Just 39 hours or so after completing a 91-72 victory over Virginia Tech at home Thursday night, No. 9 North Carolina will be on the road to face unranked Miami on Saturday.
Tipoff time for the Atlantic Coast Conference matchup is 1 p.m. ET at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla.
It is common quirk throughout the schedules of the 15 league members -- Miami recently went through it with a loss at home to Notre Dame and a road win at Pittsburgh -- but if you polled the coaches, they likely would like to see it gone.
"It's hard," Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said. "It's one of the things I despise about our league schedule. I don't think anybody should ever have to play two games in three days and both of them on the road, and several of the schools in our league have to do that."
At least the Tar Heels had the advantage of playing the first outing at home. Later in the season, they have a Saturday-Monday grind with both games on the road -- at Virginia and Pittsburgh.
"If traveling to both of them," Williams said, "it's more of a problem."
The Hurricanes (13-6, 3-4 ACC) will be facing a different kind of challenge when they take on the conference-leading Tar Heels (19-3, 9-1) after hanging on for a 78-77 victory over perimeter-oriented Boston College in their last outing.
"They're really good players," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said of the Eagles' guards. "But their big guys don't score a lot. Now playing against North Carolina, who have like four guys who can score their brains out in and around the basket, and they throw it to them constantly, certain things repeat themselves.
"So when preparing for Boston College, it's not the same preparing for Carolina. We need time."
Of particular concern for the Hurricanes, who desperately need a signature win to add to their resume, will be 6-foot-10 North Carolina forward Kennedy Meeks.
"He's a monster because he's basically bigger and stronger than the guy he goes against every night," said Larranaga.
Larranaga already has seen what an effective inside player can do against his young team. Sophomore forward John Collins scored a career-high 27 points in leading Wake Forest to a 96-79 rout of the Hurricanes.
Turnovers also have been an issue with the Hurricanes. They have made 96 in seven conference games and will be up against an opponent that likes to keep the pressure on defensively.
"I want to turn people over, but I want to hold them to a low (field goal) percentage, and that's hard to do because you can't turn people over unless you gamble," Williams said. "But if you gamble, you get beat sometimes. So it's a little bit of a balancing act there."
After this game, the Tar Heels return home to take on Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The Hurricanes end a three-game homestead by hosting Florida State on Wednesday night.
