UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Shows Second-Half Fight Comeback to Defeat the Buckeyes in Overtime
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team traveled to New York to face off against Ohio State in Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels got out to a good start and picked up where they left off last game with their great ball movement and player moment on offense, which gave them an early 13-8 lead. Armando Bacot picked up some early foul trouble and it changed the whole momentum of the game. Once Bacot left the court, the Tar Heels got sloppy offensively with careless turnovers and bad shot selection that allowed Ohio State back in the game.
The Heels also had defensive lapses that left Ohio State players wide open for threes and the Buckeyes took full advantage making 7 threes in the first half alone. Ohio State would go on an 18-2 run during this stretch and lead by as much as 14 in the first half. The Buckeyes shot 51% from the field, and 46% from the three-point as UNC struggled defensively. Armando Bacot returned to the game late in the half and kept the Tar Heels close with his 16 points but Carolina found themselves down 9 going into halftime.
In the second half, UNC came out and went on a 10-2 run to cut Ohio State’s lead to one. During this run, the Tar Heel’s defense led to their offense. North Carolina got stops defensively which allowed them to run and get out in transition for easy baskets. However, Ohio State responded with a run of its own to get its lead back to double digits. The Heels were settling for too many jump shots, had unforced turnovers, and weren’t taking advantage of the mismatch they had inside with Armando Bacot.
Meanwhile, Ohio State was running their sets and getting a good shot every time down the court to extend their lead. With about seven minutes left in the second half, UNC was down 11 and Coach Davis called a timeout. After this timeout, the Tar Heels switched to a full-court press defense. This disrupted Ohio State’s flow offensively. The Heels were able to speed the Buckeyes up and force turnovers that led to easy baskets for the Tar Heels. An Ohio State lead that was once 11 was cut down to one with just 4 minutes remaining in the game. North Carolina was going all out on both ends of the floor to get back in the game and after an RJ Davis, three took a 75-74 lead with 1:30 left. Down the stretch of the game, it was tight. Ohio State’s Zed Key made a three to put them back up two with 34 seconds left.
On the very next play, Caleb drove down the court, collapsed the defense, and dumped a pass to Armando Bacot for an easy dunk to tie the game at 77. At this point in the game, it was 17 seconds left and it felt like Ohio State was going to hold for the final shot. On their last play, the Buckeyes gave the ball to Brice Sensabaugh, who had already had over 20 points in the game, and he made a jump shot with three seconds left to give them a 79-77 lead. With three seconds left, UNC inbounded the ball and passed it to RJ Davis at halfcourt, where he called a timeout to allow the Tar Heels to draw up one final play.
Leaky Black would inbound the ball across the court to Pete Nance who was isolated with a defender and Nance would take and make a turnaround jumper to force the game into overtime. In overtime, the Heels had all the momentum and played like it. North Carolina made the first two baskets and put themselves up four. Ohio State would make a couple of plays to keep it close, but Caleb Love and RJ Davis would ice the game with a jumper and free throws down the stretch to put the game away. Armando Bacot was dominant throughout the game and had 28 points and 15 rebounds to help lead UNC to an 89-84 victory over the Buckeyes.
UNC Game Stats
| 23 Ohio State 7-3 | 44 | 35 | 5 | 84 |
| North Carolina 8-4 | 35 | 44 | 10 | 89 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| A. Bacot | 28 | 15 | 3 | 11/19 | 0/0 | 6/9 | 2 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Love | 22 | 4 | 7 | 8/20 | 4/13 | 2/2 | 0 | 42 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| R. Davis | 21 | 8 | 4 | 6/13 | 1/5 | 8/9 | 3 | 40 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| P. Nance | 8 | 10 | 2 | 4/11 | 0/6 | 0/0 | 3 | 40 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| L. Black | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2/5 | 1/2 | 2/4 | 4 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| P. Johnson | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 3 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| T. Nickel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| D. Styles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| S. Trimble | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| B. Sensabaugh | 22 | 8 | 3 | 9/17 | 2/6 | 2/3 | 4 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| B. Thornton | 17 | 5 | 5 | 6/10 | 2/4 | 3/5 | 2 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| J. Sueing | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7/14 | 1/3 | 1/4 | 1 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Z. Key | 11 | 4 | 1 | 4/11 | 2/3 | 1/2 | 3 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| S. McNeil | 7 | 3 | 2 | 3/10 | 1/5 | 0/0 | 2 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| T. Holden | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2/6 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| F. Okpara | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| R. Gayle Jr. | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1/4 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 3 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
UNC Bright Spots
Armando Bacot had 28 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Caleb Love had 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists.
R.J. Davis had 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels have to do a better job defending the three-point line. They have allowed too many wide-open threes due to over-helping in the paint or losing their man off the ball. Their screen defense has to be much better. They need to do a better job of fighting over screens and running the opponent off the line.
The Tar Heels have to better with their shot selection and decision-making throughout the game. They have too many stretches where they settle for bad shots and do not play inside-out basketball offensively. They also have too many unforced turnovers that allows the other team to get out in transition. These issues on offense cause the Heels to get down by double digits in games and makes it difficult to climb back in games. They must be better in these areas to not make the game so difficult for themselves
Hubert Davis and his coaching staff need to make in-game adjustments sooner rather than waiting to get down double figures before changes are made.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels improve to 8-4 on the season. They got a much-needed win against a ranked opponent. It was actually their first win over a ranked opponent this season. Over the last couple of games, the Tar Heels’ overall play has been going in the right direction. They are finally establishing their identity as a team and each player is getting more comfortable in their role. Now they just need to be more consistent in doing the things they are best at for 40 minutes each game. Carolina cannot have lapses where they go back to playing selfish one-on-one basketball where they are not trusting their teammates on offense or defense. If they can continue to build on these last couple of games, UNC will find themselves back where they belong as one of the better teams in the country. Next up is Michigan on Wednesday at 7 P.M.