March Madness: Previewing Sunday’s Round of 32 Matchups
Arkansas (8) vs. North Carolina (1)
North Carolina is one of the favorites to win the national championship, but they'll have to get through Arkansas first. Both teams play at an uptempo pace, so there should be a lot of scoring in this matchup.
North Carolina is the best team in the country at rebounding the basketball, and whoever intends to beat them will have to neutralize the boards. Arkansas is just an average rebounding team, so they will have their work cut out for them.
Below are three players to keep an eye on from each squad.
| Player | Team | PPG | RPG | eFG% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Jackson | UNC | 18.1 | 4.6 | 0.534 |
| Joel Berry | UNC | 14.8 | 3.3 | 0.566 |
| Kennedy Meeks | UNC | 12.6 | 9.1 | 0.542 |
| Dusty Hannahs | Arkansas | 14.6 | 1.6 | 0.535 |
| Daryl Macon | Arkansas | 13.4 | 2.6 | 0.557 |
| Moses Kingsley | Arkansas | 11.8 | 7.9 | 0.469 |
Here is a quick breakdown of the team stats comparison.
| Team | nERD | O Rtg | eFG% | Reb% | TOV% | D Rtg | Opp. eFG% | Opp. TOV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 UNC | 19.54 | 117.1 | 0.526 | 58.5 | 13.6 | 97.4 | 0.484 | 16.9 |
| #8 Arkansas | 11.25 | 112.1 | 0.517 | 50.3 | 14.2 | 103.0 | 0.480 | 15.7 |
