UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Make Valiant Comeback Win Against Florida State
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team played their first game of the season with fans in attendance against Florida State on Saturday afternoon. The first half was a half to forget for the Tar Heels. The Heels played completely awful on both ends of the floor. The Tar Heels had 15 turnovers with just 2 assists, shot 25% from the field on just seven field goals made, and were just completely out of rhythm.
Florida State capitalized on each mistake the Tar Heels made in the first half and led by as many as 17 points. In the second half, UNC turned their play completely around. They outscored Florida State 49-29 in the second half. The Heels cut down on their turnovers and forced 12 turnovers, which allowed them to get out in transition for easy baskets. Walker Kessler was excellent throughout this run and led the way with his 14 second-half points. The Tar Heels had four players in double figures and were able to complete the comeback to get the big win over #11 Florida State. UNC was led by Walker Kessler with 20 points and 8 rebounds.
UNC Game Stats
1st 2nd TOT North Carolina 29 49 78 #11 Florida State 41 29 70 North Carolina Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/- 1 BLACK 6 1-5 0-1 4-6 7 4 1 28 14 2 LOVE 12 3-13 0-4 6-6 2 2 6 31 1 5 BACOT 6 2-3 0-0 2-2 4 0 3 15 3 15 BROOKS 4 1-2 0-0 2-2 6 1 0 25 8 24 WALTON 13 3-10 3-10 4-4 2 3 1 26 12 0 HARRIS 2 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 11 0 3 PLATEK 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 5 -1 4 DAVIS 1 2 3-11 2-7 4-4 3 1 5 23 1 11 SHARPE 3 0-4 0-0 3-4 6 0 4 12 -9 13 KESSLER 20 9-10 0-0 2-2 8 0 1 24 -1 TOTALS 78 23-60 5-23 27-30 44 11 21 200 38.3% 21.7% 90.0% Florida St. Pts FG 3FG FT REB A TO Min +/- 0 EVANS 3 1-5 0-0 1-1 1 0 3 17 -5 1 GRAY 17 5-12 1-2 6-10 8 2 6 32 14 5 KOPRIVICA 8 4-5 0-0 0-0 5 1 0 24 1 23 WALKER 9 3-9 0-3 3-4 2 2 2 29 14 31 WILKES 3 1-2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 9 2 2 POLITE 10 4-12 2-6 0-0 4 1 0 26 -6 4 BARNES 12 5-11 0-1 2-3 7 2 2 22 -2 10 OSBORNE 3 1-3 0-0 1-2 2 0 1 20 10 15 BALLARD 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 -1 24 CALHOUN 5 2-8 1-4 0-0 3 0 3 20 7 34 NGOM 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 TOTALS 70 26-67 5-17 13-20 36 8 17 200 38.8% 29.4% 65.0%
UNC Bright Spots
Walker Kessler had a career-high 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 1 steal.
Kerwin Walton had 13 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block.
Caleb Love had 12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.
RJ Davis had 12 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
The Heels shot 90% from the free throw line.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to do a better job of cutting down on the turnovers. They had 21 turnovers for the game. They must make better decisions with the ball and make a constant effort to make the easy play more often.
The guards need to a do a better job of getting the team into their sets. They have to make better decisions with the ball and continue to make a constant effort to get the ball inside to their big men more often.
The Tar Heels also need to do a better job of communicating and rotating on defense. There are too many instances where opponents are getting wide open layups, back-door layups, and wide-open threes.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels are now 9-5 in ACC and just knocked off the best team in ACC this season. UNC ended a 10-game losing streak against AP-ranked opponents. This was a great win for them and they showed a lot of fight by getting back in this game and winning after being down by 17.
Going forward the Tar Heels must show consistency in their play because they are too many instances when they play well one game and then play awful the next. The coaching staff and the leaders on this team have to make sure they don’t have any more poor performances on the season because they have the potential to do some great things come tournament time if they play their game. Next up is Syracuse on Monday.