1. Carolina finished off North Carolina’s regular season sweep with a 84-74 victory. In two meetings this year, the Tar Heels shoe has led 79:06 from a potential 80:00 and has never been late.
2. The immediate concern that comes out of the game is health black leaky. Big Tar heel came down embarrassingly after challenging for a rebound late in the first half. Black had an overextended right knee and warmed up before the second half, but didn’t feel like he could play. Needless to say, the Tar Heels need black when Buddy Boeheim and Syracuse come to town on Monday night.
3 – in the absence of blackberry, Buff Johnson– who already played strong minutes in the first half – got extended playing time. Johnson is not the same defender as Black of course. But it does offer two things: a willingness to compete for every bounce, and a hard run in the go game to try and put points on the board. Johnson’s aggressive run gave him a second half-dipping which forced him to stop working. And the Hubert Davis He has consistently said that Johnson is a better shooter than Carolina fans have seen thus far. Johnson showed it on Saturday, notching a pair of three throws – equaling his three-point total to Saturday’s all-season effort – during an agonizing second half. Johnson finished a career high of 16 points.
4. Without Money Bates, the State of North Carolina has a limited presence in the Post. Armando Bacot He capitalized on that early and often, and he already had a double in the first half. That gives him 23 double-digit rebounds this season, putting him ahead of Bryce Johnson for the most number of a Carolina season. He also has a 22 double, which puts him behind Johnson as the Carolina singles season ahead in that category. Bakout’s final tally: 28 points and 18 rebounds, which is a phenomenal performance.
5. Sabbath really made you appreciate Bakout’s improvement. He scored in just about every way possible, including hitting the defender, running the field, and even flinging in a superb jump on the baseline. Serious work with Bacot, Shawn May And the rest of the technical staff Pay huge profits this year.
6. Brady Manic Continue to play seasoned and productive basketball. He was instrumental in Carolina’s quick start by scoring and distributing the ball; He finished the first half as Carolina’s top scorer (14) and assistant (two). Manek also reached his 300th career benchmark, making him the only tar heels ever to reach that career mark. Marcus Page leads his football career with a record number of three points, with 299 points. Manek broke the stats with 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.
7. Carolina has now won 35 of the last 40 against North Carolina State and 52 of the last 64. Tar Heels bitumen 18-5 against the state at the PNC Arena and 22-5 on the field overall. Read these numbers again. This is an amazing success against a team that they always consider the biggest game of the year when they face Carolina.
8. Caleb Love Not out of the game. Love has now played 107:13 straight minutes without a comeback, dating back to the first half in Blacksburg. He scored 16 points against the pack but took 11 shots to do so and only hit 1 for 7 from the three point streak to go with his four turnovers.
9. Some of those turnovers came against the NC State area, causing accidental problems for the tar heels in the second half. The Pack is generally an indifferent defensive team, which creates some tension in Monday’s game against a much better area team in Syracuse. Rotation will be 14 areas of concern Hubert Davis.
10. The fun thing about winning early Saturday is that it gives the Tar Heels a chance to sit back and watch the rest of the league beat themselves up. The rest of the formula is simple: Win another match, and Carolina will save a double bye at the ACC Championship.
11. In a very unique schedule that saw Carolina’s ACC schedule loaded with Saturday’s home game, Tar Heels played their second out of three consecutive ACC games that marked the opponent’s first day. Virginia Tech did this last weekend in Blacksburg, NC on Saturday, and there’s word next Saturday it could be a game of importance in Durham.
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