UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Notre Dame 84-51 Win

UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Blasts the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Senior Night to Clinch at Least a Share of the ACC Regular Season Title

by Derrick Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team played their final game in the Dean Dome for the season facing off against Notre Dame on Senior Night. Some felt that this could be a trap game with the Fighting Irish winning 5 out of their last 6 games but the Tar Heels would have none of that. They led from start to finish against Notre Dame.

The Tar Heels defense was the story of this game as it has been all season. North Carolina is the #1 ranked team in the ACC and they showed it all night with blocks, steals, help-side, and tough-on-the-ball defense. They allowed Notre Dame to hang around for the first 15 minutes of the first half trading baskets, but then UNC put it in another gear and went on a 23-5 run to end the stanza with high-pressure defense and sharing the ball on offense.

In the second half, North Carolina continued to apply aggressive pressure defense on the Fighting Irish only allowing them to shoot 30.5% for the game. The Tar Heels continued to share the ball passing to the open man and five players were in double-figures led by RJ Davis with 22 points and 6 assists. Armando Bacot even had a chance to get into his bag and hit two 3-pointers to put the icing on the cake on Senior Night.

UNC Game Stats

	1	2	T
Notre Dame 12-18	25	26	51
7 North Carolina 24-6	41	43	84

North Carolina

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
R. Davis	22	4	6	9/15	4/6	0/1	2	31	1	1	1
A. Bacot	14	5	1	4/8	2/2	4/6	3	25	0	1	3
D. Farris	0	1	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	4	0	0	0
R. Landry	0	1	0	0/1	0/0	0/0	0	4	0	0	0
C. Lebo	0	0	0	0/4	0/2	0/0	0	4	0	0	0
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
C. Ryan	14	5	1	4/9	2/5	4/6	1	31	0	0	0
H. Ingram	11	14	4	5/16	1/8	0/0	0	31	1	0	0
J. Washington	10	5	0	4/5	2/2	0/0	2	11	0	2	0
S. Trimble	6	0	0	3/5	0/2	0/0	2	16	0	0	0
E. Cadeau	4	5	2	2/4	0/0	0/1	3	24	3	0	2
J. Withers	3	0	0	1/2	0/0	1/1	2	6	1	0	0
J. Okonkwo	0	1	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	3	0	2	0
Z. High	0	2	0	0/1	0/1	0/0	0	3	0	0	0
P. Wojcik	0	2	0	0/1	0/1	0/0	0	5	0	0	0
Total	84	45	14	32/71	11/29	9/15	16	–	6	6	6

Notre Dame

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
T. Davis	11	6	0	4/11	1/1	2/4	3	21	0	1	1
M. Burton	9	3	4	3/11	0/3	3/4	3	35	2	0	4
B. Shrewsberry	9	4	2	4/9	1/5	0/0	1	30	0	0	0
C. Booth	5	5	0	2/9	1/4	0/0	1	26	0	2	1
K. Njie	3	3	0	1/4	0/0	1/2	4	16	0	0	3
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
J. Konieczny	7	3	1	2/3	1/1	2/2	2	20	0	0	0
J. Kelly	3	1	0	1/1	1/1	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
L. Imes	2	2	0	0/1	0/1	2/2	1	17	0	0	1
M. Zona	2	6	0	1/3	0/2	0/2	1	18	0	0	1
A. Wade	0	0	1	0/1	0/0	0/0	0	3	0	0	0
J. Roper II	0	1	0	0/3	0/0	0/0	1	7	0	1	1
R. Braiton	0	0	0	0/3	0/1	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
T. Crowe	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0	0	0
T. Hattan	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Z. Harbaugh	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
T. Sanders Jr.	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	51	34	8	18/59	5/19	10/16	17	–	2	4	12

UNC Bright Spots 

RJ Davis had 22 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.  

Armando Bacot had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block.  

Cormac Ryan had 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

Harrison Ingram had 11 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal.  

Jalen Washington had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  

Needs Work 

The Tar Heels need to not fall in love with the 3-point line. They shot 29 3-pointers for the game. They need to attack the basket more and get to the free-throw line more. UNC only made 16 free throws and shot 60% from the line.

Final Observations 

North Carolina improves to 24-6 on the season and 16-3 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 Duke. They already have at least a share of the ACC Regular Season Title which is the first time since 2019.

Hubert Davis and his staff have done a great job putting this team together. It is great to see the Tar Heels back on top of the ACC. They still have more goals to accomplish. It starts with sweeping Duke on Saturday and then pursuing the ACC and NCAA Tournament Titles. This is a mature and hungry team that wants to win and they have some much fun playing for each other. They still haven’t had a game where the starting five has been hitting on all cylinders. Hopefully, we will get a chance to it in the season finale against Duke on Saturday at 6:30 pm in Durham on ESPN.