North Carolina (12-6, 7-4) at No. 9 Virginia (14-3, 10-1)

6 p.m., ESPN

The Cavaliers return to JPJ tomorrow night when they host the Tar Heels in an important clash of teams near the top of the standings.

UVa enter the weekend still atop the ACC standings with North Carolina currently in fifth but knocking on the door of a top-four finish and double-bye in the ACC Tournament.

UNC may be 7-4 in league play but its wins have come against teams in the bottom half of the ACC standings. Those seven victories have come over teams that are a combined 30-48 in ACC play, and nearly all of those games have been close to the end. Five of the seven have come by seven points or less, and none have come by more than 10.

The game against Virginia is just their second contest against a team in the top five in the standings. The Tar Heels have yet to play Virginia Tech and Louisville, and lost their matchup at Florida State earlier in the season.

UNC ranks 41st in the KenPom ratings, fifth-best among ACC teams. The offense isn’t nearly as imposing as it has been in most recent years, ranking 59th in efficiency. As always, the Heels like to get out and run the floor, ranking 71st in tempo and 35th in fastest average possession length.

They have always been a team that feasts on the offensive glass and this year is no different. Carolina ranks second nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, which creates a good number of second-chance points and helps make up for deficiencies in other areas.

Carolina also does a good job getting to the free-throw line, ranking 75th nationally in free throw to field goal attempt ratio. UNC is not a strong shooting team, however. The Heels make just 32 percent of their 3-point tries, ranking 246th nationally, and are a woeful 65.8 percent at the free throw line. They also turn the ball over quite a bit, ranking 271st nationally in turnover percentage and 328th in steals allowed per possession.

UNC’s defense has been solid, ranking 33rd in efficiency. While the Tar Heels create a lot of second-chance points on offense, they don’t allow many on defense. They rank 49th in offensive rebounds allowed and also don’t let opponents shoot many free throws.

Carolina’s defense also creates a good number of blocks, ranking 53rd in block rate. While the defense is excellent around the rim, the Heels struggle to defend the 3. Their opponents are shooting 36.3 percent from deep for the season. Those teams are perfectly content to shoot a good number of 3s and not drive into Carolina’s imposing front court. Opponents score 36 percent of their points on 3s, the 39th-highest percentage allowed nationally.

UNC gets a lot of its scoring punch from the frontcourt. Sophomore Armando Bacot has been the breakout star this season and will be back in his home state tomorrow night. The Richmond native is averaging a team-high 12.1 points per game this season along with 7.4 rebounds. At 6-foot-10, Bacot is a classic back-to-the-basket big man and shoots 64.3 percent from the floor. In his last game, he scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in a win at Duke.

Senior forward Garrison Brooks was the preseason ACC Player of the Year and while he hasn’t quite lived up to that hype, he has been an important piece for the Heels. Brooks is averaging 10.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while knocking down 40 percent of his 3-point tries.

Finally, 6-foot-11 freshman Day’Ron Sharpe is another Carolina big man to watch on Saturday. Sharpe is playing just under 20 minutes per game and is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.8 boards per game, to go along with 9.7 points per contest.

UNC’s backcourt is young and isn’t asked to carry the scoring load like most team’s guards are. Freshman PG Caleb Love is Carolina’s player to watch in the backcourt and is having a solid first year in Chapel Hill. Love is second on the team in scoring with 11.1 points per game and leads the team in assists with 3.3 per contest. Love is not a great 3-point shooter, making just 26 percent of his attempts, so expect to see him trying to get downhill to create points in the lane on Saturday.

He is joined in the backcourt by fellow freshman R.J. Davis, who is averaging 8.2 points per game but was held scoreless in UNC’s two most-recent games against Duke and Clemson. Veteran guard Leaky Black will play a lot in tomorrow night’s game and while he is a solid defender, Black is not a primary scoring option, averaging 6.8 points per game. Finally, freshman guard Kerwin Walton is UNC’s top outside shooting threat, making 45.7 percent of his 3-point tries this season. Walton went 4-for-4 from long range in the win at Duke last weekend.