UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. UC Riverside 77-52 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Blasts Past the Highlanders in Its Final Tune-Up of the Season
by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team squared off against UC Riverside on Friday night as they continued their non-conference slate of games. After UC Riverside got out to a 4-2 lead, the Tar Heels would go a 26-5 run to go up 30-9 early in the game including a 17-0 run during that stretch. During this run, the Heels played stifling suffocating defense on the Highlanders as UC Riverside looked completely overmatched. North Carolina held UC Riverside to just 33% from the field and forced them into 9 turnovers.
North Carolina’s defensive success got their offense going, allowing UNC to get out in transition and get easy baskets. Carolina did a tremendous job of attacking the basket and taking advantage of their size and length inside the paint. The Heels led by double figures for most of the first half, but in the last few minutes before halftime shot only 2-14 from the field due to poor shot selection and missing easy shots around the rim. This allowed the Highlanders to hang around as the Tar Heels only led by 11 going into halftime even after completely outplaying them.
In the second half, North Carolina completely turned up the defensive pressure and intensity on UC Riverside. The Heels played full-court pressure on the Highlanders for most of the second half and completely disrupted everything UC Riverside was trying to do offensively. Because of the defensive success they had against UC Riverside, Carolina got out to a 19-0 run to start the second half. UC Riverside went scoreless for the first 9 minutes and 27 seconds after halftime. At this point in the game, UNC had just completely overwhelmed the Highlanders with their size, length, and talent on both sides of the floor and extended their lead to as much as 32.
North Carolina shot 45% from the floor but didn’t shoot the ball well from three and was still able to be effective on offense with the success they had in the paint. The Tar Heels got great contributions from several players that touched the floor, especially from their sophomores Jalen Washington and Seth Trimble, who both had 11 points each off the bench. The Heels’ defense was the story of the game though and was the major reason they had so much success on the court against UC Riverside. North Carolina held the Highlanders to 30% from the field for the game and forced 17 turnovers, leading the Heels to their dominant 77-52 Win over UC Riverside.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| UC Riverside 1-3 | 26 | 26 | 52 |
| 20 N. Carolina 3-0 | 37 | 40 | 77 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| A. Bacot | 21 | 7 | 1 | 7/11 | 1/2 | 6/8 | 1 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| H. Ingram | 10 | 9 | 1 | 4/11 | 1/4 | 1/2 | 1 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| R. Davis | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3/11 | 1/7 | 1/1 | 1 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Ryan | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1/6 | 0/4 | 0/0 | 2 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| P. Wojcik | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 2/2 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| S. Trimble | 11 | 2 | 1 | 5/7 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Washington | 11 | 5 | 0 | 4/5 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| E. Cadeau | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3/4 | 0/0 | 2/3 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Z. High | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| J. Withers | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| D. Farris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Okonkwo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C. Lebo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 77 | 36 | 14 | 28/61 | 6/21 | 15/21 | 13 | – | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| B. Griscti | 14 | 1 | 0 | 5/12 | 3/7 | 1/2 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| B. Hargress | 10 | 2 | 5 | 4/13 | 2/4 | 0/0 | 3 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| W. Tattersall | 9 | 7 | 3 | 3/6 | 1/4 | 2/4 | 1 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| I. Moses | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0/4 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 2 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| K. Owens | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/4 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| N. Pickens | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2/8 | 1/5 | 2/2 | 2 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| N. Olabode | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Martinez | 4 | 5 | 0 | 2/6 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| V. Salaridze | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1/5 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 3 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| L. Turner | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0/2 | 0/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| K. Smith | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Bird | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| G. Davis | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Brunt | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Mojica | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 52 | 32 | 15 | 19/62 | 9/30 | 5/9 | 20 | – | 7 | 1 | 15 |
UNC Bright Spots
Armando Bacot had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Jalen Washington had 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.
Seth Trimble had a career-high 11 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Harrison Ingram had 10 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.
Needs Work
North Carolina needs to shoot better from the three-point line. They shot 28% from three in this game and the guys they brought in who are known to be three-point shooters have not shot it well at all.
North Carolina also needs to do a better job of finishing around the rim. They missed too many easy shots around the basket and need to be completely better in that area.
Final Observations
North Carolina improves to 3-0 on the season. The Tar Heels are finding themselves right now as a team, but the fact that they are depending on their defense to be a catalyst of their success early in the season bodes well for them going forward. North Carolina has not shot the ball necessarily well from three but is still finding a way to be effective offensively. They have multiple guys who can attack and score off the dribble, which helps them tremendously when their shots are not falling.
Guys like Cormac Ryan, RJ Davis, and Paxson Wojcik are good shooters so their shots will start falling as long as they continue to take quality shots. The contributions off the bench from Elliott Cadeau, Seth Trimble, Jalen Washington, Jaelyn Withers, and Zayden High have been great so far. Their energy, effort, and skillsets have been on display in the first three games and will be crucial to the Tar Heels’ success this season. Most importantly early in this season, Carolina is playing unselfish team basketball on both sides of the floor and the players enjoy playing with each other, which is something totally different than what we saw from them last season. Next up is the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas starting Wednesday, November 22 at 12 noon against Northern Iowa.