Arkansas finds North Carolina in way of Sweet 16 again

North Carolina's Kennedy Meeks (3) celebrates with Theo Pinson (1) as they leave the court at the end of the first half against Texas Southern in a first-round game of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Greenville, S.C., Friday, March 17, 2017. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

— For the third time in 10 seasons, North Carolina stands between Arkansas and a berth in the Sweet 16.

This time, it will be in the backyard of the ACC champion Tar Heels (28-7), who kept the Razorbacks (26-9) from achieving that goal in both 2008 and 2015.

The two teams will meet at Bon Secours Arena at 5:10 CDT on Sunday after eighth-seed Arkansas downed ninth-seed Seton Hall 77-71 and top-seed North Carolina routed 16-seed Texas Southern 103-64 on Friday.

“I think it's fun,” Arkansas senior guard Manuale Watkins said. “It’s an opportunity. They're a 1 seed, so what more fun can you have than knocking off a 1 seed and moving on in the tournament?

“I think it's just a great opportunity. I don't know how the committee does the things, but I mean that's what they did. So we're ready to go. Whoever we're playing, we're ready for.”

Arkansas has not been to the Sweet 16 since 1996 after going five times in six years before that.

“Obviously, North Carolina has great tradition,” Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson said. “And we have tradition as well. And I guess that says that, you know what, when you get in this tournament and you start advancing, you're going to play outstanding teams.

“And it's amazing how -- they play for championships. And we've had an opportunity -- I've been a part of three Final Fours. We had a chance to play for some championships, too.

So I mean maybe that's what it means. We're trending that direction.

“But when you play in this tournament, you're going to play tremendous teams… We played Arizona. We played many teams in the tournament. Played Duke as well. So that means you're advancing in it.”

Watkins made it clear that his team fears no one.

“One thing with us is we are a really confident team,” Watkins said. “It’s kind of hard not to be when you're one of 32 teams left in Division I basketball playing in the NCAA Tournament. So, I mean, we have the utmost confidence in our offense, our defense. And us being able to switch around defenses and go at people with different looks is a key part of what we do.

“So we're going into the game with 100 percent confidence like we do every game.”

Junior guard Jaylen Barford, who had 20 points and 7 rebounds, expressed that same sentiment.

“I think our chances are pretty good,” Barford said. “I think we're a pretty good team, honestly. We can play anybody in the country. I think we just have to come out and play and don't worry about what the seed is, just take it one game at a time.”

Moses Kingsley and Watkins were the only two current members of the Arkansas team that played in North Carolina’s 87-78 win in Jacksonville, Fla., back in 2015.

Michael Qualls had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Bobby Portis 18 points and 14 rebounds, Rashad Madden 13 and Anthlon Bell 11 in the loss.

Kingsley had four points and Watkins did not score in 19 combined minutes in that game.

Kingsley knows that Arkansas has to do a better job on the boards against North Carolina - who out-rebounded teams by 13 a game this season - than it did against Seton Hall, who had a 46-32 advantage in caroms.

“We have to do a collective job because they have size,” Kingsley said. “They have size -- the guards, the bigs -- they're bigger than the team we played last time, and we gotta do a better job of keeping everybody off the glass, because everybody, almost all five of them go to the glass every time they shoot the ball.

“I think let's shoot it, go get it and put it back. Just like I said, we gotta do a collective job boxing out everybody and getting the ball going.”

Watkins expressed that same sentiment.

“It's going to be tough,” Watkins said. “Seton Hall, I think, it was plus-7, and we didn't do a good job on the boards. We gotta box out, hit people and help our bigs, help Moses, (Dustin Thomas), Trey (Thompson), all those guys, help them rebound. The guards gotta rebound really well this game.”

Anderson looks back on the 2015 game as one played at a break-neck pace in the first half.

“It was an up-and-down game, I remember that,” Anderson said. “I thought we came in playing at a high level. And they were playing at a high level as well. I remember (Marcus) Paige taking over in the second half. I mean, he was almost like a one-man wrecking crew.

“But they had some other -- the big guys I remember the big guys really dominating the glass as we went up and down the floor. They attacked us and attacked us pretty well at the basket. The game, I think, about ten minutes to go or eight minutes to go, was almost 50-50, something like that.

“We had a chance to tie or something and they went on a run and ended up winning by double figures. But I thought it was a game up and down the floor, and that's what I think we'll see with this game tomorrow.”

North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, whose team routed Arkansas 108-77 back in 2008, remembers the most recent game with the Razorbacks being a fast-paced one, but without many of the current Arkansas players.

“I don't think it can give you much,” Williams said. “Their whole team, look at their roster, on our scouting report, everybody's a junior or senior there. Been through it. Some of those guys were playing at that time. But most of them were not, or half and half, probably.

“But I know we won. I know it was a very aggressive game. I know I felt going into the game exactly how I feel right now, that we've got to attack, attack, attack, under control and not turn the ball over.”

Williams believes rebounding will be a huge key in this game.

“Me, personally, for 29 years, I've really thought that that was the single most important factor in who wins the games,” Williams said. “And so I've emphasized it forever. But we've had a couple of games this year where we didn't rebound it well and we usually got beat or struggled during those games.”

Arkansas hasn’t really pressed a lot this season, but still has the reputation of doing so, something North Carolina’s players welcome.

“I don't think they ever change their game plan at all,” North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks said. “I mean, they do a great job of trapping. They do a great job of having defensive balance and their guards are aggressive.

“So I just think we have to do what we usually do, which is our press offense and try our hardest to get the ball up the court as fast as we can so we can get into our half- court offense.”

Tar Heels point guard Joel Berry, who injured his ankle in the opening round and is probable to play on Sunday, agrees with that assessment.

“I'll say the same thing,” Berry said. “I mean, pretty much they've been doing that all year long. And I don't expect them to get to this point and try to change up what they're doing. So I expect them to stick with their game plan and continue to do what they do. And we just gotta be ready for it.”