NORTH CAROLINA

* About Florida: The Gators needed Mike Miller’s last-second shot to escape against Butler in the first round, but have been impressive since in beating Illinois, Duke and Oklahoma State. The Gators are the youngest and deepest team left in the field, with a roster stocked with freshmen and sophomores. Seven players average at least 7.9 points a game and 10 players average 13 minutes or more. Florida uses waves of players and a full-court press to wear opponents down, although Billy Donovan displayed a bit of coaching deftness when he switched to a zone defense against No. 1 Duke in the closing minutes.

NORTH CAROLINA LOG

82 USC-x 65

85 Georgetown-x 79

90 at Purdue-x 75

76 Michigan St. 86

72 Coll. of Charleston-y 54

102 UNLV-y 78

91 at Buffalo 67

68 Cincinnati 77

85 Tennessee Tech 59

78 at Miami 68

73 Indiana 82

80 at Louisville 97

86 Howard 53

65 Clemson 45

83 N.C. State 75

57 at Wake Forest 66

68 UCLA 71

85 at Virginia 87

71 Florida St. 76

75 Maryland 63

70 at Georgia Tech 53

86 Duke, OT 90

73 at Clemson 60

70 at N.C. State 62

87 Wake Forest 64

76 Virginia 90

70 at Florida St. 67

73 at Maryland 81

74 Georgia Tech, OT 72

76 at Duke 90

52 Wake Forest-z 58

NCAA TOURNAMENT

84 Missouri 70

60 at Stanford 53

74 at Tennessee 69

59 at Tulsa 55

x-Maui Invitational; y-Food Lion MVP Classic; z-Atlantic Coast Conference

FLORIDA

* About North Carolina: The Tar Heels finished the regular season 18-13 and were in jeopardy of not making the tournament for the first time since 1974. But a four-game burst to the national semifinals has restored order in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels’ front line of Brendan Haywood, Kris Lang and Julius Peppers is big and strong, and the combination of Ed Cota’s experience at the point and freshmen guard Joseph Forte’s shooting has guided the team past Missouri, Stanford, Tennessee and Tulsa.

FLORIDA LOG

96 Florida State 61

60 Utah State-x 58

68 at Purdue-x 79

72 Georgetown-x 62

131 New Hampshire 72

96 Florida A&M; 44

93 Bethune-Cookman 77

109 High Point 60

85 at Rutgers 65

80 N.C.-Wilmington 53

113 VMI 68

82 South Alabama 61

77 at Vanderbilt 87

75 at Mississippi 71

82 Louisiana State 57

79 Tennessee, 2OT 81

77 at Alabama 73

69 at DePaul 71

89 Vanderbilt 63

86 at South Carolina 82

85 Georgia 66

90 Kentucky 73

73 at Tennessee, OT 76

80 at Arkansas 71

88 Mississippi State 58

90 at Georgia 68

88 Auburn 59

87 South Carolina 67

70 at Kentucky 85

89 Mississippi-y 67

70 at Auburn-y 78

NCAA TOURNAMENT

69 Butler, OT 68

93 at Illinois 76

87 at Duke 78

77 at Oklahoma State 65

x-Maui Invitational; y-Southeastern Conference

* Keys to the game: Florida will try to swamp North Carolina with its full-court pressure and rotate players in and out of the lineup almost as fast as hockey line changes. It is imperative that Cota break Florida’s press and establish North Carolina’s half-court offense, where the strength of Haywood and others inside will be to the Tar Heels’ advantage. Also, will the controversy surrounding Miller’s dealings with an agent distract the Gators?

*

North Carolina (22-13) vs. Florida (28-7)

5 p.m.*, today, Ch. 2, at Indianapolis

*time approximate.