UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Finishes Off the Clemson Tigers on Senior Night to Complete an Undefeated Home Court Season at 18-0

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team played their final game of the season against Clemson on Tuesday night looking to finish undefeated at home this season. The Tar Heels started the game hitting three of their first four shots, looking to set the tone for the game. However, for the remainder of the first half, North Carolina went 7-24 from the field and shot 36%. UNC had issues creating an advantage against Clemson’s tough defense, had multiple turnovers, and went a couple of stretches without scoring a basket. It didn’t help that Henri Veesaar sat for several minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Clemson really made it difficult for Carolina to find quality shots, but the Heels missed some easy shots around the rim and open shots on the perimeter as well. Meanwhile, the Tigers scored 18 of their 30 first half points in the paint after finding some weaknesses in the Carolina defense. The Heels were fortunate to be in the game, but Clemson shot terribly from behind the arc (3-14), and UNC went on late run to put them only three going into halftime. 

In the second half, the Tar Heels made a concerted effort to play faster offensively to combat Clemson’s tenacious half-court defense and even scored their first fast break points in the first couple of minutes after halftime. Carolina went on a 12-0 run early in the second half and took 7-point lead after looking to score in the pain more. With all the shooting struggles from UNC, the Heels would need an offensive spark from one of their players and in this game, it was Luka Bogavac. Luka Bogavac had 17 of his 20 points in the second half including five threes and Carolina needed every basket from him with how they were playing offensively. North Carolina just didn’t have it collectively offensively in this game so they would need timely baskets and multiple stops to pull out the win. 

Henri Veesaar, Derek Dixon, and Seth Trimble all made key baskets when it mattered most. However, the biggest reason the Heels were able to manage to keep the lead was because of the defense. In the final 8 minutes, Carolina was able to lockdown the paint where Clemson excelled most of the night. Henri Veesaar’s presence inside was a huge part of it, holding Clemson’s leading scorer RJ Godfrey scoreless for the last nine minutes of the game, who already had 21 points in the game. North Carolina would find a way to grind out this win with key stops at the end of the game, and Luka Bogavac would seal the win over the Tigers with free throws late to help the Heels complete their undefeated play at Dean Dome this season.  

UNC Stats

	1	2	T
Clemson 21-9	30	33	63
17 North Carolina 24-6	27	40	67

North Carolina

Starters	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
H. Veesaar	13	6	4	6/9	0/1	1/2	5	29	0	1	1
S. Trimble	9	4	1	2/10	1/4	4/6	1	38	1	0	1
D. Dixon	9	1	2	3/7	3/4	0/0	1	31	2	0	1
J. Stevenson	9	10	3	2/3	1/2	4/5	1	35	1	1	2
E. Davis	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0

Bench	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
L. Bogavac	20	1	3	6/14	6/10	2/2	3	23	0	0	2
Z. High	4	5	0	2/7	0/1	0/0	1	14	0	0	0
J. Powell	3	5	0	1/5	1/3	0/0	0	18	2	0	0
J. Young	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
K. Evans	0	0	0	0/3	0/2	0/0	3	9	0	0	1
I. Denis	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
J. Holbrook	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
E. Smith	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	67	32	13	22/58	12/27	11/15	15	–	6	2	8

Clemson

Starters	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
R. Godfrey	22	9	1	10/13	1/1	1/2	1	33	1	1	3
C. Welling	13	8	0	5/11	3/7	0/0	2	30	0	3	0
B. Johnson	8	5	2	3/5	1/1	1/1	1	33	1	1	0
J. Porter	5	2	2	2/5	1/3	0/1	1	28	0	0	0
D. Hunter	4	2	4	1/9	0/0	2/2	3	28	1	0	2

Bench	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
N. Davidson	6	2	0	3/9	0/5	0/0	4	10	0	0	1
A. Buckner	5	4	1	2/7	1/2	0/0	1	22	1	0	3
C. Thompson	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	3	0	0	0
J. Wahlin	0	2	1	0/1	0/1	0/0	2	9	0	0	1
D. Thomas	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	3	0	0	0
Total	63	34	11	26/60	7/20	4/6	16	–	4	5	10

UNC Bright Spots 

Luka Bogavac had 20 points, 3 assists, and 1 rebound 

Henri Veesaar had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block. 

Needs Work  

The Tar Heels need to make sure they are not allowing the defense to dictate what shots they take. The shot selection must be better. They must consistently play through the bigs and attack the basket aggressively to collapse the defense which will generate better shots for them. 

The Heels must be better with their communication defensively. They allowed multiple open shots because they didn’t properly communicate switches or assignments and late rotations led to easy baskets for Clemson. 

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels improve to 24-6 on the season and went undefeated at home for the sixth time in UNC basketball history. It was the first time a team won 18 homes games in a season due to the expansion of the ACC Basketball conference. The Heels are now 5-1 in games without Caleb Wilson and await his return in the next couple of games. In Caleb Wilson’s absence, Carolina knows they have a reliable 8-9 man rotation on a given night that can play in any game against any opponent and have won in variety of different ways with different individuals stepping up and making key contributions in each win. With one game remaining the Tar Heels will look to finish season on a high night beating their rival Duke on Saturday night. The one thing North Carolina must focus on as they approach tournament play is the attention to detail on both ends of the floor. They must be better communicating on defense to make sure everyone is on the same page with their assignments on the floor and crash the glass.

They also must force their opponents to more things they are uncomfortable at such as making a poor perimeter shooting team shoot perimeter shots or making a good perimeter shooting shoot midrange and contested twos. Offensively, UNC must take advantage of their size inside, move the ball around constantly, make the easy pass, have off-ball player movement and look for the best shot every time down the floor. They also need to make their free throws with how frequently and effectively they attack the basket while drawings. That is where Carolina needs to improve on, and the coaching staff need to make those areas points of emphasis for this team as they get ready to make strong run in the conference and NCAA tournament. Next up is Duke in the regular season finale on Saturday March 7 at 6:30 P.M. on ESPN.