By Pete Fiutak | March 13, 2017 2:45 pm CT

North Carolina (27-7) vs. Texas Southern (23-11) Prediction & Game Preview

NCAA Tournament: North Carolina vs. Texas Southern fearless prediction and game preview.

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– CFN March Madness Schedule & Fearless Predictions

Broadcast

Date: Friday, March 17
Game Time: 4:00 ET
Venue: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, SC
Network: TNT

All You Really Need To Know About North Carolina

(ACC) 27-7 RPI: 5, 2 seed

When it all meshes, it’s a Final Four-caliber team. When the defense breaks down and the threes aren’t falling, the Tar Heels are vulnerable.

They lead the nation in rebounds and move the ball around as well as anyone in the country. While they’re built to handle just about any style and dominate, they have to get the positive energy going early – it’s a dominant front-running team.

Consider it a positive that they were stalled by Virginia and ended up losing to Duke in the ACC Tournament. Energy matters to this bunch – it should play like it’s shot out of a cannon in the first weekend.

All You Really Need To Know About Texas Southern

(SWAC) 23-11 RPI: 105, 15 seed

The SWAC champ comes in rolling, ripping off nine straight wins and 13 of the last 14 to get in. They’re going to get killed on the boards, and they can’t shoot it at all from three, but they create turnovers and generate them into transition points.

When they get on the move, they can get on big runs, but they lack of outside pop will be a killer. There’s some major size, and Derrick Griffin is a killer on the boards, but they’re going to have to fight to keep up the pace.

What’s Going To Happen

Rebounds, rebounds, rebounds. Texas Southern won’t get them. North Carolina should own the boards to an absurd level, and that – along with the Tigers’ issues shooting from the outside – should make this a nice and easy blowout.