UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Ride Love to Victory Over the Bruins

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

In the Sweet Sixteen of the 2022 NCAA tournament, the North Carolina basketball team faced off against UCLA on Friday night. The Tar Heels got out to 5-0 start with baskets by Caleb Love and Armando Bacot. UCLA would then go a 15-4 run and the Heels would go scoreless for over 4 minutes. In this run, the Tar Heels struggled to guard UCLA players one-on-one and weren’t executing well on offense.

However, the Heels would make a run of their own to get back into the game. Carolina started to move the ball more offensively to get easier shots and the tough shots UCLA was making early in the first half stop falling. Even though UNC played a subpar first half shooting only 35% from the field and allowing UCLA to shoot 48% from the field, they still found themselves down only 3 going into halftime.

In the second half, the Tar Heels came out and went on a 6-0 run to take the lead, and then UCLA would go on a 6-0 run themselves. North Carolina picked up their intensity and energy on both ends of the floor and got back to playing Carolina basketball. The second half was an intense back and forth game with over 10 lead changes. Both teams made outstanding plays on both ends of the floor and the Tar Heels were just able to make more plays at the end of the game. Caleb Love was sensational in the second half and put the team on his back with 27 second-half points.

The game went down to the wire. With a minute left in the game tied at 64, Caleb Love hit the go-ahead three that would put the Tar Heels up for good. UNC hit clutch free throws down the stretch to ice the game and are now heading to the Elite 8 after their 73-66 win.

UNC Game Stats

1st     2nd     TOT

North Carolina 28      45      73

UCLA           31      35      66

North Carolina

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
A. Bacot F	—	6-10	0-0	2-4	8	7	15	2	0	1	2	3	14
B. Manek F	—	5-13	3-10	0-0	2	6	8	2	1	0	2	1	13
R.J. Davis G	—	3-11	1-4	5-5	1	6	7	3	0	0	2	2	12
C. Love G	—	11-24	6-13	2-2	1	2	3	4	0	0	1	2	30
L. Black G	—	1-5	0-2	0-0	0	2	2	0	1	0	1	0	2
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
P. Johnson G	—	1-2	0-1	0-1	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	2
D. Styles G	—	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM		27-66	10-31	9-12	15	28	43	11	2	1	8	9	73
		40.9%	32.3%	75.0%

UCLA

STARTERS	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
C. Riley F	—	2-6	0-0	0-0	1	3	4	0	1	2	1	2	4
J. Jaquez Jr. G	—	5-18	0-3	0-2	0	5	5	2	1	0	0	0	10
J. Juzang G	—	5-13	2-4	2-2	0	4	4	2	0	0	1	2	14
T. Campbell G	—	6-9	0-1	3-4	0	2	2	6	1	1	3	2	15
J. Bernard G	—	7-11	2-5	0-0	1	4	5	1	2	0	0	0	16
BENCH	MIN	FG	3PT	FT	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
M. Johnson C	—	2-2	0-0	0-0	2	2	4	0	1	1	0	2	4
P. Watson G	—	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
J. Kyman G	—	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
J. Clark G	—	1-3	1-1	0-0	1	1	2	0	1	0	1	1	3
TEAM		28-62	5-14	5-8	8	26	34	11	7	4	6	11	66
		45.2%	35.7%	62.5%

UNC Bright Spots

Caleb Love had 30 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.

Armando Bacot had 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Brady Manek had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists.

R.J. Davis had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels need to make sure when their perimeter shots are not falling to continue to be more aggressive attacking the basket on offense. This will keep the defense from packing the paint, which will make the offense flow much more smoothly.

Final Observations

The North Carolina basketball team is heading to the Elite 8. This has been an up and down season but the Heels are finally playing their best basketball at the right time. They are playing like the team imagined before the season started. Nobody other than UNC fans thought Carolina would be in this position and they are thriving in the moment.

In each game so far, different players have stepped up and played exceptionally well. In the first game, it was Caleb Love. In the second game, it was Brady Manek and RJ Davis. Tonight, it was Caleb Love again. This team has so many players that can step up and do different things that put them in a position to win. This makes the Tar Heels one of the more dangerous teams left in the tournament.

Everyone knows their role and it is good to see Carolina basketball be back where it belongs as one of the best teams in the country. Next up is St. Peter’s on Sunday, March 27th in the Elite 8 with the time being TBD.