UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Gets Back on the Winning Track
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks (15) dunks the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Davidson in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown)
After last week’s loss to Kentucky, the Tar Heels basketball team came out sluggish to start the game against Davidson. In the first half, the Heels struggled to get any type of rhythm early in the game as they had too many turnovers and too many lapses on defense and Davidson took advantage by capitalizing on North Carolina’s early mistakes leading by 5 points midway through the first half. By the end of the first half, Carolina finally started to execute well and play with more energy on offense and defense closing the first half with a 20-4 run.
In the second half, UNC came out with the same energy and urgency they had to end the first half as they finally got into a good rhythm on both ends of the floor which caused them to dominate the rest of the game extending the lead to as many as 26 points. The Heels had 5 players in double figures and got good contributions from others as they were able to get the convincing win against Davidson. Cameron Johnson led all scoring with 17 points and 7 rebounds.
UNC Game Stats
1 2 T
#14 North Carolina 39 43 82
Davidson 28 32 60
North Carolina FG 3PT FT REB AST STL TO PF PTS
L. Maye 3-9 1-3 4-5 14 3 0 1 1 11
G. Brooks 5-10 0-0 1-1 3 0 0 3 2 11
C. Johnson 6-11 2-4 3-4 7 1 1 0 1 17
K. Williams 3-10 2-8 4-4 5 5 2 3 1 12
C. White 1-7 1-5 4-4 7 7 0 3 1 7
N. Little 4-5 0-1 2-2 3 2 0 0 2 10
S. Manley 1-2 0-0 3-4 4 0 0 2 2 5
W. Miller 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2
S. Rush 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0
B. Robinson 2-2 2-2 1-2 2 0 0 0 0 7
S. Woods 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 1 2 1 0
A. Platek 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K.J. Smith 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 1 0
L. Black 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 0
C. Ellis 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TEAM 26-59 8-23 22-27 50 20 4 14 12 82
44.1% 34.8% 81.5%
Davidson FG 3PT FT REB AST STL TO PF PTS
L. Brajkovic 4-11 0-0 0-0 7 1 0 1 2 8
L. Frampton 4-12 4-11 3-3 2 1 2 1 4 15
K. Pritchett 0-4 0-4 2-2 2 2 1 3 4 2
J. Gudmundsson 5-16 2-10 3-4 11 4 0 3 2 15
C. Collins 3-12 1-6 2-2 5 2 1 3 1 9
B. Jones 1-3 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 0 1 3
N. Ekwu 1-1 1-1 0-0 3 0 0 1 1 3
D. Kovacevic 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Boachie-Yiadom 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0
D. Czerapowicz 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 1 0
M. Wynter 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 1 5
TEAM 20-67 10-38 10-11 33 14 4 13 18 60 ` 30.3% 27.0% 90.9%
UNC Bright Spots
Cameron Johnson had 17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Kenny Williams had 12 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
Luke Maye had 11 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Garrison Brooks had 11 points and 3 rebounds.
Nassir Little had 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to be more consistent with their energy and urgency on offense and defense to start games. UNC also needs to continue working on cutting down on their turnovers.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels Basketball team have been up and down with their play on the year so far. It’s hard to determine which team is going to show up from game to game. Which is frustrating because this team has the chance to be really good. Carolina needs to continue to work on getting better every day in solidifying and understanding their roles on the team. UNC has one more non-conference game before ACC conference play starts and they need to go ahead and establish the type of basketball they want to play going forward to reach their full potential.