UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Miami 75-71 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Holds Off the Miami Hurricanes in a Historic Scoring Night by RJ Davis
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
After playing this past Saturday afternoon, the North Carolina basketball team returned to action in a quick turnaround against Miami on Monday night. It was a back-and-forth game early on between the two teams. Both North Carolina and Miami got hot from the three-point line in the first few minutes of the game with most of the baskets coming behind the arc. Carolina would ultimately cool down from three and started to aggressively attack the basket, resulting in 20 of their 37 first-half points coming in the paint. While the Tar Heels cooled off from three, Miami stayed hot from three as they made 8 out of 13 threes in the first half. Miami’s three-point shooting was the only thing keeping them in the game because the Heels shut down the Hurricanes inside the arc, forcing Miami to 4-19 from 2. However, North Carolina still led for most of the half and shot 47% from the field. RJ Davis was the catalyst for Tar Heels’ offensive success in the first half as he had more than half of UNC’s 37 points at halftime with 21.
In the second half, RJ took completely over the game. He had 21 points in the second half to go along with the 21 points he already had in the first half, resulting in his career-high 42 points. Davis even had a stretch where he scored 14 straight points for the Tar Heels and helped propel the Heels to the largest lead which was 14. However, even with RJ Davis having the game of his life and all the momentum in North Carolina’s favor, Miami would not go away. The Hurricanes’ defense against anyone not named RJ Davis was excellent and shut down the other Tar Heels players as no other Carolina player scored in double figures.
In addition, Miami continued their hot shooting from three with 6 threes in the second half, making 14 out of 30 in the game. No matter what Carolina did, Miami made sure to fight to the very end to try to complete an upset. Once RJ Davis made his 41st point with just over three minutes in the game with the Heels up by 13, UNC relaxed thinking the game was over and Miami would just lay down in defeat. The total opposite happened in the waning minutes of the game. Over the last couple of minutes of the game, the Heels would practically meltdown making mistake after mistake with bad turnovers, contested shots, missed free throws, and defensive lapses that resulted in wide-open threes and easy baskets for the Hurricanes.
These errors by the Tar Heels allowed Miami to cut their 13-point lead all the way down to 2 with just under 40 seconds left. With a chance to put the game away at the free throw line, RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, and Seth Trimble all missed critical free throws, but two huge offensive rebounds at the free throw line by Harrison Ingram and Jaelyn Withers would be key in sealing the victory for the Tar Heels. Jaelyn Withers would be the savior for the Tar Heels with about three seconds left as he hit two free throws to put UNC up by 4 completely putting the game out of reach, allowing Carolina to eke out a 75-71 win over the Hurricanes.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| Miami (Fla.) 15-14 | 32 | 39 | 71 |
| 9 North Carolina 22-6 | 37 | 38 | 75 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 42 | 6 | 1 | 14/22 | 7/11 | 7/9 | 2 | 35 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| H. Ingram | 8 | 10 | 2 | 3/13 | 1/5 | 1/1 | 3 | 37 | 5 | 0 | 3 |
| C. Ryan | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3/13 | 1/9 | 0/0 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| E. Cadeau | 6 | 1 | 5 | 3/5 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Bacot | 5 | 12 | 3 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 1/6 | 5 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Withers | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1/3 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1/3 | 2 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Washington | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| P. Wojcik | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 75 | 38 | 13 | 27/61 | 9/26 | 12/21 | 17 | – | 10 | 3 | 11 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| N. Omier | 22 | 5 | 0 | 7/19 | 4/9 | 4/5 | 5 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| B. Joseph | 21 | 6 | 5 | 7/12 | 5/8 | 2/4 | 4 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| K. George | 14 | 1 | 2 | 5/10 | 4/7 | 0/0 | 1 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| M. Cleveland | 10 | 11 | 2 | 3/12 | 1/2 | 3/4 | 2 | 40 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Watson | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1/6 | 0/4 | 0/0 | 0 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| M. Nwoko | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Robinson | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| A. Casey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Djobet | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| W. Poplar | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Mastin | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| N. Cassano | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| N. Pack | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 71 | 30 | 11 | 24/61 | 14/30 | 9/13 | 21 | – | 8 | 1 | 13 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had a career-high 42 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 1 assist.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels must be better with their perimeter specifically defending against the three-point line. The Heels have lapses on defense when they become lazy and unfocused in getting out to shooters and teams are starting to take advantage. They must do a better job of running them off the line and with the rotations out to shooters.
The Carolina guards must be better with their entry passes to the big men. Almost all of their turnovers in this game came from bad passes trying to get the ball in the post, which is totally unacceptable.
UNC also needs to be much better at the free throw line, especially in close games. They shot under 70% in this game.
When Carolina has a lead, they need to do a better job of extending their leads. Too many times they get lazy and unfocused defensively, make careless mistakes, and take ill-advised shots offensively, which allows opponents to hang around.
Final Observations
North Carolina improves to 22-6 on the season, 14-3 in ACC play. With four games remaining in the regular season, the Tar Heels are in first in the ACC standings and in prime position to be the ACC regular season champs. UNC must remain focused though and finish out the season strong. One concern for the Tar Heels that they must address as they wind down the regular season is the urge to relax or not be as locked in or focused when they have big leads because it allows opponents to hang around and games to be closer than they should be at the end of games. The coaching staff must ensure the players are better in those situations because it could cost them a game if they are not careful. They have had an excellent season thus far and want to be playing their best basketball going into both the conference and the NCAA tournament. Next up is NC State on Saturday, March 2 at 4:00 P.M. on ESPN.
Davis, Withers: great!! Everybody else: sucked. Zero late game strategy. I guess on to State.