UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Bounce Back From Tough Loss to Cruise Past the Mountaineers
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team looked to bounce back against Appalachian State on Tuesday night after their disappointing loss to Kentucky on Saturday. The Tar Heels were able to jump out to an early lead and never relinquished the lead to App State for the remainder of the game.
In the first half, Appalachian State kept the game close due to the Tar Heel’s lack of offensive production. The Heels only shot 39% from the field in the first half, but they did hold the Mountaineers to under 40 percent and led by 8 going into halftime.
In the second half, the Heels were much better offensively and were able to get into more of their offensive sets more successfully. UNC also started to force turnovers which allowed them to get out in transition for easy baskets and their lead extended to as much as 23.
Defensively, Carolina was really good throughout the game. They held the Mountaineers to 31% from the field and 13% from three. The Heels made them completely uncomfortable on offense by not allowing easy baskets in the paint and making them take contested shots. Armando Bacot led the team in scoring with 16 points and the Tar Heels got a much-needed bounce-back win on Tuesday night.
UNC Game Stats
1st 2nd TOT
North Carolina 35 35 70
Appalachian State 27 23 50
North Carolina
| STARTERS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||||||||
| D. Garcia F | 11 | 0-5 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| A. Bacot F | 29 | 7-9 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 16 | ||||||||
| R.J. Davis G | 34 | 7-10 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 | ||||||||
| C. Love G | 25 | 4-8 | 2-5 | 1-1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 11 | ||||||||
| L. Black G | 24 | 1-6 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| BENCH | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS | ||||||||
| J. McKoy F | 7 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
| B. Manek F | 29 | 5-9 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 11 | ||||||||
| D. Dunn G | 7 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| D. Styles G | 3 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
| A. Harris G | 15 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
| K. Walton G | 16 | 2-5 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| TEAM | 29-62 | 7-16 | 5-9 | 14 | 33 | 47 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 70 | |||||||||
| 46.8% | 43.8% | 55.6% | |||||||||||||||||||
Appalachian St.
| STARTERS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| J. Lewis Jr. F | 22 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| D. Gregory F | 28 | 8-12 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 18 |
| A. Delph G | 35 | 4-16 | 2-10 | 0-1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| J. Forrest G | 31 | 1-7 | 0-4 | 4-4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| M. Almonacy G | 32 | 2-13 | 0-8 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| BENCH | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| C. Mantis F | 3 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| C. Huntley F | 17 | 2-6 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| R. Duhart F | 11 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| S. Glushkov C | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T. Harcum G | 4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| M. Eads Jr. G | 14 | 0-2 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TEAM | 20-64 | 4-30 | 6-7 | 10 | 23 | 33 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 14 | 50 | |
| 31.3% | 13.3% | 85.7% |
UNC Bright Spots
Armando Bacot had 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.
RJ Davis had 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Caleb Love had 11 points, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds.
Brady Manek had 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Needs Work
The guards have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and getting the team into their offensive sets more successfully. There are too many times when the offense gets stagnant and do not get enough quality shots on their possessions.
The team has to cut down on their turnovers. They had 15 turnovers in this game, which is totally unacceptable.
The Heels must be better at the free-throw line. They shot 43% from the free-throw line tonight.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels took care of business against Appalachian State and move to 9-3 on the season. It was a much-needed win after that disappointing loss on Saturday. Now that ACC play is a week away, the Tar Heels need to be focused on building each game toward the team they ultimately want to become going into tournament play.
The coaching staff needs to make sure they are prepared for every game because there are no easy games in conference play no matter who you play. They also need to keep working on extending that rotation so they can rely on more of their bench players in key games. That way the starters won’t have so big of a workload every game and can be fresh down the stretch of games. With an extended rotation, it will make the team even more dangerous and difficult for teams to gameplan for. Next up is Virginia Tech on December 29th.