UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Florida St. 78-70 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Trap and Press Their Way Back from a 14-Point Second Half Deficit to Win at Home
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team played their first conference game of the season against Florida State on Saturday afternoon. It was a back-and-forth game between the two squads in the first half. There were seven lead changes throughout the first half. Neither team quite could quite anything going consistently offensively early as both Florida State and UNC shot under 40%. North Carolina settled for entirely too many threes missing nine of their 11 three-point attempts, which led to their efficient offense. However, Florida State did shoot 50% from the three-point line with 21 of the Seminole’s 35 first-half points coming from behind the arc. In addition to North Carolina struggling to defend the three-point line, the Tar Heels had issues scoring in the final 3 minutes before halftime as the Seminoles went on an 8-0 run to close the half and lead by 6 going into the second half
After halftime, Florida State opened the first three minutes of the second half with a 10-2 run to extend their lead to 14. During this run, the Seminoles continued their hot shooting from the perimeter with six different Florida State players making a three-pointer thus far in this game and they had extreme confidence on both sides of the floor, completely outplaying the Tar Heels at this point in the game. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels struggled to find any flow offensively, were taking bad shots, and allowed Florida State to be the more physical team dictating the pace, tempo, and overall feel of the game. Florida State was comfortable for about the first 10 minutes of the second half as they were imposing their will on the Tar Heels.
With about 10 minutes left in the game, North Carolina switched to their full-court press defense, and it would completely change the game. Over the next few minutes, the full-court press defense by the Tar Heels would completely disrupt everything Florida State was trying to do offensively. Carolina was swarming and harassing Florida State to make everything difficult for the Seminoles causing Florida State to struggle to get the ball inbounds and pass halfcourt. UNC was disruptive, active, and relentless with their pressure forcing turnovers, and getting stop after stop allowing them to get out in transition for easy baskets. This defensive change would spark a 22-0 run for the Tar Heels as a once 14-point deficit for the Heels was now a double-digit lead for UNC.
In this run in addition to Carolina’s outstanding defense, the Heels were relentless with attacking the basket and were finally the aggressor drawing fouls against Florida State. Seth Trimble being inserted into the lineup during this run was a huge boost for UNC as his energy, intensity, and overall play on both sides of the floor helped turn the game around. During the 22-0 run, five different Tar Heels scored including Harrison Ingram, Armando Bacot, RJ Davis, Elliott Cadeau, and Seth Trimble. North Carolina finished the game outscoring Florida State 30-14 to end the game and got their seventh win of the season. For the fourth straight game, RJ Davis led the team in scoring as he had 27 points, and Armando pitched in another double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds leading the Heels to their first conference win of the season.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| Florida State 4-3 | 35 | 35 | 70 |
| 17 North Carolina 7-1 | 29 | 49 | 78 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 27 | 3 | 5 | 8/17 | 3/9 | 8/8 | 1 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Bacot | 13 | 13 | 0 | 4/8 | 0/0 | 5/5 | 2 | 32 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| H. Ingram | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3/11 | 0/4 | 5/7 | 2 | 37 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Ryan | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2/9 | 2/7 | 2/3 | 1 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| E. Cadeau | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3/5 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 3 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3/3 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Washington | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Withers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Z. High | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| P. Wojcik | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 78 | 36 | 13 | 24/57 | 5/22 | 25/31 | 13 | – | 7 | 6 | 11 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Watkins | 17 | 8 | 2 | 7/14 | 3/6 | 0/0 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| B. Miller | 12 | 4 | 1 | 5/8 | 2/5 | 0/2 | 2 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| D. Green | 12 | 3 | 3 | 5/9 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 4 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Green Jr. | 12 | 4 | 1 | 4/10 | 4/9 | 0/0 | 2 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Warley | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2/8 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 5 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Jackson | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1/6 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 2 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Gainey | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Fletcher | 3 | 7 | 1 | 1/6 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| J. Nickelberry | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1/4 | 0/3 | 0/0 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| T. House | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| M. Brown | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| P. Spears | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Simpson | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Corhen | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Morris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| S. Adebisi | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| W. Mbatch | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| T. Bol Bowen | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Jones | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| I. Spainhour | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| M. Thorpe | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 70 | 30 | 12 | 27/67 | 12/28 | 4/8 | 19 | – | 6 | 3 | 10 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had 27 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Armando Bacot had 13 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
Harrison Ingram had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels must address their scoring droughts. Too many times during games, they go for extended periods without scoring due to bad shot selection, lack of ball movement, and stagnant offense. The coaching staff must be more involved during these stretches to implement better play calls for them to run.
UNC’s defense against the three and on the perimeter must be better. They need to do a better job of forcing the opponent off the three-point line and be better at rotating out to shooters.
The Tar Heels must find a way to overcome the refs’ bad foul calls with their play. They must be more disciplined defensively and be more efficient on offense.
They still need to be better at finishing around the rim. They missed too many shots around the basket especially Armando Bacot, which is totally unacceptable.
Final Observations
North Carolina improves to 7-1 on the season. Early in the season, the Tar Heels are finding different ways to win, which is great for them. This team already does a better job of fighting and playing harder to get back into games and winning games down the stretch than last year’s team. It just feels like they are getting back to playing Carolina basketball. Multiple guys are stepping up to make positive contributions to the game and the team looks like they are truly buying into Coach Hubert Davis’s system.
Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan didn’t play well today, and the Heels still were able to overcome a double-digit deficit and come back to win the game. That just goes to show the depth this team has this year and the growth the coaching staff is making with their in-game adjustments. A lot of credit must be given to Hubert Davis and his coaching staff for switching to a full-court press defense because it led them to their comeback win The Tar Heels are getting better with each game played and are no way close to being the team they will eventually grow into. This team has the potential to be special especially if they can get everyone to start playing well at the same time. Next up is UCONN on Wednesday, December 5th in Madison Square Garden at 9:00 P.M.