Winston-Salem, N.C. — North Carolina scores 86.3 points per game — second nationally.
MSU allows 56.7 points per game — fourth nationally.
The Tar Heels have scored 100 points seven times this season and have topped 70 in every game.
The Spartans have held nine opponents below 50 points and have held all but two below 70.
"Jiminy Christmas," lamented North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, "I like to score that many in a half."
Saturday's second-round NCAA Tournament matchup between the two (8:20 p.m., CBS) promises to be the end-all clash of styles — kind of like the tortoise and the hare, except if the tortoise was wearing sandbags and the hare had borrowed Michael Andretti's car.
"We had a prep for North Carolina in the Marquette game," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said Friday, referring to his team's 61-49 opening-round win the night before.
"They play similar styles, but as I said to our team, the only difference is North Carolina plays it like in the Star Trek era. Marquette's fast — North Carolina's at warp speed."
The issue, then, will be which team is able to set the speedometer of the game.
If North Carolina is able to press and fast break like it normally does, the Spartans don't have much chance of keeping up. Their bench, already thin, was robbed of another body when sophomore center Idong Ibok suffered a season-ending dislocated elbow in Thursday's game.
"The way they run," Izzo said, "depth we don't have could be a factor."
But it's a two-sided coin. MSU's defense suffocated the life out of Marquette and could put a similar clamp on the Tar Heels if it's equally stout.
"If we walk it down and try to score against Michigan State's set defense every time, we have no chance. That's their game," Williams said. "We've got to try and get some baskets easier, some baskets in the open court."
The unstoppable machine vs. the immovable object. The overpowering one seed vs. the overachieving nine seed. The Tar Heels vs. the Spartans, wih a Sweet 16 berth in the balance.
"I don't think we'll be intimidated," Izzo said. "Whether we can play with them, that's the question."
