UNC-VCU Preview: Tar Heels Face Red Hot Rams in First Round of NCAA Tournament

No. 6 North Carolina (24-8, 12-6 ACC) vs. No. 11 VCU (27-7, 15-3 A-10)
Greenville, S.C. — Bon Secours Wellness Arena
Thursday, March 19  — 6:50 p.m.
TNT (Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson)

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Quotables 
“I’m proud of this team, just the toughness, the resiliency to, with those circumstances, still find a way to be successful. It’s something that has given us confidence moving forward, heading into the NCAA Tournament.” — Hubert Davis during Wednesday’s NCAA availability

“(Henri Veesaar) played for Real Madrid, so a well-known name coming out of Europe. I knew he was a big skill guy. I’ve been studying his game the last few days, but I really knew him coming from Europe, so I’ll be relying on that.” — VCU’s Lazar Djokovic on his familiarity with UNC’s Veesaar

Pregame Notes
Last Time Out: North Carolina fell 80-79 to Clemson in the ACC quarterfinals on Thursday night, exiting the conference tournament without a victory. Despite nearly coming all the way back from an 18-point second-half deficit — that included 5-for-6 shooting from three over the final 2:30 minutes — it wasn’t enough to defeat the Tigers. The loss overshadowed an all-out performance from Henri Veesaar, who tallied career highs with 28 points and 17 rebounds. Following the loss, UNC received the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s South region.

Looking at VCU: The Rams punched their ticket to March Madness after winning their third Atlantic 10 conference title in four years. With a 2nd place, 15-3 conference record during the regular season, VCU defeated Dayton, 70-62, in the conference title game to earn its 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2010. 

The Rams finished the season winning 16 of their last 17 games to improve to 27-7 overall and finish 43rd in the NET Rankings. During the regular season, VCU earned two Quad 1 wins: over South Florida (78-66) and Dayton (68-62), and a Quad 2 victory over a Power Four opponent in Virginia Tech (86-68). 

The Rams have quality defeats as well, with all but one of their losses coming against teams that made the NCAA Tournament field. This included close defeats to Utah State (80-77), No. 25 N.C. State (85-79), No. 24 Vanderbilt (89-74) and No. 18 Saint Louis (88-75). 

In his first year as head coach, Phil Martelli Jr. has continued the legacy of great coaching at VCU. Martelli joined the Rams after two seasons as head coach at Bryant, where he led the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. This past offseason, he replaced former VCU head coach Ryan Odom —after Odom left to coach at Virginia — and joins the ranks of Mike Rhoades, Will Wade and Shaka Smart, who have all led the Rams to March Madness appearances in the past 11 years. 

Red Hot VCU Play Through 6-foot-11 Djokovic: The Rams provide an intriguing first-round matchup for North Carolina, with a fast-paced, drive-to-kick playing style. Over VCU’s excellent 17-game stretch to close out the season, it averaged 77.8 points per game while holding opposing teams to 68.9. 

Three-point shooting has helped the recent success, where the Rams have shot 37.1 percent from beyond the arc, leading to 8.9 made threes per game over the last 17 outings. This includes 11 made triples on 45.8 percent (11-24) shooting to defeat Dayton in that conference championship game.

As much as VCU spreads out opposing defenses, it also takes advantage of them by driving to the rim and getting to the free-throw line at a high rate. The Rams led the A-10 in free-throw attempts per game, shooting 25.4 of them at a 74 percent clip. Davis has mentioned throughout the week that UNC’s emphasis in practice has been to defend without fouling, limiting VCU’s reliance on points at the line. 

Individually, the Rams are led by two main scorers, Terrance Hill Jr. and Lazar Djokovic, who are the only players averaging double-figure scoring for VCU. Hill, who comes off the bench, leads the team with 14.4 points per game and 2.8 assists, while Djokovic — a 6-foot-11 forward from Serbia — adds 13.5 points and a team-high 5.4 rebounds. 

Veesaar will be tested by Djokovic, as the junior leads the Rams in free-throw attempts at 6.2 per game and shoots 78.2 percent from the charity stripe. 

Defensively, VCU uses its athleticism to make up for its lack of size, with good on-ball pressure that has created turnover opportunities. The Rams have also held opposing offenses to 32 percent shooting from three over the past 17 games, and 42.6 percent from the floor. 

Aside from Djokovic, however, the Rams lack true size at the forward position, as 6-foot-8 Barry Evans has been a decent fill-in for high-major basketball, but will likely struggle against the size of North Carolina’s roster. 

Rebounding has certainly been a weakness for VCU this season — even within its own conference — as the Rams have allowed opposing teams to tally 34.3 boards per game, ranking 11th in the Atlantic 10. The Rams’ rebounding woes could be amplified by UNC, with points in the paint and second-chance opportunities a definitive key that Davis has outlined for the Tar Heels. 

First Meeting: Despite being only a two-and-a-half-hour drive from each other’s campuses, UNC and VCU will square off for the first time ever in men’s basketball on Thursday night. 

The Tar Heels are facing their first A-10 opponent in the NCAA Tournament since 2006, when they lost to George Mason, 65-60, in the second round. North Carolina has already defeated one Atlantic 10 member this season, with an 85-70 win over St. Bonaventure over Thanksgiving week. 

UNC is playing in Bon Secours Wellness Arena for the first time since 2017, where it defeated Texas Southern and Arkansas in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament on the way to its sixth national title. 

Projected UNC Starters: 
3 Derek Dixon (Fr., 6-5, 200) — 6.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.6 apg
7 Seth Trimble (Sr., 6-3, 200) — 14 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.8 apg
13 Henri Veesaar (Jr., 7-0, 225) — 16.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 42% 3pt
15 Jarin Stevenson (Jr., 6-10, 215) — 8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .9 apg
44 Luka Bogavac (Jr., 6-6, 215) — 9.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.2 apg

Top Tar Heel Reserves: 
0 Kyan Evans (Jr., 6-2, 175) — 4.1 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 2.6 apg
1 Zayden High (So., 6-10, 230) — 3.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg
4 Jaydon Young (Jr., 6-4, 200) — 1.8 ppg, .9 rpg
11 Jonathan Powell (So., 6-6, 190) — 4.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 38.4% 3pt

Projected VCU Starters:
0 Brandon Jennings (So., 6-4, 175) — 8.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.7 apg
1 Nyk Lewis (Fr., 6-1, 195) — 8.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.7 apg
2 Jadrian Tracey (Sr., 6-6, 210) — 9.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 37.7% 3pt
5 Barry Evans (Sr., 6-8, 215) — 7.2 ppg, 5 rpg
17 Lazar Djokovic (Jr., 6-11, 235) — 13.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg

Top Ram Reserves:
6 Terrence Hill Jr. (So., 6-3, 180) — 14.4 ppg, 2.8 apg, 85.0% FT
8 Michael Belle (Jr., 6-8, 220) — 7.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 54.8% FG
15 Tyrell Ward (Jr., 6-6, 195) — 5.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg
22 Keyshawn Mitchell (Jr., 6-11, 215) — 3.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg

UNC Info:
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VCU Info:
Schedule/Results
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Stats