The North Carolina Tar Heels must face a hungry foe in the NCAA Tournament today that needed a big upset just to reach March Madness. The Tar Heels are picked to win but questions about their focus loom as we watch North Carolina vs Providence online free live streaming on TNT.
The Tar Heels (6) kicked up controversy at the NCAA Tournament yesterday when coach Roy Williams cursed while talking about the P.J. Hairston suspension. Hairston sitting out games for violating NCAA rules has been a black mark on the North Carolina basketball program all season long. It will become more of an issue if the final score of today’s game doesn’t favor the Tar Heels.
Tar Heels forward Marcus Paige is cleared to play and says he is near 100 percent after injuring his thigh last week in the ACC quarterfinals loss. North Carolina will need Paige and his rebounding as they finished the regular season with two poor rebounding games including the worst for the school in 30 years.
Consistency will be the key for North Carolina today if they hope to advance and not join the growing list of upsets in Round 2. Their ACC record was 1-4 before they went on a 12-game winning streak. Just as it looked like the Tar Heels would enter March on a roll, they dropped their final two games.
Providence (11) hasn’t been in the NCAA Tournament in a decade and haven’t won in March Madness for nearly two decades. The key to a Friars victory will fall on the shoulders of senior guard Bryce Cotton who averaged 21.4 points per game and plays more minutes than any other player in the country. Expect him to be on the floor the entire game.
The North Carolina vs Providence game will start today with the tip-off at 7:20pm EST / 4:20pm PST. The game will be found on TV by tuning to TNT, so you will need that channel in your cable or satellite package to watch NC vs Friars in HD on your TV.
TNT does not offer direct March Madness live streaming of their NCAA Tournament basketball games, but the NCAA has set up a great March Madness Live website where you can watch live March Madness games from phones, iPads and other devices right here online streaming on the Internet. You do need a login from your cable or satellite provider to watch the games, but there is a four-hour grace period where you can watch March Madness games live for free without a cable subscription, including North Carolina vs Providence live streaming.
