Preview: North Carolina vs. Ohio State

North Carolina (7-3) will look to win its second game in a row and its third this season over a ranked team when they play No. 12 Ohio State (9-1) today in the inaugural CBS Sports Classic in Chicago. A Carolina win would Improve North Carolina to 8-3 this season; improve the Tar Heels to 11-2 all-time against Ohio State, give Carolina its sixth win in a row over the Buckeyes, give Williams his 1,007th combined win as a college coach (head and assistant).

A Ohio State win would improve the Buckeyes to 10-1 this season; bring the series record to 3-11 against the Tar Heels, break the six game losing streak against UNC and it would bring head coach Thad Matta closer to becoming the all-time winning coach in Buckeye history (Matta currently is 284-84 and he needs fourteen more wins to become the all-time winning coach in school history; Fred Taylor is currently atop the rankings with 297 career victories during his tenure at OSU)

Players To Watch

• North Carolina sophomore forward Kennedy Meeks is leading the team in scoring (13.8), rebounding (9.1) and blocks (1.6) per game while averaging only 22.5 minutes per game.

• Ohio State freshman guard D’Angelo Russell is leading the Buckeyes with 18 points per contest and has scored at least 14 points in all but one game this season. His season high in scoring came against Sacred Heart on November 23, 2014 when he dropped 32 points.

Did you know?

• North Carolina has scored 87 points per game in their seven wins this season, but just have only averaged just 63.7 points in their three losses

• The Tar Heels are one of the top rebounding teams in the nation, as they are pulling down 44.3 rebounds per game this season.

• The last time the Buckeyes beat the Tar Heels was on March 27, 1992; Ohio State 80 North Carolina 73

Projected starting lineups

Ohio State

North Carolina