Preview: Wake Forest at No. 4 North Carolina

Coaches generally like playing noon games — especially when there’s a Monday night waiting on the other side of them.

Wake Forest blew through Louisville by 25 points on Saturday, coasting through the finish line of that one and moving quickly into a meeting against first-place North Carolina on Monday night.

“I think it was better that it was a noon game,” Steve Forbes said of Saturday’s game. “You can’t really control that too much. I think it’s just better that we didn’t have to play tonight.”

This is Wake’s first of two Saturday-Monday swings of the season, both of them featuring a home-road swing with the latter taking the Deacons to the Triangle. Wake Forest plays N.C. State on Feb. 10, and then goes to Duke two days later.

If you’re in search of evidence of Wake’s increase in national relevance: This is the first time the Deacons have been slated to play in the league’s Monday night game (the ACC’s spotlight on ESPN, which started in 2014). Two years ago in January, Wake Forest blew out UNC on a Saturday and then Boston College two nights later — that game against BC was rescheduled from a December postponement.

Monday night’s trip to UNC brings a lot of potential firsts: Wake Forest hasn’t won at UNC since 2010, Wake Forest can score a road win that’s all but guaranteed to remain a Quad-1 win in the NCAA’s NET system, and the Deacons can hand UNC its first ACC loss of the season.

Pulling off an upset won’t be easy, to type the obvious. UNC has won six straight ACC games by double digits for the first time since 1992-93; no ACC team has scored 70 points against the Tar Heels.

Some parts, though, won’t be so complicated.

“Sometimes all that other stuff (about short rest) is overrated, to be honest with you,” Forbes said. “We know how we’re going to guard. We know our plays, we know how we’re going to play.

“We’ve got to do a great job of getting our game plan into the game on our terms, on offense and defense. If we can do that, we’ll have a chance. If we don’t, we won’t. And I guarantee you that coach (Hubert) Davis is telling his team the same damn thing.”

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Here’s what to know ahead of Monday night’s game:

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Smith Center, Chapel Hill.

TV: ESPN.

Announcers: Dave O’Brien (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst).

Series; last meeting: UNC leads 164-69; Wake Forest won 92-85 on Feb. 7 last year, as the teams split regular-season meetings, each winning on its home court.

Records: Wake Forest 13-5, 5-2 ACC; UNC 15-3, 7-0.

Stat to watch: 15.7.

UNC started its eight-game winning streak by handing Oklahoma its first loss, a game in which the Tar Heels were outrebounded 41-34.

In the seven games since then, UNC is plus-110 in rebounding margin, an average margin of 15.7 per game.

Armando Bacot is a big (figurative and literal) part of it. The fifth-year center leads the ACC in rebounding at 10.44 per game, close to a full rebound per game ahead of second-place Norchad Omier (9.65). But he’s got help.

Harrison Ingram transferred in from Stanford and has fit perfectly into the Tar Heels’ frontcourt. The 6-7, 235-pounder has double-digit rebounds in four of six games this month, including a 19-rebound game at N.C. State and a 15-rebound game at Pittsburgh. UNC also gets more than three rebounds per game from guards RJ Davis (3.7) and Cormac Ryan (3.3).

Wake Forest has outrebounded its opponent six of seven times in ACC games but hasn’t had the same gaudy margins. Across the last seven games, Wake’s average margin has been plus-5.6, with advantages of 43-40 against Miami and 40-27 against Virginia standing out.

The only ACC game in which Wake Forest lost the rebounding edge was 34-32 at N.C. State.

Matchup to watch: Wake’s backcourt vs. UNC’s backcourt.

Remember a few weeks back when it felt clear Wake Forest, Duke and Miami had the best backcourts in the ACC?

It was a little disrespectful to leave UNC’s off — though the Tar Heels’ assortment of guards is really Davis and everyone else.

The fourth-year guard would be the ACC player of the year if the vote were held today. He leads the league in scoring (20.2) and is second in 3s per game (3.0). For a program that needed a stabilizing hand after last year’s struggles, he’s delivered.

Davis generally operates UNC’s offense but doesn’t start games in that role. Elliot Cadeau, a freshman who enrolled a year early, starts and plays 23 minutes per game, leading the Tar Heels with 64 assists.

If Wake Forest matches up point guards, with Kevin Miller against Cadeau, it’ll leave Cameron Hildreth or Hunter Sallis against Davis. The bet here would be Sallis, with the 6-5, 185-pounder coming off another virtuoso performance — 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, one turnover against Louisville.

Whichever one of them doesn’t match up against Davis would be attached to Ryan, the Notre Dame transfer who’s struggled to make 3s this season (28.9%) but is still a double-digit scorer (11.1 per game).

Off of Wake's bench, Parker Friedrichsen broke loose from a mini-slump with three 3s against Louisville. The Tar Heels typically rely on Seth Trimble and Paxson Wojcik for defense.

One note: Damari Monsanto played too much of the 4-position behind Andrew Carr against Louisville, so he can’t be considered a part of Wake’s backcourt — at least, not yet.

Tar Heel to watch: Forward Harrison Ingram (No. 55).

Dawson Garcia was a disaster. Brady Manek was a great shooter but defensive liability. Pete Nance didn’t really work out.

Hubert Davis struck gold with the fourth 4-man he recruited out of the transfer portal.

As it’s laid out above, Ingram has been a great addition for UNC’s rebounding prowess. He’s a tertiary scoring option behind Davis and Bacot, able to impact the game on the defensive end as much or more than offensively.

Ingram shot 31.3% and 31.9% on 3-pointers in two seasons at Stanford; he’s shooting 40.8% (31 of 76) this season. He’s also cut down on his turnovers, from being in the 19% range with the Cardinal to only committing turnovers on 12% of the possessions that end with the ball in his hands (per KenPom).

Deacon to watch: Wing Damari Monsanto (No. 30).

Encore! Encore! Encore!

Rare does the much-anticipated return of a player coming off injury exceed expectations. Monsanto is both exceptional shooter and an exception to that thought.

The fifth-year sharpshooter played his first game in about 11 months and drilled four 3s against Louisville on Saturday. His 12 points in 11 minutes sparked the Deacons, sending shockwaves through Joel Coliseum and the ACC that Wake Forest is that much more of a dangerous team with one of the best shooters in the league on the court.

And that was just his first game of the season.

Maybe expectations should be leveled for a short turnaround game against the team with a two-game lead atop the ACC. Monsanto is more likely, as Forbes said after Saturday’s game, to get revved up to speed during the nine-day break on the other side of this game.

Though, as we just learned, you can attach modest expectations to Monsanto at your own peril.

What’s on deck: As mentioned, Wake’s reward after playing two games in three days will be the longest scheduled break left on the schedule.

The Deacons won’t play again until a Jan. 31 trip to Pitt. It’s notable that game got “harder” overnight, as Pitt’s win at Duke moved the Panthers from 82nd to 68th in the NET, which means Wake’s game at Pitt will be a chance for a Quad-1 win … granted Pitt stays in the top 75 over the next week and a half.

UNC goes back on the road for two games after this one, as six of the Tar Heels’ nine games in January are on the road. They’ll go to Florida State this weekend, and then Georgia Tech next Tuesday.

KenPom prediction: UNC wins 82-72.

Deacons Illustrated prognosis: It’s funny how quickly emotions swing in the ACC — it’s one of the reasons covering teams in this league is rarely dull.

Wake Forest waxes Virginia, gets back on track. Wake Forest drops a road game at N.C. State, the sky is falling (for some). Wake Forest gets good news on two injured players, one of them makes a triumphant return, it’s back to being a contender atop the ACC.

Hence, Monday night’s game at UNC has an all-or-nothing feel. Wake Forest wins; all is forgiven for the N.C. State loss, the Deacons will have stated their case as the top challenger to the Tar Heels. Wake Forest loses, the sky will recommence falling.

Of course, it’s never that simple. Nothing ever is.