UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Throttles the Eagles in the Second Round of the ACC Tournament

by Derrick Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team faced Boston College in the Second Round of the ACC Tournament. This was their first step toward achieving their goals of securing a bid to the Big Dance. They started the game going back-and-forth trading baskets with the Eagles without any defense being played by either team. Then North Carolina ramped up the defense not allowing any penetration and they began to hit shots by penetration and along the perimeter which opened the lead to double digits that they would not relinquish.

Caleb Love (22 points, 9 of 20 from the floor, 3 of 8 from 3-point range) and RJ Davis (18 points, 7 of 12, 4 of 6) combined to shoot 16 for 32 (50%) from the floor and 10 for 21 from 3-point range (47.6%). That opened the inside, where the Tar Heels outscored the Eagles 36–28 in a margin that only got close late in the game.

Hubert Davis used his bench liberally and the bench produce 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists including some great defense and hustle. North Carolina was able to maintain their double-digit lead with Armando Bacot on the sidelines nursing an injured ankle. This performance allowed them to cruise to an 85-61 victory. This same effort will be needed to reach the Championship Game on Saturday. One down with three to go for the Tar Heels.

UNC Game Stats

	1	2	T
10 Boston College 16-17	29	32	61
7 North Carolina 20-12	43	42	85

North Carolina

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
C. Love	22	4	2	9/20	3/8	1/1	1	36	3	1	4
R. Davis	18	4	3	7/12	4/6	0/0	3	32	0	0	0
P. Nance	10	3	2	4/5	0/0	2/4	2	29	0	4	1
A. Bacot	10	6	3	3/4	0/0	4/5	1	18	0	0	1
L. Black	2	6	4	1/2	0/0	0/0	2	29	1	1	0
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
D. Dunn	8	1	0	3/5	2/4	0/0	0	13	0	0	0
D. Styles	5	0	1	2/2	1/1	0/0	1	11	0	0	0
S. Trimble	4	1	1	2/2	0/0	0/0	1	5	0	0	0
J. McKoy	4	2	0	2/2	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
P. Johnson	2	1	0	1/4	0/2	0/0	0	14	0	0	0
R. Landry	0	0	0	0/1	0/1	0/0	0	1	0	0	0
J. Watkins	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	–	0	0	0
T. Nickel	0	1	0	0/2	0/2	0/0	0	6	0	0	0
J. Washington	0	2	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	4	0	0	0
C. Lebo	0	0	0	0/1	0/0	0/0	1	1	1	0	0
Total	85	31	16	34/62	10/24	7/10	13	–	5	6	6

Boston College

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
M. Ashton-Langford	16	2	3	6/12	2/5	2/2	3	26	0	0	1
J. Zackery	15	1	0	7/13	1/3	0/1	3	32	1	0	2
D. McGlockton	3	2	2	1/1	1/1	0/0	1	23	2	1	0
P. Aligbe	0	3	1	0/4	0/2	0/0	0	23	0	0	0
T. Bickerstaff	0	3	0	0/1	0/0	0/0	3	13	0	0	2
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
Q. Post	13	5	2	5/9	1/4	2/2	1	28	0	0	4
M. Madsen	6	3	0	2/3	1/2	1/1	0	10	1	0	2
C. Kelley III	5	0	1	2/3	1/2	0/0	1	12	0	0	1
D. Langford Jr.	2	3	0	1/4	0/1	0/0	0	21	0	0	0
C. Penha Jr.	1	1	1	0/2	0/1	1/2	0	7	0	0	0
A. Mighty	0	0	0	0/1	0/0	0/0	0	3	0	0	0
Total	61	23	10	24/53	7/21	6/8	12	–	4	1	12

UNC Bright Spots 

Caleb Love had 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists.

RJ Davis had 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. 

Armando Bacot had 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists. 

Pete Nance had 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 blocks. 

Needs Work 

The Tar Heels need to continue to play with energy, effort, and urgency. They need to cut down on unforced turnovers and continue to move the ball and attack the rim.

Hubert needs to help R.J. Davis when the opponents make a concerted effort to isolate and attack him on the defensive end.

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels come out with urgency and purpose and did what they had to do to secure the victory. It is win-or-go-home time and they must continue to stay focused and locked in against each opponent they face.

This was one of their better games of the season and they kept their opponent at bay not allowing them to get back into the game at the end. Hopefully, UNC will build upon their success tonight and be ready to take down Virginia on Thursday at 7 pm.