UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Lehigh 90-68 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Cruises Past the Mountain Hawks in Its 2nd Tune-Up of the Season
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
In their second game of the season, the North Carolina basketball team faced off against Lehigh on Sunday afternoon. It was a close game early on. Lehigh came out and played scrappy physical aggressive basketball on both sides of the floor to try to disrupt UNC’s rhythm and flow. Even with Lehigh’s physical play, UNC still did a good job of getting into their offensive sets and shared the ball very well making sure to get it to the open man. It was a single-digit game until the last eight minutes of the first half, where the Heels were able to extend their lead to double figures after picking up their defensive intensity and getting easy baskets in transition. RJ Davis and Armando Bacot led the way in the first half with 13 points and 12 points respectively as the Tar Heels shot 44% from the field and were up nine going into halftime.
In the second half, Lehigh fought and scrapped to hang around as the Tar Heel lead hovered around eight points for the first ten minutes after halftime. North Carolina didn’t shoot as well early in the second half and struggled with their pick-and-roll defense, which allowed Lehigh to hit some threes to get back in the game and bring the game within three points. The Heels made some adjustments and were able to withstand Lehigh’s run. UNC started to take better shots offensively getting the ball into the paint more along with the defensive pressure and attention to detail on defense intensified. These adjustments would lead to a Tar Heels’ 39-18 run over the last ten minutes of the game. Armando Bacot had his third 20-point 20-rebound game of his career today and was a huge factor in the Tar Heels’ domination in the paint and on the boards. North Carolina was also great defensively throughout the game besides guarding the three-point line and held Lehigh to under 39% from the field in both halves as they move to 2-0 on the season.
UNC Game Stats
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| A. Bacot | 22 | 20 | 1 | 8/14 | 0/0 | 6/6 | 1 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| R. Davis | 22 | 4 | 1 | 8/14 | 3/6 | 3/3 | 0 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| H. Ingram | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6/11 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| C. Ryan | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2/7 | 0/3 | 2/2 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| P. Wojcik | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| E. Cadeau | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3/8 | 0/3 | 1/2 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Washington | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 3/3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Withers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| R. Landry | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3/5 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Z. High | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Okonkwo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lebo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 90 | 50 | 11 | 31/67 | 5/17 | 23/28 | 8 | – | 9 | 3 | 10 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| K. Higgins Jr. | 16 | 3 | 3 | 7/13 | 2/5 | 0/0 | 1 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| T. Whitney-Sidney | 10 | 4 | 1 | 4/13 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Parolin | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3/10 | 1/5 | 0/0 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Sinclair | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1/4 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| B. Momah | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0/3 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Gillus | 8 | 1 | 0 | 3/3 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Chebuhar | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2/5 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| N. Whitlock | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2/8 | 0/3 | 1/2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Saigal | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Reed | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Ingram | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1/4 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Tan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Knostman | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| H. Adiassa | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| T. Conniff | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Pike | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 68 | 28 | 15 | 26/71 | 13/33 | 3/4 | 22 | – | 7 | 3 | 11 |
UNC Bright Spots
Armando Bacot had 22 points, 20 rebounds, and 1 assist.
RJ Davis had 22 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 assist.
Harrison Ingram had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 assist.
Needs Work
North Carolina needs to be better at guarding the three-point line, playing help-side defense, and guarding the pick-and-roll.
Final Observations
The North Carolina basketball team moves to 2-0 on the season. Both games had their moments where the game was close, and the Tar Heels had to put together some runs to push the game out of reach in the second. That is a good thing early in the season so you can see what type of team you have when things aren’t necessarily going your way and wins aren’t coming easy. Nevertheless, the team has a lot of talent and can go 11 deep.
Even when their shots aren’t falling from three, this team still has the ability to score and find other ways to be productive on offense and still be locked in on defense. Roles are still being defined and rotations are still being fine-tuned but there is a lot to be happy with in these first two wins for the Tar Heels. North Carolina moves the ball well offensively, pushes the pace in transition, is aggressive in attacking the basket, plays hard defensively, and most importantly enjoys playing together and for each other. Next up is UC Riverside on Friday, November 17 at 8:00 P.M.