Lucas: Quick Reactions from the State of North Carolina
1. Intense, hard and good victory for Carolina in the 80-69 victory over NC State.
2. Certainly hoping for the best for Terquavion Smith, who left with what appeared to be a very painful injury after an awkward fall following a leaky black lack.
3. What day for armando bacot, which set a couple of school records. She now holds the career record for double-doubles, eclipsing the mark held by Billy Cunningham for the past 60 years. The ACC and NCAA record, in case you’re curious, is Tim Duncan’s 87. He also set the school’s all-time rebounding record and was honored after the game, with former record holder Tyler in attendance. Hansbrough. Bacot finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds.
4. It’s been that kind of stretch for rj davis. He hit a long 3-pointer with the shot clock expired in the first half on his way to 16 points in the first period and finished with 24 on just eight shots. He went 12-for-12 from the free throw line.
5. Carolina was helped by the return of jalen washington on Saturday, who had missed the Boston College game with an ankle injury. But the staff is still a revolving door, like puff johnson he missed the game with knee pain. The Tar Heels have had their entire roster available for exactly one Atlantic Coast Conference game this season, missing multiple games from armando bacot (TV and UVA), D’Marco Dunn (VT and GT), pete nancy (Wake, Notre Dame, UVA and Louisville) and Washington (Boston College). Of course, Shaver he is also out for a longer period of time with a foot injury.
6. The Tar Heels didn’t get the bench production they needed. Four different reserves saw action in the first half and went 0-for-6 from the field with zero rebounds, one assist and two turnovers. Even with Dunn playing extended minutes due to the umpire team ejecting Black, the bench only managed one point and didn’t have a rebound.
7. Carolina needs the most committed version of caleb love than they got in the first half. Love’s only entries into the score box were his shooting, where he went 1-for-5. Other than that, he had no score box entries: no assists, no rebounds, no personal fouls, and no fouls.
7. In one of the few games you’ll see this season with two true greats battling it out in the paint, Carolina was at a clear defensive disadvantage when Bacot drew two fouls with 3:49 remaining in the first half. DJ Burns immediately posted jalen washington and marked him. The Tar Heels then changed pete nancy Burns and tried to double him, but twice in a row the Wolfpack found Casey Morsell with good ball movement for open 3-pointers. That sequence helped maintain the lead at halftime, as the Tar Heels led by one point at halftime (but dropped just two points after Bacot left the game).
8. That was quietly a game very well trained by hubert davis. Several very small plays were important. For example, when State’s Burns fouled out four early in the second half, Davis immediately substituted jalen washington for Bacot just to give the Tar Heel big man some rest, even though it wasn’t his normal time to rotate. Davis also made a brilliant in-bounds play with 0.6 seconds left on the shot clock late in the game, but caleb love he couldn’t convert the dunk (fittingly, with the 1993 team present, since there were nuances of the 93 Heels vs. Cincinnati on that play).
9. Carolina finished with just five assists on 20 shots from the field, a number that has been declining recently. The Heels entered the game with assists on just 39.2% of the baskets in the last three games. The Heels did most of their offensive work at the free throw line, where they went to a brilliant 36-39. Love was 9-for-10 and Bacot was 7-for-7.
10. Carolina is now 36-5 against State in the last 41 games and an incredible 53-12 mark against the Pack in the last 30-plus seasons.
11. Carolina’s 1993 national champions were honored at halftime. Virtually every member of the roster not involved in college basketball (a group that includes Derrick Phelps, Brian Reese and Scott Cherry) was on hand. George Lynch voiced the arena pregame video which was a shout out to both the ’93 team and this year’s team. Other attorneys in attendance included Ed Cota, Marcus Ginyard, Mitch Kupchak, Buzz Peterson, and Tyler Hansbrough.