bgorman@heraldsun.com; 419-6668
CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina will be down one Wear and possible two tonight when the Tar Heels host Florida State (7 p.m., ESPN) at the Smith Center.
Freshman forward David Wear is out indefinitely with a sore hip, which is possibly a labrum tear, and will become the eighth UNC player to miss a game because of an injury, while twin brother Travis could see his first action since spraining his left ankle in practice on Feb. 9.
"It has been a difficult year and one of the most difficult years I've ever had, from an injury standpoint, to get settled on a lineup or even a substitution pattern or even settled on who's going to dress and not dress," UNC coach Roy Williams said. "It's gotten a little ridiculous."
Ten different players have started for the Tar Heels (14-13, 3-9) this season, which is the most in the Williams era. With David Wear unable to play tonight, just three players -- Deon Thompson, Larry Drew II and Deon Thompson -- have played in every game.
The absence of one or two Wear's also will leave the Tar Heels thin up front again, as sophomore Ed Davis still is out with a broken wrist.
UNC seemed to be regaining its frontcourt depth when 7-foot sophomore Tyler Zeller, who had missed 10 games with a stress fracture in his right foot, returned for Saturday's loss at Boston College. But two or three forwards will be back on the bench today as UNC faces one of the biggest players in the ACC -- 7-1, 251-pound center Solomon Alabi.
The sophomore averages 12.3 points and 6.7 rebounds and leads the ACC's best blocking team with 2.6 blocks a game, which is second best in the conference behind Davis.
And while UNC has struggled to find wins recently -- the Heels have lost nine of the past 11 -- FSU (19-7, 7-5) has been going in the opposite direction. The Seminoles, who have the second-best field goal percentage defense in the nation at 36.9 percent, are tied with Clemson for fifth in the ACC after winning three of their past four games.
And while FSU will rely on its defense against UNC, the Tar Heels are hoping the return of Zeller will help their inside presence.
Zeller played just 16 minutes against the Eagles, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds, but should see more playing time tonight since he matches up the best against Alabi, and he has had more practice time.
Williams said Zeller had gone through only two full practices before Saturday's game, and it was obvious he had not played in six weeks.
"He was a little antsy," Williams said. "He was not as relaxed as he needed to be on the offensive end. His reactions were not quite what they would normally be, but we knew that going in."
Zeller said it has been tough the past six weeks watching from the bench as the Tar Heels went 2-8 without him. He said he put back on some weight that he had lost during the season, but after the BC game, he felt slow and is trying to get back to where he was before the injury.
"For the most part, it's just been rough watching the losses," Zeller said.
