Michigan State basketball: Getting to know North Carolina

Michigan State basketball advanced to the second round with a win on Thursday but what do we know about its next opponent?

Michigan State basketball just dominated the 8-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but now it’s time to quickly turn its attention to its second-round opponent. The 1-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels await the Spartans in what will surely be an exciting matchup.

Before the game gets here, let’s take a look at the Tar Heels season and see how they’ve done this year.

North Carolina season in review

The Tar Heels just had one of the best regular seasons in the country. North Carolina won the ACC regular season championship and also made the ACC Tournament title game before losing a close game to NC State. They finished the conference season 17-3 and have an overall record of 28-7 heading into this matchup.

I think it goes without saying that North Carolina had many big wins this season. They beat Duke not once, but twice and also have a very good non-conference win against Tennessee as well. They did have a couple iffy losses in ACC play, but what Power Six team doesn’t?

One thing that stands out is that they lost to a few solid non-conference opponents. The Tar Heels lost to UConn and Villanova this season during the regular season. This may not seem significant, but it shows me that they struggle a little with Power Six teams not in the ACC. Maybe this will benefit Michigan State on Saturday.

Key players to watch

As you would imagine with any 1-seed, there are a lot of players that could be dangerous to MSU. Senior RJ Davis leads the way for UNC scoring 21.7 points per game. He will be a handful for the Spartan guards to handle, but thankfully they are all great defenders and will be up to the challenge.

Star big man Armando Bacot will be another challenge for the Michigan State big men to handle. He is averaging a double-double this year at 14.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Another thing to note is that both Bacot and Davis are seniors. So they have the experience needed to excel in March, so this moment won’t be too big for them.

The Tar Heels also have two other players averaging double digits this year as well in Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan. Forward Jalen Washington is the last Tar Heel to keep an eye on. He only plays eight minutes per game, but he is averaging over 50 percent from 3-point range. So when he is in, the Spartans will have to keep him off the 3-point line.

This will be a significant challenge for Michigan State, but I have confidence the Spartans can keep this game close. And if they play like they did against Mississippi State I know they can pull off the upset.