UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Get Payback On the Wolfpack

by Derrick Isaiah Clyburn

After the huge win against our rival Duke Thursday night, the Heels traveled to Raleigh Saturday afternoon to face another rival in NC State. The Tar Heels started the game off with a lot of energy and intensity on both sides of the floor, forcing turnovers and scoring in transition helping them gain a 10-point lead. NC State would then counter with a 19-0 run causing a huge swing in momentum, but Carolina would make a comeback and only be down by two going into halftime. In the second half, Luke Maye would be too much for the Wolfpack scoring 27 points in the second half alone. With Luke Maye’s scoring outburst, the Heels would never look back as Carolina picked up the effort on defense and the rest of the starters would get into a rhythm on the offensive end as well to close out the game, resulting in a nine-point victory for the Heels.

UNC Game Stats

North Carolina

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

1. Pinson         4-5     0-0    3-4      3          7          1          0          5          0          11
2. Maye           15-22 2-3      1-1      17        3          1          2          6          4          33
3. Berry II        7-13   1-3      1-1      5          0          2          0          3          2          16
4. Johnson     5-12   0-5      3-3      2          1          1          1          0          1          13
5. Williams    4-8     2-3      1-3      5          3          2          1          2          3          11
6. Brooks       1-4     0-0      0-0      2          0          0          0          1          1          2
7. Manley      2-2     0-0      1-1        2          0          0          1          1          3          5
8. Platek        1-2     0-1      0-0       0          0          0          0         0          0          2
9. Robinson 1-3     1-2      0-0       1          1          0          0           1          2          3
10. Woods      0-0   0-0      0-0      0          1          0          0          0          0          0

TEAM  40-71  6-17    10-13  42        16        7          5          19        16        96

56.3% 35.3% 76.9%

NC State

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

1. Yurtseven  4-9   0-1     2-4      5          0          0          1          0          1          10
2. Johnson      5-8   1-1      1-2       5          9          1          1          6          4          12
3. Beverly       4-6   3-4      0-0      2          5          1          0          1          3          11
4. Dorn            10-15 1-2     0-0      3          1          3          2          1          3          21
5. Freeman    5-11   2-3     5-6      2          0         2          0          2          0          17
6. Freeman    2-4    0-0    2-4      2           1          3          1          0          2          6
7. Abu              5-10 0-1      2-3      1           1          1          0          1          2          12
8. Hunt            0-1    0-1      0-0      0         0          1          0          0          0          0

TEAM  35-64  7-13    12-19  24        17        12        5          11        15        89

54.7% 53.8% 63.2%

 UNC Bright Spots

All of the starters scored in double figures.

Luke Maye had a career-high 33 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal

Joel Berry had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Cameron Johnson had 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block.

Kenny Williams had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.

Theo Pinson had 11 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Needs Work

The players coming off the bench need to play better and produce more when they are on the court.

The freshman bigs need to improve their help defense, be stronger with the ball on the offense, and improve on finishing better around the rim.

The Tar Heels need to work on cutting down their turnovers especially unforced ones. Today they had a total of 19 turnovers.

Final Observations

These last two games have been huge wins for the Tar Heels especially since they were against their two rivals. UNC needs to take this momentum into their remaining games and come out with the same effort and energy that they displayed on offense. March is around the corner and it appears that North Carolina basketball is starting to round into form.