UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. NC State 67-54 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Wears Down the Wolfpack to Win Their Third Straight ACC Road Game
by Derrick Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team traveled to Raleigh to finish a 3-game road stand facing off against the NC State Wolfpack, Both teams were 3-0 in the ACC Standing so something had to give. The game started off sluggish with both teams missing easy baskets and taking tough contested shots. No one seemed to want to take control of the game building any momentum.
Then NC State made a concerted effort to get the ball to DJ Burns and he began taking Armando Bacot one-on-one and scored 7 of the next 9 points for the Wolfpack. Burns’s aggression and skill around the basket made Bacot pick up his second foul with 13 minutes left in the first half. North Carolina’s harassing defense kept the Wolfpack at bay and the tar heels would go into the half up 30-28.
In the second half, the Tar Heels continued to ramp up their defensive intensity and made it more difficult for DJ Burns to post and score. The Heels shut down the Wolfpack guard play and took control of the game going on an 18-3 run to put the game away for good. North Carolina held NC State to 27% shooting and 9.5% from the 3-point line for the game. RJ Davis led all scorers with 16 points and 4 rebounds. Harrison Ingram was a junkyard dog for the Heels with aggressive defense scoring 9 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. Elliot Cadeau also took command of the offense late with several key drives for baskets and or assists. He finished with 11 points and 6 assists.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| 7 North Carolina 12-3 | 30 | 37 | 67 |
| NC State 11-4 | 28 | 26 | 54 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 16 | 4 | 1 | 6/19 | 4/10 | 0/0 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| E. Cadeau | 11 | 1 | 6 | 4/8 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 1 | 33 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| H. Ingram | 9 | 19 | 1 | 4/9 | 1/3 | 0/2 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Bacot | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3/7 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 3 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Ryan | 8 | 2 | 0 | 3/9 | 2/6 | 0/0 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 2/3 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Withers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 4/7 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| J. Washington | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Z. High | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Wojcik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lebo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 67 | 45 | 11 | 24/62 | 7/21 | 12/20 | 16 | – | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| C. Morsell | 12 | 6 | 0 | 3/12 | 0/6 | 6/6 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| D. Burns Jr. | 11 | 2 | 1 | 4/8 | 0/0 | 3/3 | 3 | 29 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| J. Taylor | 6 | 5 | 0 | 2/7 | 1/4 | 1/2 | 2 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| D. Horne | 6 | 10 | 4 | 2/16 | 0/3 | 2/4 | 2 | 40 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| D. Parker Jr. | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2/7 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 2 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| M. Diarra | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2/6 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M. O’Connell | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Middlebrooks | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0/3 | 0/1 | 2/4 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Rice | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1/4 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| B. Pass | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| E. Ross | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Nunnally | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Thomas | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Snell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Keatts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Woods | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 54 | 39 | 9 | 18/67 | 2/21 | 16/21 | 18 | – | 6 | 5 | 10 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had 16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Elliot Cadeau had 11 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists, and 1 steal.
Harrison Ingram had 9 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to start the game out faster. They have had 3 straight games where they struggle to get their offense going. They also need to take care of the ball. They had 7 turnovers in the first half and that’s unacceptable.
UNC needs to make sure they continue to move the ball offensively and not have stretches when they’re stagnant and overdribbling, which leads to bad shots. They’re at their best when they’re sharing the ball and are in constant motion offensively.
Final Observations
North Carolina improves to 12-3 on the season and starts 4-0 in ACC play. They are now in first place in the ACC by themselves with no conference losses. That hasn’t happened in over a decade. The Tar Heels are playing tough physical defensive basketball and that travels. They have held their last four opponents to 60 points or fewer. North Carolina just needs to get the offense flowing a little more smoothly. So that they can put their opponents away quickly.
North Carolina still has so much room for improvement. They haven’t played anywhere close to their best game where all of the starters are playing well and clicking on all cylinders. That is very promising to see the Heels pile up victories winning in many different ways. The bench is becoming more productive which bodes well in building their depth. Next up is Syracuse on Saturday, Jan 13th at 12 Noon on ESPN.
Great win!! Would like to see Cormac make more shots, but he played good defense and helped out in doubling down on their big man. Bacot did a solid job defending the big guy as well. FG percentage was down for us, we can shoot the ball better..