The No. 20 North Carolina men’s basketball team exacted some revenge Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, handily defeating UAB 89-58 to improve to 9-3 overall.
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Last year, it was former Tar Heel-turned Blazer Jerod Haase who led his UAB team to an upset victory over Roy Williams’ Tar Heels, but there was little chance at a repeat performance on this day inside the Smith Center.
The UNC bench gets excited (Todd Melet)
Carolina used Marcus Paige’s team-leading 16 points and an uber-balanced scoring attack that featured a whopping six players in double figures to cruise past an undermanned Blazer squad.
“At some points during the game today, I thought we were pretty doggone good. I thought we were really good defensively early. And I thought we were pretty doggone good late.[…] The only disappointing thing in the second half were the turnovers,” UNC head coach Roy Williams says.
***Listen to Roy Williams’ postgame remarks***
As for UAB, it was senior forward C.J. Washington who led the scoring charge with 12 points, but it wasn’t near enough to threaten an imposing Carolina squad.
With the loss, the Blazers dropped to 4-9 on the season.
“I’m extremely disappointed in the outcome and the process of how we went about it. Coach Williams and the Carolina team are fantastic. We have a team that is inexperienced and haven’t had a lot of tests like this on the road,” UAB Coach Haase says.
The Tar Heels came out with suffocating defense and crisp, sharp passing to establish an early 11-2 advantage with 15:59 on the first half clock.
Brice Johnson with a monster slam (Todd Melet)
Kennedy Meeks was especially active on the boards and used his big body to routinely box out the Blazers right from the outset.
UNC’s aggressive defense disrupted the UAB offense, forcing key turnovers that allowed the Tar Heels to get out and run – just like they like it.
But it was Justin Jackson’s and Paige’s three-pointers on back-to-back possessions that broke the game wide open, giving Carolina the commanding 40-19 lead with 1:18 remaining in the first half.
At intermission, UNC sported a 44-23 edge thanks to shooting at a 45.5-percent clip from the floor and most importantly, managing to knock down four shots from behind the arc – something that hasn’t come easy for the Tar Heels in recent years.
UAB’s Jerod Haase chats will UNC’s Coach Williams and Coach Robinson (Todd Melet)
UNC came out of the locker room with its ‘sense of urgency’ intact, igniting the sparse, but strong Dean Dome crowd with explosive plays around the rim.
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Paige appeared to recapture his shooting touch (welcome news for UNC) and all appeared right again for a UNC team that has now seemingly righted the ship, winning three straight games with the ACC gauntlet on the near horizon.
“When we’re making threes, we know we’re going to get production from Brice [Johnson] and Kennedy [Meeks] inside. When myself, Justin [Jackson] or Nate [Britt] can knock down a couple threes, it makes the offense even that more dangerous,” Paige says.
Next up for the Tar Heels is a Dec. 30 test against the Tribe of William & Mary. The contest is slated to tip at 7 p.m.
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