UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Escapes the Ohio State Buckeyes With Two Defensive Stops to Secure the Victory

by Derrick Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team faced off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the CBS Classic in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday. This would be another quality non-conference test before starting ACC play. The challenge would be to slow down Bruce Thornton, who is a high-volume scorer. The Tar Heels were in for another tough physical game with the Buckeyes trying to shut down the best frontcourt in the nation. They held, pulled, and bumped the Heels every time they got the ball or entered the paint. The X-factor was Seth Trimble, who missed the last 9 games with a broken left arm. He provided the lift that North Carolina needed with his veteran presence on both ends of the floor and his stellar defense.

Seth Trimble was aggressive offensively and created that slasher that the Heels had been missing for most of the season. The Buckeyes would be a formidable foe as they hit tough shots and brought physicality on every possession. UNC had to earn its points by moving the ball to the open man and attacking the basket hard. In the first half, Henri Veesaar controlled the paint with aggressive plays around the basket, and the wings hit timely buckets to keep a two-possession lead for most of the half.

In the second half, Caleb Wilson introduced himself on the offensive end and the Heels began to push the lead out to double digits. Caleb Wilson would score 17 of his 20 points in the second half with dunks, spin moves, and turn around jumpers. Henri Veesaar and Seth Trimble would add 3-pointers and drives to basket. Nevertheless, the Buckeyes wouldn’t go away. Several questionable calls and a technical foul on Henri Veesaar allowed Ohio State to hang around and the momentum began to change. They would go on an 11- 2 run including a 4-point play with Caleb Wilson fouling a 3-point shooter. The Tar Heels would find themselves down by 3 points with 1:43 seconds remaining in the game.

The Tar Heels would score and get three defensive stops by Seth Trimble, Caleb Wilson, and Henri Veesaar to go up by 1 point with 4.4 seconds remaining. It was their defense that would save the day as the Buckeyes would attempt a 3-pointer and get blocked on the put back by Caleb Wilson to seal the victory. The Tar Heels were led by Caleb Wilson with 20 points and Seth Trimble and Henri Veesaar chipping in 17 points each respectively. North Carolina would hold the Buckeyes to 39% shooting from the field and 20% from the 3-point line.

UNC Stats

	1	2	T
12 North Carolina 11-1	34	37	71
Ohio State 8-3	31	39	70

North Carolina

Starters	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
C. Wilson	20	15	2	9/16	0/0	2/5	3	34	0	3	2
S. Trimble	17	2	3	6/13	3/5	2/3	2	36	0	0	1
H. Veesaar	17	10	5	7/12	2/5	1/3	4	32	0	1	2
L. Bogavac	2	2	2	0/3	0/3	2/2	2	14	0	0	0
K. Evans	0	0	3	0/2	0/2	0/0	3	16	1	0	1

Bench	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
J. Stevenson	6	5	2	3/7	0/4	0/0	2	27	2	1	0
D. Dixon	3	2	4	1/5	1/3	0/0	0	24	1	0	1
J. Young	3	0	0	1/3	1/3	0/0	1	3	0	0	0
J. Powell	3	1	1	1/2	1/2	0/0	2	15	0	0	0
Z. High	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
I. Denis	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
I. Matlekovic	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
J. Brown	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
E. Davis	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
J. Holbrook	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
E. Smith	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	71	37	22	28/63	8/27	7/13	20	–	4	5	7

Ohio State

Starters	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
D. Royal	18	8	2	6/12	2/2	4/6	1	36	1	1	0
B. Thornton	16	4	4	7/16	0/4	2/3	2	37	2	2	0
J. Mobley Jr.	13	3	4	3/11	2/6	5/5	0	32	1	0	0
C. Tilly	12	10	3	4/9	0/3	4/4	3	28	0	0	1
A. Bynum	11	6	1	5/11	0/2	1/1	5	27	1	0	2

Bench	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
B. Noel	0	1	0	0/3	0/2	0/0	1	13	0	0	1
G. Cupps	0	0	1	0/0	0/0	0/0	2	5	0	0	1
T. Chatman	0	0	1	0/1	0/1	0/0	0	3	0	0	0
C. White	0	1	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	12	0	0	1
I. Njegovan	0	2	1	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	6	0	0	0
B. Nash	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
M. Grujicic	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	70	35	17	25/63	4/20	16/19	16	–	5	3	6

UNC Bright Spots 

Caleb Wilson had 20 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks. 

Seth Trimble had 17 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. 

Henri Veesaar had 17 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 steal. 

Needs Work  

The Heels must be better at the free-throw line. Shooting 58% at the free-throw line is unacceptable with all the good shooters they have on the team. They have to start hitting 3-pointers as well. UNC shot 29% from the 3-point line.

Final Observations

The Tar Heels improve to 11-1 on the season. They finally have Seth Trimble back and now they can work on defining the roles and rotations for the rest of the season. With Trimble back several players will have their playing time reduced. He brings the scoring element from the guard postion that was missing and the on-the-ball defender to slow down their opponents best scorer.

Coach Davis and his staff will have the luxury of bringing former starters off the bench which will add depth with more bench scoring. The Ohio State game was a good test on a neutral floor and it had an NCAA tournament atmosphere to it. The Heels will continue to learn and grow from this game as they get used to Seth Trimble being in the starting line-up. Luka Bogavac needs to find his groove as the season progresses as well. Next up is East Carolina on Monday at 8 pm on ACCN.