UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Wake Forest 85-64 Win
UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Shakes Off the Deacons and Explodes in the Second Half to Secure the Victory in Their Eighth Straight ACC Game
by Derrick Clyburn
The North Carolina basketball team in their second game in a Saturday-Monday turnaround faced off against Wake Forest. The Deacons have been playing very well and were looking to add an upset victory over the Tar Heels to their resume but North Carolina wasn’t having any of that. The game started off with both teams feeling each other out and trading baskets. Then UNC went on an 11-3 run to open up an 8-point lead with fast break baskets by Elliot Cadeau and RJ Davis.
The Demon Deacons got back in the game with some tough shots by Hunter Sallis and two 3-pointers by Demari Monsanto. Both teams would trade baskets for the rest of the half. North Carolina’s defense continued to give Wake problems but they hit some tough shots to take a 34-33 lead at the half.
In the second half, the Tar Heels put it in another gear aggressively attacked the basket, and applied intense defensive pressure on the Deacons. Which lead to fast-break baskets by Elliot Cadeau and open 3-pointers by RJ Davis and Cormac Ryan. Harrison Ingram added two one-on-one post-scoring moves to the offensive attack and the Tar Heels would go on a 24-8 run. North Carolina would never look back as RJ Davis would score 23 second-half points to put Wake away.
The Tar Heels exploded and outscored the Deacs in the second half by a 52-28 margin and won the points in the paint 48-30. They also outrebounded Wake 40-27. There were four Tar Heels in double figures led by RJ Davis with a career-high 36 points and 4 rebounds. Harrison Ingram got another double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds. North Carolina has now won by double digits in all eight ACC wins this season.
UNC Game Stats
| 1 | 2 | T | |
| Wake Forest 13-6 | 34 | 30 | 64 |
| 3 North Carolina 16-3 | 33 | 52 | 85 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| R. Davis | 36 | 4 | 2 | 14/23 | 4/8 | 4/5 | 2 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E. Cadeau | 14 | 3 | 3 | 7/12 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 1 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C. Ryan | 11 | 3 | 1 | 3/8 | 1/2 | 4/4 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| H. Ingram | 10 | 14 | 1 | 4/7 | 0/3 | 2/4 | 3 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| A. Bacot | 5 | 7 | 0 | 2/6 | 0/1 | 1/2 | 4 | 35 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| J. Withers | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0/1 | 0/1 | 5/6 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| J. Washington | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| S. Trimble | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Wojcik | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| D. Farris | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Okonkwo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| R. Landry | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z. High | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| C. Lebo | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 85 | 40 | 8 | 32/61 | 5/15 | 16/22 | 20 | – | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| H. Sallis | 18 | 3 | 1 | 6/13 | 0/2 | 6/10 | 1 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| A. Carr | 14 | 5 | 0 | 3/6 | 0/1 | 8/9 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| C. Hildreth | 10 | 7 | 1 | 5/12 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 3 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| E. Reid III | 8 | 7 | 0 | 2/7 | 0/2 | 4/4 | 3 | 32 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| K. Miller | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2/12 | 0/5 | 1/2 | 2 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | FG | 3PT | FT | PF | MIN | STL | BLK | TO |
| D. Monsanto | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2/7 | 2/7 | 0/0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| P. Friedrichsen | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Z. Keller | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R. Kennah | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| K. Dunn | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| J. Ituka | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| M. Marsh | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| O. Kmety | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Canka | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| V. Ricchiuti | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| W. Underwood | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| M. Marion | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| A. Clark | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 64 | 27 | 3 | 21/59 | 3/20 | 19/25 | 16 | – | 3 | 3 | 5 |
UNC Bright Spots
RJ Davis had a career-high 36 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Elliot Cadeau had 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.
Cormac Ryan had 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 blocks.
Harrison Ingram had 10 points, 14 rebounds, and 1 assist.
Needs Work
The Tar Heels need to continue to get better at playing solid defense without fouling. They have allowed too many ticky-tack fouls to their opponents in the game.
UNC needs to make sure they get Armando Bacot involved in the offense because he tends to float around and is not as effective in the game.
Final Observations
The Tar Heels improved to 16-3 on the season and are now 8-0 in ACC play. The Heels have won nine straight games and are finding different ways to win each time out. Tonight was RJ Davis’s time to take over and found multiple ways to score going into his bag of tricks. He is currently playing like an All-American and an ACC Player of the Year.
Hubert Davis and his staff are doing a great job of putting the players and position to succeed on the floor. The Tar Heels are continuing to get contributions off the bench from Withers, Washington, and Trimble. The chemistry is really coming together and the players are having fun on the floor playing for each other. We still haven’t seen their best game yet. They haven’t put two halves together where everyone is playing well. UNC still has room for improvement while they are beating all of their ACC opponents by double digits. Next up is Florida St. in Tallahassee on Saturday at 2 pm on ESPN.
Great game by the Heels!! Once Cadeau develops a semblance of a jump shot, and we can somehow cut down the minutes for Bacot and Davis, we’ll be that much more effective. I’m thinking about 3 to 5 less minutes for Davis. Bacot needs to ATTACK his defender and try to get him in foul trouble.