (averaging 16.0 ppg so far this season) and junior guard Jeremy Morgan (leading the team at 17.0 ppg in 2015-16).
♦ UNI is 1-1 this season and is coming off a 70-60 home win over Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday morning (part of ESPN's all-day hoops marathon). The Panthers opened their season with an 84-78 home loss to Colorado State on Nov. 14.
♦ Head coach Ben Jacobson is back for his 10th year at the helm of the Panther program this season.
UP NEXT
♦ The Tar Heels will head to Kansas City after Saturday's game for two games in the CBE Classic on Monday and Tuesday. UNC will face Northwestern on Monday and either Kansas State or Missouri on Tuesday before breaking for Thanksgiving.
