UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. NC State 79-70 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Staves Off the NC State Wolfpack to Hold Serve in the ACC Regular Season Title Race
by Derrick Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team is winding down their ACC regular season and they faced off against their oldest rival the NC State Wolfpack. You know that the Wolfpack would be chomping at the bit to upset the Tar Heels and have a better chance of making the NCAA Tournament, but North Carolina had other plans.
The first half was full of a lot of physical play and tough shot-making by NC State with DJ Horne and Jaden Taylor going 12-18 from the field in the first stanza. Harrison Ingram and Elliot Cadeau would carry the Tar Heels in scoring with the Wolfpack double-teaming RJ Davis holding him to only 2 points. NC State would go on a 14-0 run to end the first half with UNC playing lackadaisical defense down the stretch. The Wolfpack would go into intermission up 45-37.
In the second half, North Carolina came out with great energy, intensity, and effort locking down State on defense. They shot the gaps and ran the Wolfpack off the 3-point line and the Tar Heels attacked the basket, moved the ball to the open man, and took good shots. North Carolina would go on a 24-4 second-half run to open the game up allowing State to only shoot 6% from the field. The Tar Heels would take full control of the game and hold off the Wolfpack’s final push. They would get no closer than 5 points. The Tar Heels held the Pack to 27% shooting in the second half. North Carolina made enough shots and free throws to ice the game down the stretch and secured the victory 79-70. The Tar Heels got big games from Harrison Ingram and Elliot Cadeau. They scored 22 and 15 respectively.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| NC State 17-12 | 45 | 25 | 70 |
| 9 North Carolina 23-6 | 37 | 42 | 79 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| H. Ingram | 22 | 6 | 0 | 8/14 | 2/5 | 4/4 | 1 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Cadeau | 15 | 4 | 7 | 5/7 | 1/1 | 4/5 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| R. Davis | 14 | 7 | 5 | 4/11 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 1 | 37 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| A. Bacot | 13 | 7 | 0 | 4/12 | 0/0 | 5/5 | 2 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Ryan | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 2/2 | 5 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 0/1 | 2/4 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Withers | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2/3 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Washington | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Wojcik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 79 | 30 | 13 | 25/53 | 6/16 | 23/27 | 13 | – | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| D. Horne | 20 | 3 | 2 | 8/19 | 2/4 | 2/4 | 3 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Morsell | 9 | 4 | 3 | 4/10 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 5 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| M. O’Connell | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2/7 | 1/3 | 2/2 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| D. Burns Jr. | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3/9 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M. Diarra | 4 | 8 | 0 | 1/4 | 1/4 | 1/2 | 1 | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Taylor | 22 | 1 | 0 | 6/10 | 5/7 | 5/6 | 2 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| D. Parker Jr. | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| B. Pass | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B. Middlebrooks | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 4 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| E. Ross | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Nunnally | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| L. Thomas | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Snell | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Keatts | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| M. Rice | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Woods | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 70 | 28 | 9 | 25/60 | 9/19 | 11/16 | 21 | – | 3 | 3 | 8 |
UNC Bright Spots
Harrison Ingram had a career-high 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals.
Elliot Cadeau had 15 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1 steal.
RJ Davis had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 block.
Armando had 13 points and 7 rebounds.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to start the game out faster. They have had times when they struggled to get their offense going. Teams are double-teaming RJ Davis now so other players need to be more aggressive offensively.
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 23-6 on the season and 15-3 in ACC play. They still hold a one-game first-place lead in the ACC. They control their own destiny if they win out against Notre Dame and Duke. The Tar Heels need to shore up their 3-point defense. The last several games they have allowed opponents to get hot early from 3 and that would allow them to hang around in games. They have to continue to pay attention to the little details like going over screens, boxing out, diving for loose balls, and attacking the rack aggressively to score or get fouled.
At this point in the season, it is the win-or-go-home mentality. Do whatever it takes to win grinding it out. It’s tournament time so they need to be prepared to go to war with every opponent they face. Next up is Notre Dame on Tuesday at 7 pm on ACCN.