The North Carolina Tar Heels are barely holding on to their No. 15 ranking as consistency has been an issue. The team started off their run in the ACC winning their first eight conference games, but since they have lost five of their last seven games and hoping to not drop another one on Saturday. The issue for the Tar Heels is their history against the Miami Hurricanes is not great, losing four straight meetings against the team as they head to South Beach to avoid a fifth.
The Tar Heels fell to North Carolina State on Tuesday, a game where they only managed 48 points. It was their fewest ever scored at the Smith Center, while shooting their second-worst performance of the season at 34.5 percent. The team looked bad as Kennedy Meeks had just 12 points and 14 rebounds to lead the team, but Marcus Paige only shot 3 of 8. He put up just one shot in the first half on Tuesday while averaging just 8.3 points on 34.2 percent shooting in his last four games. According to Justin Jackson, the team lacked urgency and consistency, something they need to change in order to avoid dropping out of the rankings altogether.
The Tar Heels are looking to avoid another loss to Miami. They dropped a home game against the Hurricanes back at the start of January. Paige had just eight points while going 2 for 15 from the field. Miami is playing with urgency, aware a few key wins could get them into the tournament talk. They have won three of their last four games. Senior guard Angel Rodriguez is coming off a game where he went 8 for 14 from the field to get 25 points against Florida State.
Miami has some quality wins on their resume and they could add another on Saturday. They are currently 3-4 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25, but have some odd losses to teams like Green Bay, Eastern Kentucky and Georgia Tech. They hope home court advantage will get them at .500 against ranked teams for the season.