UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Cruises Past Lipscomb

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

It was the first round of the 2018 Men’s Basketball NCAA Tournament, and the North Carolina Tarheels faced off against the Lipscomb Bisons on Friday afternoon. In the opening minutes of the game, the Tar Heels basketball team came out a little sluggish turning over the ball too much and not closing out on shooters. Allowing Lipscomb to get whatever they wanted on the offensive end and keep the game close early on. Once Carolina settled in and was able to get into a groove on both ends of the floor late in the first half, the Tar Heels extended their lead to nine going into halftime.

In the second half, the Heels came out with a lot of energy and intensity on offense and defense, holding Lipscomb scoreless for six minutes, forcing turnovers, and executing well on offense. This was too much for the Bisons as the game got out of reach for them and the Tar Heels were able to cruise to an 18-point first round victory. Led by Kenny Williams who had 18 points and 3 rebounds.

UNC Game Stats

North Carolina

Box Score    FG   3PT     FT     REB    AST    STL     BLK    TO      PF       PTS

1. Pinson          6-8   0-1      3-4      10        7          1          1          3          3          15
2. Maye             2-9   1-3      5-7      9          2          0          0          2          4          10
3. Berry II         6-15 2-9      0-0      2          3          3          0          3          1          14
4. Johnson       5-8   2-3      0-1      7          2          0          0          5          1          12
5. Williams      6-8   4-5      2-2      3          1          1          0          2          2          18
6. Rush              1-1    0-0      0-0      0          0          1          0          0          0          2
7. Brooks         2-3   0-0      3-4      1          4          1          0          1          2          7
8. Manley         3-4  0-0      0-0      10        0          0          1          0          0          6
9. Miller            0-1   0-0      0-0      0          0          0          0          0          0          0
10. Rohlman    0-0  0-0      0-0      0          0          0          0          0          1          0
11. Huffman    0-1   0-0      0-0      1          0          0          0          0          0          0
12. Ma                0-1   0-0      0-0      0          0          0          0          0          0          0
13. Platek         0-0  0-0      0-0      2          1          0          0          1          0          0
14. Robinson  0-1   0-1      0-0      0          0          1          0          0          2          0
15. Woods       0-0  0-0      0-0      1          0          0          0          1          1          0

TEAM  31-60  9-22  13-18  47        20        8          2          18        17        84

51.7% 40.9% 72.2%

Lipscomb

Box Score       FG     3PT    FT       REB    AST    STL  BLK    TO       PF       PTS

1. Marberry        5-12   0-1      3-4      7          1          2          1          3          4          13
2. Pepper            2-6     1-3      0-0      7          2          1          1          2          4          5
3. Mathews       3-14   1-7      1-1       3          4          3          0          1          2          8
4. Buckland       2-7     1-5      2-2      2          4          2          0          2          0          7
5. Cooper           5-10  3-4      1-2      2          2          0          0          3          4          14
6. Rose                2-8    0-5      0-0      1          0          0          0          0          2          4
7. Brammeier   1-2    0-0      0-0      1          0          1          0          0          2          2
8. Korn                 1-3    0-2      2-2      3          0          0          0          2          0          4
9. Fleming         2-2    1-1        4-4      1          0          0          0          0          0          9
10. Flener            0-0   0-0      0-0      0          1          0          0          0          0          0

TEAM     23-64  7-28    13-15  28        14        9          2          13        18        66

35.9% 25.0% 86.7%

UNC Bright Spots

Kenny Williams had 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals.

Theo Pinson had 15 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.

Joel Berry had 14 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds.

Cam Johnson had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Luke Maye had 10 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists

Needs Work

The Tar Heels need to cut down on their turnovers. They had 18 turnovers for the game.

 Final Observations

UNC moves on to the round of 32 to face off against Texas A&M. The Tar Heels need to play like they did in the second half, for the rest of the tournament, rather than the first half. They need to start off games better and just play their game because when they do they are one of the better teams in this tournament and are very hard to beat.

All five starters need to get in double figures to pressure on their opponents. The freshmen bigs are coming along and Roy needs to use them more as they face more long athletic big men. Manley and Brooks combined for 13 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.