March Madness – (5) Arkansas vs. (4) North Carolina
(5) Arkansas Razorbacks vs. (4) North Carolina Tar Heels (-4.5, 158.5 o/u)
On Thursday, the No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks (27-8, 13-5 SEC) and the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels (25-11, 11-7 ACC) both survived as favorites on a day filled with massive upsets. Tonight, Arkansas and UNC will duel at the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville for a spot in the Sweet 16 (8:40 PM Eastern).
Neither team put its best foot forward on Thursday; Arkansas survived against Wofford, 56-53, with junior guard Michael Qualls scoring 20 points to lead the team, while SEC player of the year Bobby Portis added 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Razorbacks failed to cover as seven-point favorites.
The game was back and forth the entire 40 minutes as neither team led by more than five points.
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson felt his team was lucky to survive.
“I told our guys [Wofford] just ran out of time,” said Anderson after the win. “Thank goodness they ran out of time.”
North Carolina, meanwhile, led Harvard big early, but had to scrape and claw late to hang on for a 67-65 win over the perennial tournament over-achievers from the Ivy League. UNC took an 11-point lead into halftime and were up 58-49 with seven minutes to play, but the Tar Heels went cold down the stretch and found Harvard up two (65-63) with just over a minute to play.
Two huge buckets from Justin Jackson, who finished with 14 points, put North Carolina back on top to stay. Siyani Chambers and Wesley Saunders both missed three-pointers for the win in the dying seconds.
“It’s the luckiest I’ve ever felt after a basketball game in my entire life,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said. “In saying that, I’m thrilled that we’re still here, and we’re still playing.”
The Tar Heels failed to cover as ten-points favorites.
Arkansas and UNC haven’t met since 2007 when the Heels cruised to an easy 108-77 win, covering the ten-point spread. This time around, the Tar Heels are 4.5-point favorites and the over/under is at 158 points.
(Photo credit: Triple Tri (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
