A big game awaits North Carolina on Wednesday night at the Smith Center, as No. 10 Alabama visits giving the Tar Heels a chance to gain a needed high-profile win. Plus, an opportunity to play well against a very good team to begin marching forward playing better than they did last week in Hawaii.

The ACC/SEC Challenge started Tuesday night, and the Crimson Tide and Tar Heels should make for an entertaining product. Both teams are talented, like to play fast, and have gotten to know each other some in recent years.

The Tide beat UNC in Portland two years ago in four overtimes, and last year eliminated the Tar Heels from the NCAA Tournament with a Sweet 16 victory in Los Angeles. RJ Davis was 0-for-9 from 3-point range in that game and Jae’Lyn Withers missed an ill-advised 3-point attempt late in the game that were costly in the top-seed Tar Heels going down.

Both teams return several players from that game. UNC is 4-3 and ranked No. 20. Alabama is 6-2 and its last five games have been against power conference teams Purdue, Illinois, Houston, Rutgers, and Oregon.

The game tips off at 7:15 EST and will air on ESPN.

Here are 5 Keys for UNC to beat Alabama:

Note: Alabama will be without 6-foot-3 senior guard Latrell Wrightsell, who is out with an injury. He averages 11.5 points per game. It should be noted he missed the Sweet 16 game last season, too, with an injury.

UNC Coach Hubert Davis said during a press conference Monday at the Smith Center his team did not defend the perimeter and the ball outside well in Maui. So many of Carolina’s struggles on that end of the court began with its poor defense on the ball.

So, with Alabama a drive-happy and perimeter-shooting team, the guards and wings must get after it for 40 minutes for the Heels to have a chance. One thing has been proven an absolute certainty so far, Carolina can score 89 points at Kansas and 90 on a neutral court against 33Michigan State and still lose.

Thus, unless the Heels defend the ball, their potency will take them only so far.

Perhaps the most shocking stat for Carolina is that it currently ranks No. 226 nationally in rebound margin at plus-0.3 per game. The Heels are No. 269 in offensive rebounding, and KenPom has them at No. 279 in offensive rebounding efficiency.

Davis said Monday his team has not been good on the defensive glass either, as KenPom has them at No. 116 in defensive rebounding.

Carolina’s work on the glass mirrors nothing of the norm in a program that has long prided itself on annually being one of the best in the nation. The 2018 and 2019 teams weren’t all that big, like this one, but were significantly better on the glass.

Bama is 60th nationally at plus-7.3 on the glass. And in the five notes games above, the Crimson Tide combined to outrebound the quintet by 38 overall and five on the offensive boards.

If the Heels do not guard the ball well and get beaten by a healthy margin on the glass, they stand zero chance at winning Wednesday.

Two of Bama’s best players are both 6-foot-1 in Mark Sears and Aiden Holloway, who average 16 and 9 points, respectively. Freshman Labaron Philon is 6-foot-4 and plays 23 minutes a game. So it has a trio that is relied on a lot and isn’t any bigger than UNC’s starting perimeter of RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau, and Seth Trimble that go 6-foot-0, 6-foot-1, and 6-foot-3, respectively.

Where Alabama has an edge is its rotation also includes five guys that are tall or big or both. The list:

*6-11 Sr Grant Nelson – 28 mins – 13.5 ppg – 7.8 rpg

*6-11 Sr Clifford Omoruyi – 17.6 mins – 7,8 ppg - 6.3 rpg

*6-8 Frosh Derrion Reid – 17.5 mins – 6.6 ppg – 3.3 rpg

*6-11 Soph Jarin Stevenson – 16 mins – 5.3 ppg – 3.6 rpg

*6-7 Soph Mouhamed Dioubate – 15 mins – 6.3 ppg – 5.8 rpg

UNC’s other rotation players go 6-4, 6-6, 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, and sometimes 6-7 and 6-7.

How much will this matter? Will it show up on the glass? Will it show up on defending the interior making Carolina a three-guard drive, fall or kick team like what happened most of the time in Maui? And will is translate into plenty of post scoring by the Tide?

Carolina will wear the Michael Jordan-era uniforms, and it will be a white out in the stands. A full house is expected, and it likely will be rowdy like it was for the Tennessee game last year. How much does this help the Heels?

-It should fuel them first on defense, hitting on the first point made above.

-It should fuel them on the glass, hitting on the second point above.

-It should help nullify a little of Bama’s size advantage, hitting on the third point above.

-And it should give the Heels extra energy with everything they do: going after loose balls; rotating defensively; getting a body in and taking a charge; cutting harder to the basket; finishing around the rim with more ferocity; and getting an edge and push from the crowd during tough spots in the game.

Being at home should help the Heels a great deal.

RJ Davis scored 27 points and shot 5-for-11 against Tennessee in an important win for the Tar Heels in last year’s ACC/SEC Challenge. He rose to the occasion as that was one of the early games propelling him to an All-American season.

Carolina needs Davis to do that again. He shot better in Hawaii but still wasn’t where he expects. For the season, Davis is shooting only 38.7% from the field, including 28.9% (14-for-51) from 3-point range.

If he’s going to be an All-American again this season, nights like Wednesday are when he needs to shine and when he team needs him to step up and be that guy.