The Tar Heels have made their name this season dominating the glass, but they face a Wildcats team that will battle for rebounds.
The holiday weekend is nearly upon us, and with it comes a pair of high-profile college basketball matchups on CBS. The 5th annual CBS Sports Classic takes place this Saturday afternoon at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois featuring four of the sport’s biggest names. UCLA meets number 15 Ohio State, followed by ninth-ranked North Carolina taking on 19th-ranked Kentucky.
In order to get ready for the games this weekend, we caught up with CBS Sports college basketball analyst Steve Lappas, who gave us some insight into the teams and matchups for Saturday.
CBS Local Sports: Ohio State has gotten off to a 9-1 start this season, suffocating teams defensively, allowing just 61.9 points per game. What has stood out to you most about Chris Holtmann’s squad so far?
Steve Lappas: He has done a great job, as you said, defensively. When you are holding people to 29 percent from the three-point line and 37 percent overall, you are doing a heck of a job, and he is. He has an extremely good point guard in C. J. Jackson, who is a really good defender on the ball. But, the development of Kaleb Wesson into one of the best big guys or really one of the best players in the Big 10 has really been a tremendous boon to them.
They have blended in some good, young guys as well. With the ability to throw the ball inside to Wesson, he is a guy that gets to the foul line a lot. He is a tough guy to guard and shoots seven foul shots a game. Between Kaleb Wesson and C. J. Jackson, the Buckeyes have a solid duo to go along with a bunch of supporting-cast guys. This team just has the right chemistry right now.
CBS Local Sports: They face UCLA this Saturday on CBS. The Bruins, at 7-3, are coming off a loss to Belmont their last time out and have dropped both of their previous games against Top 25 teams this season.
