UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Arkansas 87-72 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Fights Back Against the Scrappy Razorbacks to Cruise to Victory and Finish 3rd Place in the Battle 4 Atlantis
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team played their third game in three days in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament against # 20 Arkansas on Friday afternoon. The Tar Heels came out much more poised and focused on both sides of the floor to start this game. The Heels were aggressive with their dribble penetration and attacking the basket and it paid dividends on the scoreboard early in the game. UNC led by as much as 12 early in the first half and were outplaying Arkansas offensively and defensively.
The game changed for Carolina though when Armando Bacot and RJ Davis got in foul trouble. With Bacot and Davis off the floor, Arkansas started to make their run. Arkansas guard Tramon Mark got hot from the field and had 20 points on 8-8 from the field in the first half for the Razorbacks. The Tar Heels struggled to man up and guard their one-on-one matchups, which allowed Arkansas to get back into this game. It didn’t help that fouls were called on the Tar Heels just about every time down the floor and the Heels didn’t make a field goal for six minutes straight. The combination of the fouls and the lack of offensive production late in the first half had the Tar Heels down by three going into halftime.
In the second half, the Tar Heels came out more locked in offensively and defensively. The Heels were much more efficient offensively, getting into the paint and moving the ball around to the open man to get high-percentage shots. RJ Davis was tremendous in the second half with 21 points and finished with 30 points for the game. UNC picked up their intensity and pressure defensively, which completely disrupted everything Arkansas was trying to do offensively. Seth Trimble was put on Travon Mark, who had 34 points for the game, in the second half and it changed the whole game as Trimble was able to harass him and keep the ball out of his hands.
The Tar Heels’ defense really helped the offense as well, allowing them to get out in transition for easy baskets. North Carolina also found success with the Harrison Ingram post-up in the second half which resulted in a basket, a drawn foul, or a pass for an open three-point shot just about every time they went to that play. UNC went to this play several times after halftime and it helped secure and extend their lead to as much as 15 in the second half. Once the Heels took the lead at the 14-minute mark in the second half, they were in complete control of the game for the remainder of the game. Harrison Ingram and Seth Trimble were very critical in the second half with their tough, intense defense and offensive production as they both finished with 13 and 12 points respectively. Carolina overwhelmed Arkansas on both ends of the floor with their play and it led to their 87-72 win over #20 Arkansas Razorbacks.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| North Carolina 5-1 | 35 | 52 | 87 |
| Arkansas 4-3 | 38 | 34 | 72 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 30 | 2 | 2 | 9/18 | 2/5 | 10/10 | 3 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| H. Ingram | 13 | 10 | 6 | 5/10 | 0/2 | 3/5 | 3 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Bacot | 9 | 4 | 0 | 3/9 | 0/0 | 3/3 | 3 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| E. Cadeau | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2/4 | 1/1 | 2/4 | 5 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Withers | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2/5 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 12 | 4 | 0 | 4/5 | 2/2 | 2/4 | 4 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Washington | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 4/7 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| P. Wojcik | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2/5 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Ryan | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 87 | 32 | 11 | 28/57 | 6/14 | 25/35 | 24 | – | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| T. Mark | 34 | 5 | 0 | 13/17 | 4/6 | 4/7 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| L. Blocker | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3/6 | 0/0 | 5/6 | 2 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| M. Mitchell | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| T. Brazile | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| D. Davis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 3 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| K. Battle | 9 | 4 | 1 | 3/7 | 0/3 | 3/3 | 4 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Davenport | 9 | 1 | 1 | 3/8 | 1/5 | 2/2 | 3 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Lawson | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2/5 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| E. Ellis | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/3 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Pinion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Fall | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Harris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Arbogast | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Blake | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Menifield Jr. | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Graham | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 72 | 22 | 6 | 26/55 | 5/17 | 15/20 | 27 | – | 4 | 6 | 11 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had 30 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal
Harrison Ingram had 13 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals.
Seth Trimble had 12 points and 4 rebounds.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels must be better executing offensively to help them extend their leads. When they get some momentum offensively, they have these extended periods of time when the offense gets stagnant and are unable to score because of bad shot selection, lack of ball movement, and shots missed around the rim.
They also need to be better with their man-to-man defense and find a way to play more stifling, aggressive defensive but without fouling. They allow the opponent to dictate pace and don’t disrupt the opponent’s rhythm enough. They struggled to defend the paint, guard against isolation and didn’t make any changes defensively.
The Tar Heels have to find a way to overcome the referees ‘ bad foul calls with their play. They must be more disciplined defensively and be more efficient on offense.
They still need to be better at finishing around the rim. They missed too many shots around the basket especially Armando Bacot, which is totally unacceptable
The coaching staff needs to be better with in-game adjustments. They fail to make subs at the right time and change the team’s defense when one player from the other team is torching them offensively, which keeps the other team in games.
UNC must also be better at the free-throw line. They missed seven free throws in the first and ten for the game. So far this season, they have not shot the ball from the free throw line particularly well and it needs to be addressed and fixed as soon as possible.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels came out of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament 2-1 and moved to 5-1 overall for the season. The Heels were tested and challenged throughout this tournament, which was a great learning experience for them and will help them moving forward. It was a great bounce-back win after the disappointing loss to Villanova the day before and they have shown that they can still win without having to depend on one player to play well every game. UNC was able to play 9-10 players in this tournament comfortably and the depth that was displayed was great for them.
They got good contributions from everyone that played, and the size, versatility, skill, talent of the players, and ability to play different lineups bodes well for the potential of this team. The Tar Heels will need to better defensively going forward and the offensive production will need to be more consistent, but the team definitely came out this tournament a better team. The coaching staff will also need to incorporate better in-game adjustments and be more involved in disrupting the other team’s momentum and play in critical situations more often during games. These problems are all fixable and are still in a great position early in this season. Next up is Tennessee on Wednesday, November 29 at 7:15 P.M. on ESPN.
Mondo is cruising, pretty much going thru the motions
We need more urgency from Bacote and the team must give their opponents various looks on defense.