Gonzaga vs. North Carolina Tonight: A Two-Act Play

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Setting: Beale Street will be boppin’ tonight as the Sweet Sixteen comes to Memphis.  Mark Few brings his No. 4 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs (28-5) to town for a lip-smackin’ tilt with Roy Williams and the No. 1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels (30-4).

Make my pre-game meal barbecued chicken. Oops! Scratch that. It’s Lent. I’ll wait until midnight for the meat.

Plot: Gonzaga is making its 11th consecutive tournament appearance and 12th overall. This is the fifth time the Bulldogs have barked their way to the Sweet Sixteen. In getting here, the 'Zags beat Akron (77-64) and Western Kentucky (83-81).

On the other hand, UNC is making its 41st tournament appearance and a NCAA record 23rd straight trip to the Regional Semi-Finals. The Tar Heels have won eight consecutive third-round match ups. Their last loss came to Ohio State in 1992. UNC has advanced to the Elite Eight 23 times. Carolina opened the tournament with a 101-58 shellacking of Radford and then topped LSU, 84-70.

Flashback: Tonight’s game marks the first meeting between the schools in the Dance and second overall. Gonzaga beat UNC in the 2006 NIT Preseason tourney 82-74. The Zags limited then-sophomore Tyler Hansbrough to five shots from the perimeter and nine points with nine rebounds. Hansbrough has only been held to single-figure point totals eight of his 138 career games. Gonzaga shot 51 percent from the field that night.

Characters:  Gonzaga will start:

Jeremy Pargo 6-2(10.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.0 assists, 1.4 steals)
Matt Bouldin 6-5(13.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.5 assists, 1.6 steals)                             
Micah Downs 6-8 (9.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.1 assists)                                                             
Josh Heytvelt 6-11 (14.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg)                                                                   Austin Daye 6-11 (12.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.1 assists)

North Carolina will counter with:

Ty Lawson 5-11 (16.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 6.5 assists, 2.0 steals)
Wayne Ellington 6-4 (15.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals)
Tyler Hansbrough, 6-9 (21.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 0.9 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.4 blocks)
Danny Green, 6-6 (13.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.7 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.3 blocks)

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