UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team is On a Four-Game Win Streak

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

On Saturday afternoon, The Tar Heels basketball team hosted the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. At the beginning of the first half, the Heels did not play the way they wanted to as they were unable to get into their offense. It was the match-up 2-3 zone Georgia Tech was playing that bothered UNC. This Yellow Jackets’ 2-3 match-up zone early on gave the Heels huge problems and forced UNC to be out of sorts and to turnover the ball entirely too much, which caused Georgia Tech to have the lead early. By the end of the first half, Carolina settled in and started to execute on offense and was able to gain the lead going into halftime. In the second half, the Heels extended their lead to double figures as Georgia Tech had no answer for Joel Berry and Cameron Johnson, who led the Heels to their fourth straight win.

UNC Game Stats

North Carolina

Box Score    FG    3PT     FT      REB     AST    STL   BLK     TO       PF       PTS

1. Pinson           4-9    1-1       2-4       10        4          3          0          3          2          11
2. Maye              7-13  1-3       2-2       11        2           2          0          2          1          17
3. Berry II          3-17  1-8       9-10     8        2          0          0          2          3          16
4. Johnson       6-12  2-4       2-2       3          1          1          0          0          2          16
5. Williams       2-6   0-4       1-2       3          5          0          0          2          3          5
6. Rush              0-0   0-0       0-0       0        0          0          0          1          0          0
7. Brooks          0-0  0-0       2-2       1           1          0          0          3          1          2
8. Manley         4-4   0-0       1-2       3          0          0          0          0          0         9
9. Ma                  1-1    0-0       0-0       0          0          0          0          0          0        2
10. Platek          0-0   0-0       0-0       3          0          1          0          0          0        0
11. Felton          1-3    0-1       0-0       0          2          1          0          1          0            2
12. Robinson   0-1   0-0       0-0       0          0          0          0          0          0         0

TEAM  28-66   5-21     19-24   19        17        8          0          14        12        80

42.4%  23.8%  79.2%

Georgia Tech

Box Score     FG     3PT     FT       REB     AST   STL    BLK     TO     PF       PTS

1. Gueye            6-9    0-0       0-0       4          2          0          1          2          4          12
2. Lammers     6-11   0-0       0-0       4          2          3          1          0          2          12
3. Alvarado      6-11   4-7       1-2       3          2          0          0          3          5          17
4. Alston           0-1     0-1       0-0       0          0          0          0          1          2          0
5. Okogie          8-16  0-3       2-3       7          3          2          3          2          4          18
6. Jackson        3-6    1-1       0-1       2          4          4          0          5          5           7
7. Haywood II 0-6   0-6       0-0       2          2          2          1          2          1            0

TEAM    29-60   5-18     3-6       26        15        11        6          15        23       66

48.3%  27.8%  50.0%

UNC Bright Spots

Sterling Manley played another good game as he is starting to separate himself from the other two freshman bigs. He finished the game with 9 points going 4-4 from the field and 3 rebounds, and because of his strong play lately, he should get more minutes in the upcoming games.

Cameron Johnson played well as he had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal.

Joel Berry had 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Luke Maye had another double-double as he had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Theo Pinson also had a double-double as he had 11 points and 10 rebounds. 

Needs Work

The Tar Heels need to cut down on their turnovers and not settle for threes as much on offense because it allows teams to hang around when they do. They also need to continue to improve their perimeter defense.

Final Observations

The Tarheels seem to be in a good rhythm as they have won four games in row. Everyone on the team seems to know their roles now and it has paid dividends in the win-loss column. Hopefully they can continue to improve and keep growing into the team we all know that they have the potential to become, building into mid-season form.