UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Notre Dame 63-59 Win

UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Survive Against the Fighting Irish 

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

After a disappointing loss to NC State last Sunday, the North Carolina basketball team looked to bounce back against Notre Dame on Wednesday night. The Tar Heels came out and were locked in defensively forcing Notre Dame into tough shots and into turnovers early on. The Heels even held Notre Dame scoreless for the first 5 minutes of the game. Even though UNC was playing well defensively, North Carolina was struggling to find any rhythm offensively and it allowed Notre Dame to stick around and keep the game close. Carolina’s offense was very stagnant, and it caused them to take poor shots and have unforced turnovers.

UNC played arguably their worst half of the season offensively as they had 0 assists to 8 turnovers and shot 19% from the floor. The Tar Heels struggled mightily to finish shots around the rim and only had 19 points on 5 made field goals going into halftime. It was the fewest points scored in a half for North Carolina since 2015 and the lowest shooting percentage in a half since 1980.

As the offensive struggles continued, the Heels’ defensive focus slipped and allowed Notre Dame to get comfortable offensively, resulting in the Fighting Irish going on a 9-0 run and taking the lead.  The Fighting Irish was not much better offensively than the Tar Heels in the first half. They shot just 31% from the field but were able to capitalize on North Carolina’s mistakes and take an 8-point lead going into halftime.  

In the second half, the Tar Heels came out with much more energy and urgency on both ends of the floor. The Heels extended their defense to full court and made Notre Dame work for everything offensively early in the second half. Carolina’s intensity and pressure on defense forced Notre Dame into contested shots and into turnovers, which allowed the Tar Heels to get out in transition. The increased pace allowed North Carolina to get downhill and get better quality shots offensively.

After Carolina picked up their play on both ends of the floor, they would go on a 15-4 run and take the lead. This would lead to a close game down the stretch. In the waning minutes of the game, the Tar Heels were able to out-hustle Notre Dame to offensive rebounds and loose balls that led to second-chance points that would later become the difference in the game.

North Carolina just wanted it more than the Fighting Irish in crunch time. Armando Bacot had two big tip-in baskets that helped extend the Tar Heel lead late. No shot was bigger than RJ Davis’s mid-range jumper that gave them a three-point lead with under a minute left in the game and Caleb Love was able to ice the game with four made free throws in the remaining second of the game. It was a complete team effort for the Heels in the second half to pull out this win as they got their 17^th victory of the season.  

UNC Game Stats

	1	2	T
North Carolina 17-11	19	44	63
Notre Dame 10-18	27	32	59

North Carolina

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
A. Bacot	16	11	1	7/15	0/0	2/5	2	33	1	1	1
C. Love	16	5	0	5/11	2/6	4/4	1	33	2	0	3
R. Davis	12	8	1	5/10	0/4	2/2	4	33	2	0	1
P. Nance	11	10	5	3/12	0/3	5/5	2	33	0	0	1
L. Black	6	11	1	2/11	0/3	2/2	2	39	0	1	0
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
P. Johnson	2	0	0	1/5	0/4	0/0	3	13	0	0	1
D. Dunn	0	2	0	0/4	0/3	0/0	0	9	0	1	1
S. Trimble	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	2	4	0	0	0
T. Nickel	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
J. Washington	0	0	0	0/1	0/0	0/0	0	1	0	0	0
Total	63	47	8	23/69	2/23	15/18	16	–	5	3	8

Notre Dame

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
C. Ryan	14	7	3	6/18	2/8	0/0	2	38	2	0	3
M. Hammond	9	1	0	3/5	1/2	2/2	1	17	1	1	2
D. Goodwin	7	3	2	3/6	1/2	0/0	1	37	0	0	1
N. Laszewski	4	9	1	1/5	0/3	2/2	4	33	1	1	1
V. Lubin	2	5	0	1/1	0/0	0/0	3	18	0	1	0
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
T. Wertz	13	3	3	5/14	3/7	0/1	1	34	0	0	0
J. Starling	10	1	0	4/9	0/1	2/4	3	34	0	0	2
M. Zona	0	1	1	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	5	0	0	0
Total	59	30	10	23/58	7/23	6/9	16	–	4	3	9

UNC Bright Spots 

Caleb Love had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. 

Armando Bacot had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

RJ Davis had 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

Pete Nance had 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. 

Needs Work 

The Tar Heels must drive the ball or do pull-ups when their perimeter shots are not falling. Their shot selection must be better when they have leads. This will keep other teams from making comebacks and making the games more interesting than they should be. They shot 8.3% from the 3-point line.

The players must fall in love with the game. They have made playing so difficult. They must be stronger mentally and finish games.

The Tar Heels need to be much better at finishing around the rim. They missed entirely too many layups due to rushing shots and lack of focus with their shots around the basket. 

Offensively, they must have better spacing and be consistent with sharing the ball, moving without the ball, and taking good shots on each offensive possession.  

The Tar Heels must also work on playing with more of a sense of urgency to start games, so they don’t have to exert themselves so much to make a comeback in every game. 

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels improve to 17-11 on the season, 9-8 in ACC play. They were able to pull out a win while not playing their best basketball in this game. This is something that hasn’t happened often this season. The offensive struggles have become a common theme in the last few games, and it has to be concerning. The coaching staff must do a better job of emphasizing better shot selection, spacing, ball movement, and player movement to make the offense flow better. 

The Tar Heels need to make sure going forward that they start games with that same urgency, energy, and effort they played with in the second half of this game against Notre Dame. The Heels cannot repeat the performance they had in the first half of this game against any of the remaining teams or they will get beat.

North Carolina holds their own destiny in their hands with three games left in the regular season. We will see if they find a way to dig deep and build up their NCAA tournament resume with the games they have left. The coaching staff must make sure they are ready for the challenge and put their best foot forward in each game going forward. The talent is there to make a run, but they must go out there and play like it on the court. Next up is Virginia on Saturday, February 25 at 6 P.M