Oklahoma All-American Blake Griffin will square off against UNC forward Tyler Hansbrough, a four-time All-American.
A trip to next week's Final Four in Detroit is on the line.
But the battle between two of the smallest players on the court, point guards Ty Lawson of UNC and Austin Johnson of Oklahoma, might have as much bearing on the game's outcome.
Lawson, the ACC Player of the Year, has averaged 21 points in two NCAA tournament games after missing his team's previous three games with a sprained right big toe. Lawson had 15 assists and one turnover combined in UNC's victories over LSU in the second round and Gonzaga in the Sweet 16.
Even with the toe injury, Lawson has looked as fast as any player in the NCAA tournament.
"Their program is known for having very, very good point guards," said Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel, who faced a few UNC point guards during his playing days at Duke. "He's following right in line with the tradition of that. As far as speed, it's tough to gauge speed on tape. [Friday night's game against Gonzaga] was the first time I'd ever seen him play live, and he's really, really fast. I think [Syracuse's Jonny] Flynn is fast. We had a kid in our league last year, [Texas'] D.J. Augustin, who was pretty fast. [Kansas'] Sherron Collins is pretty fast. How does he measure up against those guys? I'm not sure. But he is really, really fast with the ball."
Johnson will be charged with trying to slow down Lawson. Johnson, a senior from Amarillo, Texas, is more of a natural shooting guard. In three NCAA tournament games, Johnson has averaged 9.3 points with 12 assists and eight turnovers.
"He's had a really good year this year," Capel said. "And in the past, when he's played well, we've won. I think one of the things that helps is that he has better players around him this year. So it takes a little bit of pressure off of him. But he's not the traditional sense of a point guard, where he's a guy that's going to break you down. He's not like a Flynn or a Lawson, one of those guys. He's a guy that gets you into your stuff and hasn't really made a lot of mistakes. And when he's knocking down open shots, then he gives you a different weapon."
Slowing down one of UNC's biggest weapons will be Johnson's primary task Sunday. He struggled to slow down Flynn in Oklahoma's 84-71 victory over the Orange in the Sweet 16 on Friday night. Flynn scored 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting but also had five turnovers.
Lawson, a junior from Clinton, Md., might be even faster than Flynn. Johnson hopes to compensate with his height advantage -- he is about 4 inches taller than the 5-foot-10 Lawson.
"He's a great, great guard, probably the best we've played against this year so far," Johnson said. "And it's not just going to be me. I think the post players have to help corral him, and [we have to play] team defense. But I'm just going to try to use my length to my advantage and stay in front of him and try to contest shots when I can."
Johnson knows he also has to avoid turnovers. He had six assists and four turnovers against the Orange.
"Turnovers is kind of what fuels them," Johnson said. "It will speed the game up and get them easy baskets. They're great in transition. So turnovers will just get open shots for them or easy baskets for them."
