UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Blasts the East Carolina Pirates in Their Last Tune-up Before ACC Play

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

After a big win against Ohio State on Saturday afternoon, the North Carolina basketball team played their final nonconference game of the season against ECU on Monday night. The Tar Heels came out and played with tremendous energy on both ends of the floor from the very beginning of the game, jumping out to early 29-8 lead. UNC made everything difficult for East Carolina offensively. The Heels challenged every ECU shot and their activity altering shots at the rim, deflecting passes, and swarming the ECU players’ every move completely overwhelmed the Pirates. East Carolina didn’t even reach 10 points until midway through the first half and shot 28% from the field. Carolina’s defense fueled their offense, allowing them to get out in transition for easy baskets. The Heels were sharing the ball offensively, moving the ball to the open man, and got quality shots every time down the floor. Seth Trimble was the catalyst for the Heels’ offense leading the way with 12 points as the Tar Heels led by 23 going into halftime. 

In the second half, North Carolina continued to dominate the ECU Pirates on both ends of the floor. Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesar, Luka Bogavac, and Seth Trimble all scored in double figures and 13 different UNC players scored a basket in this game. The Heels shot 54% from the field and a season high 48% from three with 12 made three-pointers. Carolina’s defense was tremendous throughout the game holding East Carolina to just 26 percent from the field and forcing them into 17 turnovers which led to 26 points off turnovers including 17 fast break points. The Tar Heels’ largest lead in this game was 50 as ECU just had no answers for UNC on either end of the floor. North Carolina heads into Christmas break with their 12^th victory of the season and are off to their best start through 13 games since the 2008-2009 season.  

UNC Stats

	1	2	T
East Carolina 5-8	26	25	51
12 North Carolina 12-1	49	50	99

North Carolina

Starters	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
C. Wilson	21	12	1	7/11	0/0	7/13	2	24	3	4	4
H. Veesaar	16	10	1	6/9	4/5	0/0	2	27	0	0	2
L. Bogavac	15	4	2	5/9	1/3	4/5	0	24	0	0	1
S. Trimble	12	4	5	5/12	1/3	1/2	1	26	1	0	1
K. Evans	3	0	1	1/3	1/3	0/0	1	17	1	0	1

Bench	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
J. Powell	7	3	4	2/6	2/5	1/2	2	19	2	0	1
J. Stevenson	6	2	0	1/1	0/0	4/4	0	16	0	1	1
I. Denis	6	1	1	2/4	1/2	1/2	1	7	0	0	0
J. Young	4	2	0	1/3	1/3	1/2	0	10	1	0	1
E. Davis	3	0	0	1/1	1/1	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
D. Dixon	2	2	3	1/1	0/0	0/0	1	11	1	0	0
I. Matlekovic	2	0	0	1/1	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
E. Smith	2	2	2	1/2	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
Z. High	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	3	1	0	0
J. Brown	0	1	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	3	7	1	0	0
J. Holbrook	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
Total	99	43	20	34/63	12/25	19/30	14	–	11	5	12

East Carolina

Starters	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
G. Emejuru	21	14	0	8/11	0/0	5/7	2	34	1	1	5
J. Riley	11	3	0	4/24	0/3	3/6	2	35	3	0	3
L. Davis	2	1	0	1/3	0/0	0/0	3	10	0	1	1
T. Bailey	2	3	1	1/4	0/1	0/0	3	23	0	0	1
C. Caulker	0	3	1	0/5	0/2	0/0	4	32	1	0	1

Bench	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
R. Cason	4	4	0	2/7	0/2	0/0	3	19	1	0	3
I. Mbeng	3	2	6	1/11	0/7	1/2	2	26	1	0	2
V. Perkovic	3	0	0	1/2	1/2	0/0	2	4	0	0	0
P. D’Arcy	3	1	0	1/5	1/5	0/0	2	14	0	0	0
L. Felton	2	0	0	0/1	0/0	2/2	0	2	0	0	0
G. Smith	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
D. Quinn	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
J. Baker	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	51	31	8	19/73	2/22	11/17	23	–	7	2	16

UNC Bright Spots 

Caleb Wilson had 21 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 steals, and 1 assist. 

Henri Veesaar had 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

Luka Bogavac had 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. 

Seth Trimble had 12 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. 

Needs Work  

The Heels must be better at the free throw line. They have left too many points on the board shooting poorly from the free throw line over the last few games. Shooting 63% at the free throw line is unacceptable with all the good shooters they have on the team, and their struggles must be resolved even if they have to start shooting free throws after every game until they can consistently shoot over 70% from the line in each game. 

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels improve to 12-1 and are undefeated at home going into conference play. Caleb Wilson and Henri continue to shine and show why they are the best frontcourt in the nation with each game. They are the first big man duo to both average at least 16 points and 9 rebounds in a Carolina uniform since 1960. Now that Seth Trimble is back and is settling back into his role, we can really see how good this team can be. They have all the tools and ingredients of a team that can make a deep run in the NCAA tournament but must take it one game at a time and continue to define roles and stick to the identity of playing excellent defense and playing inside out offensively. Next up is Florida State on Tuesday December 30th at 7:00 P.M. at ESPN 2.