UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Rolls Early Then Survives Against the Bears

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team in the second round of the 2022 NCAA tournament faced off against the defending national champions Baylor on Saturday afternoon. After Baylor went up 4-0 to start the game, the Heels would go on a 9-0 run to take the lead. The Heels took control of the game from this point in the game on and led by as much as 14 in the first half.

The Tar Heels were tremendous on the defensive side of the floor with their ball pressure and shot contests against Baylor. UNC held Baylor to just 29 points in the first half, forced Baylor into 8 turnovers, and held them to just 40% from the field. Carolina made 6 first-half threes, with RJ Davis hitting 4 of those and had 12 assists on 14 made field goals. The Heels led by 13 in going into halftime.

In the second half, the Tar Heels took it up another notch with their play. They continued to play tremendous defense and had Baylor rattled and really uncomfortable on both sides of the floor for the first eight minutes of the second half.

North Carolina outscored Baylor 19-9 in the first eight minutes of the second half and led by 25 with 12 minutes left in the game. At this point in the game, Carolina had all the momentum and was completely dominating Baylor on both ends of the floor.

However, there was a critical play that took place where Brady Manek was called for a flagrant 2 foul. Brady Manek had 26 points at this point and was ejected from the game. The momentum immediately shifted to Baylor after that play, and Baylor went on a 9-0 run. There were then 10 straight possessions where fouls were called against North Carolina. Baylor took full advantage and got the game back within the single digits. Down the stretch of the game, it was a tight game. Fouls were being called on both teams and North Carolina made some poor decisions and missed some key free throws in the late minutes of the game. There were 53 fouls called in the game.

Baylor went to their full-court press and Carolina completely struggled against the pressure, resulting in 16 second-half turnovers for the Heels. Combine that with Caleb Love fouling out and the Tar Heels were in jeopardy of blowing their big lead. Baylor made some big shots and plays late and tied the game 80-80 with about 16 seconds left in the game.

On the next possession, RJ Davis attempted the game-winning shot but missed and the game went into overtime. In overtime, it felt like Baylor had all the momentum, but then Dontrez Styles hit a big three to put the Heels up by 3. The Tar Heels ground and worked hard for every basket going forward.

With 1:18 left in overtime, RJ Davis made a huge and-one layup to put UNC up 5 and then 6 with the made free throw after. Carolina locked up Baylor on the next few possessions, held Baylor to under 35% from the field for the game, and pulled out a tough, grind-out 93-86 win over the defending national champions Baylor.

UNC Game Stats

1st     2nd     OT      TOT

North Carolina 42      38      13      93

Baylor         29      51      6       86

North Carolina

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
A. Bacot F	39	4-10	0-0	7-15	4	12	16	4	1	3	2	4	15
B. Manek F	28	8-13	4-8	6-8	2	3	5	2	0	0	0	3	26
R.J. Davis G	45	8-17	5-10	9-10	0	5	5	6	1	0	3	4	30
C. Love G	32	1-6	1-4	2-2	0	3	3	2	1	1	6	5	5
L. Black G	40	2-3	0-0	0-0	1	4	5	6	1	1	2	3	4
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
J. McKoy F	10	0-0	0-0	2-2	0	3	3	1	1	0	3	2	2
P. Johnson G	6	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
D. Styles G	25	4-7	1-3	0-0	0	3	3	1	2	0	2	4	9
TEAM		28-57	11-25	26-37	10	37	47	22	7	5	21	26	93
		49.1%	44.0%	70.3%

Baylor

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
F. Thamba F	24	0-1	0-0	0-0	3	2	5	0	1	1	1	5	0
K. Brown G	28	2-7	0-4	2-4	2	3	5	1	3	0	0	3	6
A. Flagler G	41	10-25	3-11	4-5	1	2	3	2	0	1	2	3	27
J. Akinjo G	39	6-20	1-7	7-8	0	4	4	5	3	1	2	5	20
M. Mayer G	27	3-8	2-5	2-2	2	1	3	0	1	0	2	5	10
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
J. Sochan F	34	4-14	1-5	6-8	4	7	11	3	1	1	4	3	15
D. Bonner G	32	3-6	2-5	0-0	3	2	5	0	1	1	0	3	8
J. Turner G	0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM		28-81	9-37	21-27	16	22	38	11	10	5	11	27	86
		34.6%	24.3%	77.8%

UNC Bright Spots

RJ Davis had a career high 30 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds.

Brady Manek had 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Armando Bacot had 15 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Montrez Styles had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels must work on their press-breaking offense and cut down on their turnovers. They had 16 second-half turnovers and struggled against the pressure that Baylor put on them with the full-court press.

The Tar Heels must continue to be more aggressive attacking the basket on offense to keep the defense from packing the paint, which will make the offense flow much more smoothly.

Final Observations

The Tar Heels are moving on to the Sweet 16 after their big win over Baylor on Saturday night. The guards are playing well and are buying into the inside-out approach on offense and the constant ball pressure and shot contest on defense. The Heels continue to show us how good this team can be when they stick to their gameplan and bring the fight to the other team.

They continue to show how much toughness and fight this team really has with everything being against them in the game. This team is battle-tested and has shown in the last game no matter how much adversity they face, they overcome it.

Carolina has put the NCAA world on notice with these last two wins and to all the doubters. This team has a legitimate chance to win it all if they keep playing at this level and no team should want to face the Tar Heels right now with the way they are playing. The Tar Heels play next Friday, March 25 with the time being TBA.