Thank you for joining me tonight. Follow me on Twitter @littletwinsfan and have a safe Saturday night.
Second Half (0:00) Madden misses a long three at the buzzer. 87-78 North Carolina wins. Roy WIlliams is now tied with Dean Smith for second most NCAA Tournament wins in North Carolina history
Second Half (:5.6) Paige gets fouled, sending him to the line
Second Half (:7.4) Portis cuts the lead to 7
Second Half (:17.3) Paige gets fouled now
Second Half (:22.1) Tokito gets fouled
Second Half (:26.5) Madden scores to cut the lead to 6
Second Half (:33) Timeout North Carolina
Second Half (:33) Arkansas FINALLY fouls
Second Half (1:13) Isaiah Hicks fouls out of the game as well. 81-73 North Carolina leads
Second Half (1:25) Kennedy Meaks has a sprained left knee and is out for the rest of the game
Second Half (1:36) Arkansas with a costly turnover only leading by 9
Second Half (2:09) Johnson fouls out of the game
Second Half (2:32) Qualls commits a off ball foul
Second Half (3:15) Meaks walks off the court with assistance
Second Half (3:15) Meaks is slow to get up. He is holding his left knee. He took a hard fall
Second Half (3:56) They reset the clock to 3:56. The basket interference still counts. That is apparently non reviewable
Second Half (4:00) Multiple issues with the play, basket interference and the clock never started. A lot for the officials to sort out
Second Half (4:00) Bryce Johnson commits a foul
Second Half (5:03) Bell drills a three from Jimmer Fredette range
Second Half (5:36) UNC leads by 12
Second Half (5:38) Bell commits the loose ball foul
Second Half (6:54) Johnson gets called for an illegal screen
Second Half (7:34) A string of missed shots brings us to a media timeout
Second Half (8:49) Paige for three, GOT IT!
Second Half (9:o0) Portis gets fouled and can't finish
Second Half (10:00) Johnson picks up his third foul
Second Half (10:21) Paige hits the acrobatic layup and draws the foul
Second Half (10:56) Durham drills the three to put Arkansas up by one
Second Half (11:52) Bryce Johnson will be at the line after the timeout. 57-54 North Carolina leads
Second Half (12:18) Tokito gets called for his third foul
Second Half (12:39) Tokito hits the athletic basket and draws another foul. The sixth foul on Arkansas this half
Second Half (13:06) Joel Berry hits the awesome layup but gets called for the charge, negating the layup
Second Half (13:22) Paige hits the three followed by a Arkansas turnover
Second Half (13:47) Qualls hits the bucket from the paint
Second Half (14:49) PORTIS FOR THREE!
Second Half (15:02) Tokino draws the foul and heads to the line
Second Half (15:12) Qualls draws the foul and heads to the free throw line
Second Half (15:31) North Carolina leads by one in a game where you don't want to see anybody lose.
Second Half (16:07) Arkansas does the same thing and gives the ball right back
Second Half (16:11) North Carolina with a horrible turnover on a inbounds play
Second Half (16:11) Qualls hits the three AND draws the foul and has a shot at a four point play
Second Half (16:46) Qualls is one rebound away from a double double
Second Half (17:24) Madden commits his second foul
Second Half (17:43) Kennedy Meaks gets called for his FOURTH foul
Second Half (18:00) Portis hits his frist field goal since the first minute of the game
Second Half (19:08) Rashad Madden commits the foul sending Bryce Johnson to the free throw line
Second Half (19:28) Tokino commits his second foul
Second Half (20:00) And the second half is underway! It should be exciting!
First Half (0:00) North Carolina leads 39-36 at halftime
First Half (:22) Tokino with the monster slam
First Half (1:08) This game has turned very physical
First Half (2:00) Nate Britt steps to the free throw line for a one and one
First Half (2:12) Arkansas retakes the lead
First Half (2:50) Meeks commits his third foul and takes a seat on the bench
First Half (2:55) Michael Qualls with the amazing effort to get the basket and the foul
First Half (3:30) Arkansas commits their eleventh turnover on a travel
First Half (3:52) A hard foul by Arkansas keeps the ball with North Carolina
First Half (4:00) North Carolina State has upset number one Villanova.
First Half (4:29) Bell flies into media row trying to save a jump ball. Everyone is ok, but the radio broadcast was slightly disturbed
First Half (5:22) Kingsley commits the off ball foul, turning it over to North Carolina
First Half (5:50) North Carolina commits their seventh team foul, sending Arkansas to the free throw line for a one and one
First Half (6:11) Michael Qualls goes to the free throw line
First Half (6:55) Jump ball, posession North Carolina
First Half (7:48) Nate Britt makes the basket and draws the foul
First Half (8:43) This game is insane, alot of momentum changes, tied at 24
First Half (9:24) Arkansas finally gets a basket after having two straight shots blocked
First Half (10:21) A Foul committed by Arkansas puts Kennedy Meeks at the line
First Half (11:50) We are tied at 15 at the second media timeout
First Half (12:38) After a furious stretch, Arkansas takes a timeout with a 13-12 lead
First Half (12:55) 13-10 Arkansas leads
First Half (14:30) North Carolina is staying in this game solely because of breaking the full court press, resulting in easy layups
First Half (15:11) Arkansas gets the ball after a loose ball pile up resulting in a jump ball
First Half (15:47) Alot of missed shots so far as we head to the first media timeout.
First Half (16:50) Paige is fouled on his way to the basket
First Half (17:43) Arkansas turns the ball over on a travel
First Half (18:13) Kennedy Meaks picks up the offensive foul on a layup attempt
First Half (18:50) North Carolina turns the ball over, then force a jump ball. They retain posession
First Half (20:00) We are underway from Jacksonville in the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament
Tip Off is moments away. Thank you for joining VAVEL USA tonight
Looking ahead to our game today, both teams like to push the tempo. Do not be surprised to see a very high scoring game with lots of shots taken. It will be very interesting to see if the winner today will be able to hang with Wisconsin next week in the Sweet 16, assuming the Badgers take care of business on Sunday.
Arkansas was aided by a poor shooting day from Wofford who just completed 31.6% of their shots. If you take away the shooting numbers from Karl Cochran, Spencer Collins, and Jaylen Allen then Wofford’s shooting percentage drops to 25.0%. Numbers like that will never equal success in an upset bid.
The team as a whole shot very well from the floor with a shooting percentage of 45.8% on the day.
Guard Michael Qualls scored 20 points for the Razorbacks while Bobby Portis scored 15 points and added 13 rebounds.
In 2015, they nearly missed out on this game as they were held to a very slowly-paced 56-53 win over the Southern Champion Wofford Terriers. Wofford came in with a gameplan to completely slow the run-and-gun style of Arkansas down. They were almost successful. Spencer Collins, Karl Cochran, and Eric Garcia each missed three-point shots in the last minute to send the game to overtime.
The Arkansas Razorbacks are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since the 2007-2008 season. Ironically, they were knocked out in the Round of 32 to North Carolina in that tournament.
A win for the Tar Heels will see them advance to their first Sweet 16 since 2012. They have lost in the Round of 32 in each of the last two seasons, though they were both against schools from the Big 12 Conference.
North Carolina has played twice against the SEC this season starting with a late November win over the Florida Gators. They lost two weeks later in Lexington to the Kentucky Wildcats.
North Carolina needs to push the tempo against Arkansas. They are ranked 17th in the country with 77.9 points per game. The more amazing stat though is that the Tar Heels are the second best team in country in rebounding (41.0 per game) and in assists (17.7 per game).
The size matchup will not be a problem for Arkansas with four players who are 6-foot-8 or taller.
17 turnovers would usually do any team in but Harvard was struggling with their shooting. The Crimson shot just 38.2% from the floor and 38.5% from beyond the arc. Harvard had a big problem matching up with the size of the Tar Heels. Roy Williams started four forwards and Marcus Paige at the point.
Statistically speaking, North Carolina dominated the game. They shot 55.1% from the floor with 5-of-7 converted three pointers. They outrebounded Harvard 35-26 and made 8-of-13 free throws. The biggest glaring black eye though comes in the turnover column as the Tar Heels gave the ball up 17 times.
The Crimson did have a few more looks but Siyani Chambers and Wesley Saunders could not convert their final three-point attempts and the Tar Heels survived 67-65.
Justin Jackson took over though in the final minute sinking a jumper to tie with 48 seconds left before jamming home the game-winning basket on a fast break with 23 seconds to go.
North Carolina had Harvard right where they wanted them with a 16-point lead in the second half but the Crimson are always a tough out in the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson chipped away at the lead before Siyani Chambers converted a four-point play with 1:15 left to give Harvard the lead.
Both North Carolina and Arkansas are coming off some very close games on what was a very wacky Thursday in the NCAA Tournament
The other two meetings came back in the early 1990s and both occurred in the Sweet 16. Arkansas won in 1990 on their way to the Final Four while North Carolina won in 1993 on their way to the National Championship
This is the 4th meeting all-time between Arkansas and North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina leads the all-time series 2-1 thanks to a 108-77 win during the Round of 32 in 2008.
The winner of our game today will advance into the Sweet 16 and to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California where they will play the winner of the game on Sunday between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Oregon Ducks.
Good evening and welcome to VAVEL USA’s live coverage of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Our game tonight is part of the West Region and it features the #4 seed North Carolina Tar Heels (25-11) from the Atlantic Coast Conference squaring off with the #5 seed Arkansas Razorbacks (27-8) from the Southeastern Conference from the Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. My name is Stevie Larson and I will be your host.