NCAAat play in the first four tips

No. 11 Seed North Carolina (22-13) against No. 11 seeds San Diego State (21-9)
Tuesday, March 18 – 9:10 p.m.
Dayton, Ohio – UD Arena
TV: Trutv (Spero Dedes, Jim Spanmark, Jon Rothstein)
Radio: Tar Heels Sports Network (Jones Angell, Tyler Zeller)

Quotable

“It was a do-or-the situation for us last month, and whether we noticed it or not, we played at a high level. I think this is a good sign for us, if we know that we have the opportunity with a high level. I have the feeling that we did it last month and we just have to transfer it on this route.” Tar Heels had arrived in Dayton in the first four.

“I think we all have the hatred, the disagreement, all of this, from all of the outside of the Carolina family and the fan base. We only run with it. We definitely have the feeling that we have something to prove. We wanted to be better this year, but we take care of the cards, so absolutely.” – Unc Guard Seth Trimble on Monday evening when the Tar Heels in the NCAA tournament have something to prove.

“The preparation is the same. We played three games in a row in Maui. We played three games in a row in the ACC tournament. During the conference season we played twice against another opponent on Saturday games. -UNC coach Hubert Davis on Monday evening in the UD Arena.

Notes before the game

Sneak into the big dance: Carolina hardly got into the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels were the last team on the 68-team field and competed as the last four teams of the NCAA tournament. Keith Gill, chairman of the selection committee, said that UNC's tournament status was dependent on the result of the AAC tournament championship game, which ended less than an hour before the selection show on Sunday. The favorite Memphis defeated UAB 84-72, which prevented potential bid theft from the league. Instead, if Memphis had annoyed Memphis and therefore stolen a tournament offer, Carolina would have slipped into the first team that was left out of the field, said Gill.

The Tar Heels plays for the first time in the first four in the program history. The first four part of the tournament began in 2011 when the NCAA field expanded from 64 to 68 teams. And in 12 of the 13 tournaments since then, at least one team that played in the first four games has been reached in the tournament in the 32nd round. Two teams went from the first four to the Final Four (VCU in 2011 and UCLA in 2021). The No. 11 Seed is the lowest of the NCAA tournament history of the program.

This is the 54th season overall Carolina made the NCAA tournament and the third time in four seasons under coach Hubert Davis. With 133 victories, UNC has most victories of all time in the NCAA tournament in front of the Blue Blood programs Kentucky (130), Duke (122), Kansas (113) and UCLA (110). UNC performed in 21 last fours that have all time, and is the only program that appears in the last four of the past nine decades.

View of San Diego State: The Aztecs appear in the last 15 seasons with their 12th NCAA tournament and are 21-9 in season. They went 14-6 in the Mountain West conference game. It is the 17th total appearance of the NCAA tournament for the state of San Diego. The Aztecs are 13-16 of all time in great dance. The state of San Diego is 9-6 from home this season, has 6: 4 in street games and 3-2 at neutral locations.

San Diego State won two massive victories early this season. SDSU defeated Creighton (with a 71-53 margin) and Houston (73-70 in extension) in November at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Now Houston has earned a seed No. 1 at the NCAA tournament. This early route for the Aztecs also contained victories against UC San Diego (63-58) and the Occidental College of Division III (100-49) and the losses to Gonzaga (80-67) and Oregon (78-68).

The Aztecs had a shaky start in the league game and lost three of their first seven games. SDSU fell in Utah State (67-66), New Mexico (62-48) and UNLV (76-68). But the state of San Diego turned things at the end of January and scored seven victories in a distance of eight games. This included defeats of the Air Force (77-76 in overtime), Nevada (69-50), San Jose State (71-68 and 69-66), Wyoming (63-61), Boise State (64-47) and Fresno State (83-60). SDSU was fell on Boise State (62-52) in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament.

The Aztecs are run by the eight -year -old trainer Brian Dutcher. He was a long-time assistant under Steve Fisher in Michigan (1989-98) and San Diego State (1999-2017). Dutcher Long was one of the most important recruiters in the compilation of Michigan's legendary FAB FIVE recruitment class. Dutcher led the Aztecs to their first NCAA championship game in 2023. San Diego State was beaten in the last two NCAA tournaments of back-to-back champion Connecticut in the last NCAA tournaments that had lost on the line in 2023 and last season against the Huskies. Since the 2019-20 season, the 155-43 record of San Diego State (78.3 percent) has been the third best profit percentage in college basketball, behind only Gonzaga (173-29 or 85.6 percent) and Houston (178-31 or 85.2 percent).

Wachen demonstrate inconsistent crimes: A three -member attack on guard is the way for the Aztecs. Nick Boyd, Miles Byrd and BJ Davis are the top scorers of the season for the state of San Diego and have organized 48.7 percent of the team's goal production. Boyd delivers 13.4 points per game and shoots 41.7 percent from the field, including 35.7 percent from a 3-point range. He is in the state of San Diego in his first season after playing three seasons in Florida Atlantic. He was a starter in the FAU team who made a Cinderella for the Final Four 2023.

Byrd is in his third season in the state of San Diego, his first as a full -time starter. He achieves an average of 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. The score of 6-foot 7 Byrd rose by more than 8½ points per game this season. In the Aztecs victory against Colorado, he pumped a career high of 25 points on January 14, while raining in five 3-converter. The second Davis offers 9 points and 3 rebounds per game.

The state of San Diego has to struggle something on the offensive this season. The Aztecs shoot 44.4 percent from the field, 33.5 percent from a 3-point range and 66.6 percent for free throwing. SDSU is in the three major shooting categories in the lower half of the West. According to Ken Pomeroy's College basketball database, the Aztecs are assessed in the adapted offensive efficiency in the adapted offensive efficiency. This is the worst offensive evaluation among the large teams in the NCAA tournament field.

RIM protector expects back. Magoon Gwath will play in the first four reports on Tuesday evening on Tuesday evening and will return from an injury that has brought him out of the way for almost a month. Gwath suffered a knee injury two minutes after the loss of the state of San Diego on February 22nd in the state of Utah. He hasn't played since then. In this loss in the state of Utah, SDSU 3-3 is without the services of the 7-foot gwath of 205 pounds. The Aztecs are 18-6 in games with the big man who is fully available.

Gwath delivers 8.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and imposing 2.6 blocked shots per game here in his redshirt season. Nationwide, he occupies sixth place in blocked shots per game. Gwaths Randschutz is a large piece in the 18.5 percent block rate of the Aztecs, the best blocked shooting percentage of the country per Kenpom. Gwath has more than 40 percent of the total blocked shots of the state of San Diego. He claimed the defenders of the year and the newcomer of the year in the mountain vest this season. At the beginning of December, he combined 25 points and 10 rebounds in the State of Fresno in Fresno and was the first newcomer in San Diego, which has produced a 25-10 game since Kawhi Leonard.

The Aztecs hang their hat at the defensive end. SDSU heads the mountain vests in the rating of the defense (63.6 points per game), the percentage percentage of the opponent field (37.8 percent) and a 3-point percentage (30.2 percent). According to Kenpom, the Aztecs are nationwide, no. 14 in the verve and in the adapted defensive efficiency nationwide nationwide. On Monday evening in Dayton, Dutcher reporters said that the Aztecs had to keep the game against UNC against UNC in the 1970s and not in the 80s or 90s to have the best chance to win and come forward.

Last meeting: UNC steamed in San Diego State 99-63 in the Smith Center to open the 1990-91 season. George Lynch made Carolina with 18 points, while Hubert Davis added 16 points. The Tar Heels used a 19-0 run in the first half to distance themselves.

Series history: Carolina leads the all-time series 2-0. These victories occurred in December 1988 (with a lead of 103-92) in the San Diego Sports Arena and in November 1990 in the Smith Center. Jeff Lebo ended with 14 points in the first defeat of UNC in San Diego State. He was one of six Tar-Heels, which were completed in a double-digit score. Hubert Davis played against the Aztecs in both previous meetings.

Projected UNC starter:
3 Elliot Cadeau (Sun., 6-1, 180) -9.5 ppg, 6 APG, 2.9 RPG
4 RJ Davis (gr., 6-0, 180) -17 ppg, 3.7 APG, 3.5 RPG
9 Drake Powell (Fr., 6-6, 195) -7.5 ppg, 3.3 RPG
22 Ven-All Lubin (Jr., 6-8, 230) -8.5 ppg, 5.6 RPG
24 Jae'yn Withers (gr., 6-9, 220) -6.4 ppg, 4.4 RPG

Projected San Diego State Starter:
2 Nick Boyd (Sr., 6-3, 175) -13.4 ppg, 4 APG, 3.8 RPG
10 BJ Davis (Sun., 6-2, 175) -9 ppg, 3 RPG
21 miles Byrd (Sun., 6-7, 190) -12.6 ppg, 4.5 RPG, 2.8 APG
31 Jared Coleman-Jones (Sr., 6-10, 235) -7.3 ppg, 5.1 RPG
40 miles (Sun., 6-10, 233) -4 ppg, 3.6 RPG

UNC info
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Kader & Bios
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San Diego State Info
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Kader & Bios
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