North Carolina had to wait until Tuesday evening to learn its first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament, but that delay is now over.

The Tar Heels will face Wagner on Thursday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. ET. Wagner defeated Howard 71-68 on Tuesday night as part of the First Four play-in round in Dayton.

Here are 3 things to know about Wagner ahead of its matchup with Carolina on Thursday:

Wagner’s offense is slow and inefficient

Wagner has one of the slowest-paced offenses in the country. The Seahawks entered Tuesday night’s matchup against Howard ranked 357th nationally in offensive tempo, per KenPom. They averaged 20.1 seconds per offensive possessions. For context: Virginia, often marred for its snail’s paced offense under Tony Bennett, averages 19.7 seconds per offensive possession.

How much will that impact North Carolina? It remains to be seen, but EvanMiya’s matchup predictor is forecasting 66.2 possessions for this contest. For context, UNC has averaged 71.5 possessions per game this season.

In addition to Wagner’s offense being slow, the Seahawks are also very inefficient on that end of the floor. They rank 332nd nationally in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric. Only one of Wagner’s top 4 players in terms of usage rate have a true shooting percentage above 50%. Melvin Council, who scored 21 points in the win over Howard on Tuesday night, is the team’s leading scorer but has an effective field goal percentage of just 41.4% entering the postseason.

Sports betting in North Carolina has officially launched! ESPN Bet and several of the other top sports betting apps will have betting lines for North Carolina vs. Wagner in the round of 64. Don’t miss out on the action during March Madness!

Wagner’s other games against top opposition

Like many low-majors, Wagner did play a couple of contests against top programs during nonconference play. However, the Seahawks didn’t face any programs who made this year’s NCAA Tournament and only played 2 games against power-conference programs. Here’s a summary of Wagner’s results against notable opposition in 2023-24:

  • Nov. 18: Loss to Seton Hall, 72-51
  • Nov. 28: Loss to Providence, 86-52

Other than those 2 Big East games, Wagner didn’t play any opponents who currently rank inside KenPom’s top 100. Its best win on the year came against Stony Brook (171st in KenPom) back in December.

Wagner wasn’t supposed to make it this far

As you might have gathered if you’ve read this far, Wagner’s run to the NCAA Tournament round of 64 has been somewhat improbable.

The Seahawks were abysmal offensively and mediocre defensively all season in the Northeast Conference, leading to a 7-9 record in league play during the regular season. However, they then turned around all pulled off 3 consecutive upsets in the conference tournament — including a win over Central Connecticut, who went 13-3 during conference action — to get to Dayton.

Then, on Tuesday night in the First Four, Wagner upset Howard thanks to a strong offensive showing. Wagner shot 47% from 3-point range in the win over Howard — its best mark from distance in a game since Feb. 1. The Seahawks were shooting just 32% from long range on the year entering that matchup.

Wagner also doesn’t have much pedigree when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. This is the Seahawks’ second-ever trip to the Big Dance, with the first coming in 2003. Wagner was a No. 15 seed in that tournament and ended up losing to Pitt 87-61 in the first round.