Written by MICHAEL KOH
UNC’s late-season slide may have lucked it into a shorter road trip.
With the Tar Heels dropping their most recent two games to Duke and Clemson, they slipped from potentially going as high as a 4-seed down to a 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament. But by doing so, they now only have to travel to Greenville, South Carolina for the first and (potentially) second rounds. Had UNC been a 4 or a 5, it could have gone as far away as Oklahoma City, San Diego or Portland.
This is the third time Greenville will have hosted tournament games since 2017, which is the result of an interesting ripple effect. South Carolina had normally been passed over for hosting duties in the tournament in favor of its northern neighbor, but North Carolina governor Pat McCrory’s controversial House Bill 2 made the NCAA relocate games in 2017 from Greensboro to Greenville.
That’s where No. 1 seed UNC went that spring, and the Tar Heels very nearly saw their season end there. After a breezy win against No. 16 Texas Southern in the first round, Carolina got all it could handle in the second round against No. 8 Arkansas. The Razorbacks led by five with three minutes to go, but UNC ended the game on a 12-0 run to advance on its way to a national title.
With the trip to Greenville being just 3.5 hours from Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels bused down yesterday afternoon. The relatively short drive and likely strong contingent of Tar Heel fans in tow is an encouraging sign for a UNC team which has struggled in hostile environments. Carolina put together its best home record in program history this season with 18 wins and zero losses, but is only 6-8 away from the Smith Center. Of course, a close-to-home neutral court did Carolina no good last week, when it came out flat against Clemson at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte.
Then there’s the Duke factor. The No. 1 Blue Devils will also be in Greenville this week, and though Duke and UNC play in separate sessions Thursday, you can bet some Devil fans would love nothing more than a front-row seat to the end of their rivals’ season. The reverse happened in 2017, when after the Tar Heels’ great escape from Arkansas, No. 2 seed Duke took the floor against No. 7 South Carolina. Feeding off the friendly Greenville crowd, the Gamecocks thumped Jayson Tatum and the Blue Devils on their way to the Final Four. The UNC fans who stuck around after the Arkansas game loved every minute of it.
So the Tar Heels do have good memories from playing in Greenville. But if they play VCU like they did Clemson, this season will be no more than a memory by Friday.
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Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
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Chansky’s Notebook: Back to Greenville Chapelboro.com.
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