THE MATCHUP
♦ North Carolina (28-6) is the No. 1 seed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament East Regional and will open play in Raleigh on Thursday at 7:20 p.m. against No. 16 seed Florida Gulf Coast, which beat Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
♦ The winner of Thursday’s contest will advance to an NCAA second round game on Saturday in Raleigh against either Southern California or Providence.
♦ Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Reggie Miller (analyst), Dan Bonner (analyst) and Lewis Johnson (reporter) will call the game for a TBS national TV audience (also online with the March Madness Live app).