BOONE, N.C. – Appalachian State University men's basketball travels to Chapel Hill for a showdown with the No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels on Monday, Dec. 21. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at the Dean E. Smith Center and will be aired nationally on ESPN2.
Appalachian and leading scorer Frank Eaves will attempt to snap a five-game losing streak tomorrow night. Eaves leads the team and the Sun Belt Conference with 20.8 points per game this season, which also ranks 20th nationally.
You can watch the Apps on ESPN2 or by using WatchESPN. You can catch the Mountaineers on the airwaves/online via the Appalachian IMG Sports Network.
SERIES HISTORY
• Appalachian State and North Carolina will match up for just the sixth time in their program's history.
• The Mountaineers are 0-5 all time against the Tar Heels and haven't played UNC since the 2011-12 season. UNC won that game 97-82.
• The Mountaineers will appear on ESPN2 for the first time since March 8, 2010 when Appalachian squared off against Wofford in the Southern Conference championship game.
SCOUTING THE TAR HEELS
• No. 11 North Carolina enters the contest against Appalachian State with a 9-2 overall record, winning its last game on Saturday against No. 22 UCLA at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• The Tar Heels' only other loss this season was to a mutual opponent, Texas, on Dec. 12 by a score of 84-82.
• Since then, UNC has won two games over Tulane (another mutual opponent of App State) and the previouosly mentioned No. 22 UCLA Bruins.
• Curently, North Carolina has won six of its last seven games.
• Junior forward Kennedy Meeks will not play for several weeks after suffering a bone bruise on his left knee, North Carolina announced on Dec. 14.
• Senior guard Marcus Paige has eclipsed the 20-point plateau on two occasions after missing the Tar Heels' first six games due to an injured right hand.
• Paige leads the team with 15.8 points per game, while four other Tar Heels' student-athletes currently have scoring outputs in double-figures.
• Brice Johnson (15.7 ppg), Justin Jackson (13.5), the injured Kennedy Meeks (12.3) and Joel Berry III (11.9) rounds out the double-digit scoring.
