Gameday: North Carolina

It’s approaching sellout status for Hawaii’s rare home contest against No. 5 North Carolina in the Stan Sheriff Center tonight.

The last time the Tar Heels played on Oahu, it was a sellout in the first year of the then-Special Events Arena. UNC won by 12. Well, Carolina, coming off a national championship game appearance and facing a UH team still cutting its teeth, is favored by 23.5 points this time.

UNC has five players averaging double figures, led by point guard Joel Berry II at 21.3 points per game. Three starters are back from the team that came within a couple of moments of winning a national championship in April.

“You’re looking at an imposing front line with some good shooters around them, a premier point guard (Berry) that you’ll be seeing play on the professional level,” UH coach Eran Ganot said Thursday. “And they’re well organized. Your margin for error is obviously not very big. We’re going to have to play at our best, and I’m sure our guys are looking forward to a great challenge.”

UH is keeping its starting five intact, but it looks like Brocke Stepteau has moved up into the rotation, into the backup point guard role. He did a good job in his last two appearances, against Texas State and Florida Atlantic.

Stepteau knows UH is in for a big challenge.

“You gotta be aware of them at all times,” he said. “Plus they’re extremely big inside. The main thing we talked about is what we’re going to do when the ball gets in the post, which is shrink a little bit, fake at em, and know who’s the non-shooter out there on the perimeter and most of the time be ready to send a double when he takes a dribble. Everyone’s bigger than us inside.”

Berry and Justin Jackson have hit 14 of Carolina’s 21 3s on the young season. The others who’ve shown a willingness to hoist are #24 Kenny Williams (2-for-7); #14 Brandon Robinson (2-for-7); and #0 Nate Britt (2-for-6).

Carolina is definitely without injured wing Theo Pinson (broken foot) and will likely be without forward Luke May (sprained ankle). But they’ll still have options aplenty.

As tough as it will be, UH’s bigs will have to find a way to stay out of foul trouble for their team to have a chance today. The point guards will have to take much better care of the ball than they’ve shown and everyone will have to connect on whatever open 3-point looks they get.

But hey, that’s why they play the game, right? Anything can happen.

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Ganot and Roy Williams put on a by-all-accounts successful Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser at Murphy’s last night. Ganot said beforehand he was hoping for a turnout of 50, but actually got over 100 people.