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The action of the NCAA Sweet Sixteen continues with a high intensity face-off between No. 1 seed North Carolina (30-6) and No. 5 seed Indiana (27-7) tonight in Philadelphia.
This will be North Carolina’s 27th official Sweet Sixteen appearance. The Tar Heels are coming off an exciting win against the No. 9 seed Providence Friars last Saturday 85-66.
This will be the 100th NCAA tournament game for the Hoosiers. Indiana is going into this game as the high energy underdog coming off an exhilarating win against the No.4 seed Kentucky Wildcats last Saturday 73-67. The Hoosiers will have to pull off another upset tonight in order to make it into the elite eight.
In their last appearance against each other at the ACC/Big Challenge back in 2012, Indiana defeated North Carolina in a 83-59 blow out.
Heels vs Hoosiers. Tomorrow. 9:57 tip on TBS. #HeelsLockIn #Sweet16 https://t.co/CMf4zNrnNJ pic.twitter.com/4uVuWD0zj3
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) March 24, 2016
It will be up to Indiana’s defense if they expect to pull off a win against the powerful North Carolina offense. Brice Johnson is the only player in the ACC shooting at least 60 percent from the floor and leads the ACC with 21 double-doubles this season. Joel Berry II has scored in double figures in 25 of the last 27 games. Although UNC has many strong players, senior guard for the Tar Heels Marcus Paige says they still have a lot of work to do if they want to make it to the championship game.
North Carolina’s defense will also have to put up a fight against the impressive Indiana offense. Indiana is second in the country in field goal percentage (50.5), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (41.6), ninth in scoring margin (+13.5), 10th in scoring offense (82.5), and 13th in 3-point field goals made per game (9.8). Hoosiers Head Coach Tom Crean says he is motivated to coach this very resilient team.
Tip off is scheduled for 10 p.m. following the Notre Dame and Wisconsin face-off at 7:27 p.m. The winner will advance to the East Region Final in Philadelphia on Sunday.
