CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina is about to step up its competition several notches when the Tar Heels take the court at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving.
Carolina will face Texas in the semifinals of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic and Friday will take on either UCLA or Michigan State in either the consolation game or for the championship, depending on Thursday's outcomes.
It begins a stretch of games through Christmas that includes a trip next week to Michigan as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, plus a home game with Gonzaga on Dec. 15 and a battle versus Kentucky in Chicago a week later.
At 5-0, the No. 7 Tar Heels have been challenged somewhat by Wofford on the road in the opener, but not as much in their last four games, in which the average margin of victory has been 35.5 points. Now comes a litmus test about where the Heels are at this juncture of the season.
“I’m really excited because you get excited for the big teams,” senior guard Kenny Williams said following Monday’s win over St. Francis (PA). “No disrespect to the other teams we’ve played, but these teams are a little more physically imposing and they kind of match up with us…
“It’s going to be a big matchup, it’s going to be a big tournament, both games, so I’m super excited to see where we stack up against some of the better teams in the country.”
UNC first takes on a 4-0 Longhorns team that has a narrow win over Arkansas among its victims and is coming off a 19-15 season in which they lost to Nevada in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
This stretch isn’t exactly a prototype of what the Heels will face in ACC play, but it’s not too far off, and given that four of the opponents coming up are currently ranked among the top-11 teams in the nation, it’s an awfully difficult group of games.
Keeping the younger players even keeled is one of the tasks assigned to the older Heels.
“Don’t overthink it, we’re going out there and playing basketball,” graduate student Cam Johnson said. “Because people are telling the competition is ramping up, I don’t want that to rile them up, they’re good players.
“I want them to play confident, play the way they know how and do everything they can to contribute to the team.”
This is the third time the Tar Heels have played in this event. They won it in November of 2007 defeating Old Dominion and BYU and in November of 2011 defeated South Carolina before falling in an upset loss to UNLV in the finals. UNC last played in Las Vegas two years ago in the CBS Sports Legends Classic, a game the Heels lost 103-100 to Kentucky.
A season isn’t defined by what happens in Vegas or over the ensuing few weeks, but part of its shaping will take place. And coming off a so-so performance in Monday’s 101-76 victory over St. Francis (PA), the Tar Heels are ready to put on a better display but also learn something about themselves.
“I feel like we have the potential to be very good,” Johnson said. “If we play the way we did (Monday), that’s not how we want to play. We want to go out there and want to play better, we want to defend better, we want to rebound better and we want to take care of the ball better and even shoot better.
“Those are the things that we need to work on going into this next game and we need to come out more focused, more energy and be deliberate about what we’re doing out there.”
That process begins Thanksgiving.
