Last Sunday’s sluggish performance against Fairfield left UNC head men’s basketball coach Roy Williams wanting to see his team’s effort level finally match its talent level.
After a 78-58 victory over the Wofford Terriers in the Dean Dome on Wednesday night, Williams was much happier with what he saw from his No. 1 ranked Tar Heels.
“I think our team was better today than we were Sunday,” Williams said after the game. “I think we were more attentive. We gave better effort. Defensively, we talked more. We were more consistent with it.
“[Wofford’s] a hard team to guard,” the coach added. “They do a great job with their motion, with a couple of big guys setting screens and handoffs, and it’s hard to keep getting through that.”
Brice Johnson slams the ball home. (Todd Melet)
The Tar Heels are now 3-0 this season after taking out the Terriers, who drop to 0-2 after going 28-7 a year ago.
Photos from UNC vs. Wofford
Senior forward Brice Johnson posted his third straight double-double for UNC, with 16 points and 14 rebounds, as fellow forward Kennedy Meeks also added 16 points of his own. That came as the result of an adjustment made when it was clear the team’s outside shooting was struggling in the opening minutes.
“It was definitely more of an emphasis [to go down low] because [the guards] weren’t knocking [three-pointers] today,” Johnson said. “They went a little cold there at the start, so Coach was like ‘Hey, we need to get the ball inside because we have a size advantage on both ends.’”
At halftime UNC led by just five points, despite the Terriers not having a single starter taller than 6-foot-7.
That lead shrunk to just 50-47 with 13:11 to play, before going on a 14-3 run over the next five minutes.
The key was that Wofford’s deep shots finally stopped falling. On the night, the visitors hit nine three-pointers—including three by guard Jaylen Allen, who led the Terriers with 15 points.
Only once in the game did the Tar Heels sink one from beyond the arc.
Sophomore guard Theo Pinson, UNC’s go-to perimeter defender, was confident that once the threes stopped going for Wofford, his team could pull away.
“I saw it a little bit in pregame, when [Wofford] was shooting the ball–you could just tell they’ve got the confidence,” Pinson said. “They shoot it great, actually. We knew they were going to make tough shots, but we knew that we were going to wear ‘em down at some point.”
Sophomore guard Joel Berry also contributed 16 points to the effort, matching Meeks and Johnson for the team lead.
Theo Pinson and Wofford’s CJ Neumann scramble for a loose ball. (Todd Melet)
Off the bench, junior Isaiah Hicks continued the big-man dominance, adding a season-high 12 points—while no other Tar Heel scored more than seven.
“I honestly feel like today was big,” Pinson said. “It shows what we can do if we play defense for 40 minutes. I mean, Wofford is a really good team. I mean, really good team. They’re gonna get some people.
“It just showed that we can defend at a high level, he added. “Their offense, they’re moving all the time—we don’t see many offenses like that. We did a really good job today, and I’m ready for the stretch.”
Up Next:
The stretch Pinson referred to begins with Saturday’s road game at Northern Iowa, and will continue into Monday and Tuesday when the Tar Heels compete in the CBE Hall-of-Fame Classic in Kansas City.
Game Notes:
- Thunderous applause and a standing ovation were given when UNC football players Marquise Williams, Mitch Trubisky, and Romar Morris, were shown in attendance on the video board.
- Carolina has made 50 of its 92 shots from the floor in the second half in this season’s three games.
- Joel Berry’s 16 points were a new career-high.
- The only UNC three-pointer of the night came from junior guard Nate Britt, who made it about midway through the first half.
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