Opponent: North Carolina

Where: Madison Square Garden (19,763)

Date, Time: Nov. 19, approx. 9:30 p.m. Eastern

TV: ESPN2 (announcers Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale, Bob Knight and Doris Burke)

Rankings, Records: No. 15 Ohio State 2-0; No. 6 North Carolina 3-0

Key Players: Ohio State – 6-7 G/F Evan Turner 19.0 points, 17.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 2.0 steals per game, 54.8 FG pct.; 6-5 G William Buford 15.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg; 6-6 G Jon Diebler 14.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 58.3 3-pt. pct.; G/F David Lighty 11.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.0 spg; 6-2 G Jeremie Simmons 10.0 ppg, 50.0 percent 3-pt. pct.; 6-3 G Walter Offutt 5.5 ppg, 6-9 F/C Kyle Madsen 5.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg. North Carolina – 6-8 F Deon Thompson 17.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 58.8 FG pct.; 7-0 C Tyler Zeller 12.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.3 blocks per game, 76.5 FG pct.; 6-10 PF Ed Davis 11.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 3.0 bpg 73.7 FG pct.; 6-5 G/F Marcus Ginyard 11.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 44.4 3-pt. pct.; 6-1 PG Larry Drew II 8.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 6.0 apg, 45.5 3-pt. pct.; 6-6 G/F Will Graves 6.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg.; 6-3 G Dexter Strickland 4.3 ppg.

Quality Of Opponent: Very good, but maybe not elite. After all, national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough as well as Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor are all departed. Frasor was a reliable reserve guard and the other four were star players as the Tar Heels won 27 of 32 league games and advanced to the Final Four the last two seasons. UNC fans, obviously, hold their Heels to a high standard and therefore there is concern in Chapel Hill that this is going to be a rebuilding year. Drew, for example, is considered to be more of a combo guard but has inherited Lawson’s point guard duties. Freshmen Strickland, Leslie McDonald and John Henson are major talents but might not be ready for primetime collegiate competition just yet.

Key Matchup: Lighty vs. UNC’s power forwards.

Lighty is athletic and is generally effective against players his size or taller, but Thompson and Davis are board-eaters and are going to be a lot to handle down in the post. Davis also is a shot blocker who should be able to intimidate Lighty on forays to the hoop. The Buckeyes cannot get killed on the backboards and allow UNC to get easy putbacks and outlets for fast breaks. It will be up to the entire OSU team to keep that aspect manageable but a lot falls on the shoulders of Lighty.

Still, he finds a way to take people out of their comfort zone.

“Dave is one of the best defenders in the country, and we feel whoever he’s guarding he’s going to do a great job,” Diebler said. “But we also know that our guards are going to have to put a lot of pressure on the ball and with their size we’re going to have to rebound because we know they like to go to the glass. Overall, I think our defense has done pretty well but we also have a lot to work on.”

Chess Game: Diebler and Buford are going to have to box out bigs on the back side to allow Turner, Lighty and whoever is playing center for OSU to grab caroms. Meanwhile, someone also is going to have to be in position to rotate back to slow down UNC’s running game.

“They are unique because they have the ability to play so many big guys and just keep running as fast as they possibly can,” OSU head coach Thad Matta said. “I hope we’re a little bit more prepared. And two years ago we held them to their season-low in points. So I’m not saying we’re going to hold them under their average but we’ve got to do a great job of defending their quick strikes.”

Of course, slowing down the Tar Heels creates another problem as they no doubt will look to take advantage of their size and efficiency in the post when in the half court. The key for OSU defensively will be to cut off the fast break and force UNC to shoot over the top of its man-to-man defense. The Tar Heels are relying mostly on newcomers, Drew and Ginyard to supply their outside shooting and the early results are mixed. Plus, the returning players combined to shoot just 23.2 percent from three-point range last season.

Fun Facts: OSU’s Dallas Lauderdale could earn his first start of the season. The 6-8 Lauderdale missed the opener and played 13 minutes in the 72-44 win over James Madison last week as he continues to recover from a broken ring finger in his right hand. … This will be the second game of a doubleheader as No. 13 California will take on Syracuse in the first semifinal at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2. The winner of that game will play the winner of the OSU-North Carolina game at 7:30 p.m. Friday and the losers meet at 5 p.m. … The games in New York wrap up the 2K Sports Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer. … Ohio State last played North Carolina in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Nov. 28, 2007. The Buckeyes lost that game 66-55 in Columbus but held UNC to its lowest point total of the season. … North Carolina is the defending national champion and also won the title in 2005 under head coach Roy Williams. The Tar Heels wiped out Michigan State in Detroit for the second time last season to claim the trophy. … UNC holds an all-time series edge of 9-2 against Ohio State. The two teams put on a show on Nov. 29, 2006 when No. 7 UNC beat No. 3 Ohio State 98-89 in Chapel Hill, also as part of the ACC/Big Challenge. … OSU is 34-25 all-time vs. teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. … Ohio State has played 27 times at Madison Square Garden, a span that dates back to 1937. The Buckeyes hold a 16-11 record in the building and have won five of their last six there, including wins over Mississippi and Massachusetts in 2008 to claim the NIT title. OSU also won the NIT at MSG in 1986 in a win over Wyoming that marked the final game as coach of the Buckeyes for Eldon Miller. … Ohio State is tied with Michigan for 15^th place in The Associated Press poll. Both schools have 598 points. OSU also is No. 15 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll while Michigan is a notch below at No. 16. … Turner is the first Buckeye to log at least 17 rebounds in back-to-back games since Brad Sellers did it in 1985. Sellers finished the 1985-86 season averaging 12.6 boards per game. … North Carolina spoiled Isiah Thomas’ debut as Florida International coach with an 88-72 win over FIU. UNC’s other win in the 2K Sports Classic was an 89-42 wipeout of NC Central. Ginyard matched his career high with 17 points in that game while Thompson added 13. The Heels also squeezed in a game with Valparaiso on Sunday, but had a hard time pulling away in an 88-77 win.

What’s At Stake: National respect and postseason consideration. The Buckeyes saw last season what early back-to-back wins over quality teams (Miami of Florida and Notre Dame) can do for a team. They were in the bracketology and national discussion all season because of those victories. Similarly, the ESPNs of the world will consider OSU relevant with a good showing in New York, and especially if the Buckeyes can bag a win over the defending national champs. On the flip side, North Carolina is trying to show it is a legitimate top-10 team with a new cast of characters.

Matta Says: On his overview of the Tar Heels: “First and foremost I think North Carolina has got a little bit more experience than people think they do. I know this: Sitting on the bench or playing 12 minutes a game and winning the national championship or going and going against the guys they went against on a daily basis last year, you can’t put a price on that. I think they’ve got a pretty good blend – Drew, Davis, Thompson, Ginyard is a fifth-year senior, those guys have been in there. I would say the difference is they’re not counting on their freshmen as much as we’ve counted on our freshmen in the past.

“Number one, they play a ton of guys. I think their ability to score in transition, it’s kind of the staple of their program. They’ve got tremendous size, they do a good job of getting the ball inside. Defensively, they’ll pressure, get up and really try to disrupt what you’re doing. I think that’s a thing all the good North Carolina teams have done in the past, basically said, ‘We’re going to attempt to take away what you do best.’ That’s a thing we’ve talked about with our guys, that in some ways it’s going to come down to a battle of wills, of who forces the other guy to play the way they want them to play.”

On the difference a couple years makes for the OSU veterans who have played Carolina: “It’s funny because going back and checking some things on tape and just watching our North Carolina game three years ago and two years ago, to look at like Jon Diebler and Evan Turner’s bodies, I mean it’s amazing just how that alone, just the physical stature of those guys, has changed. And experience is something you just can’t teach to kids. You have to go and play games like this to get the experience that you need.”

On his team’s keys to the game: “For us, we’ve got to do a great job of taking care of the basketball and getting the shots that we want, trying to get the best looks that we possibly can each time down the floor. You’ve got to do a good job of rebounding the basketball. They get a lot of second-chance points, and we really need to try to take those things away from them.”

Next On The Docket: The Buckeyes play either Syracuse or Cal on Friday evening. The losers bracket game is at 5 p.m. Eastern followed by the matchup of the two semifinal winners at approximately 7:30. Both games will be televised on ESPN2.

The Orange is not ranked in the AP poll but is No. 25 in the coaches poll. Syracuse dusted off Albany 75-43 in the first round of the 2K Sports Classic then went on to beat Robert Morris 100-60 on Nov. 11. Senior guard Andy Rautins had 22 points in that game thanks to a 7-of-10 display from behind the arc while junior forward Wesley Johnson, a transfer from Iowa State, added 19.

Cal is considered the team to beat in the Pac-10 behind stellar guards Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher. The No. 12 team in the coaches poll, Cal got by Murray State 75-70 and also beat Detroit 95-61 in the first two rounds of the event. Randle and swingman Theo Robertson each had 22 points in the blowout of Detroit.

California is 9-8 all-time against Ohio State but the Buckeyes won their only national championship in 1960 by defeating the Bears 75-55 in San Francisco. The Buckeyes also won the last matchup on March 24, 2008, a 73-56 win at St. John Arena in the second round of the postseason NIT. OSU is 4-1 all-time vs. Syracuse, including a 79-65 victory over the Orange on Nov. 21, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off.