Who said being the No. 1 team was easy? It certainly hasn’t been for Carolina. The Tar Heels took another stern challenge Tuesday night in the Smith Center, fighting off Gardner-Webb 72-66.

“I’m happy that we won,” head coach Hubert Davis said after the game. “But the sustained effort and energy, and the joy of being out there on the floor… it’s not where it needs to be. It’s not consistent. And as I said before, it will change and it will get better.

In a complete turn from last Friday’s run-and-gun first half against Charleston, the Tar Heels and Runnin’ Bulldogs slogged through a sleepy first half which ended with Carolina in front, 26-22. UNC shot just 29 percent and made only nine shots in the half, with five of those coming off the hands of graduate forward Pete Nance. Nance had by far his most productive game as a Tar Heel, scoring 18 points, grabbing five rebounds, blocking three shots and dishing out an assist in 26 minutes. He fouled out late in the second half.

“Probably my most effective game,” Nance said. “I’m glad I was able to help the team win.”

Nance’s disqualification came as Gardner-Webb was slicing a UNC second-half lead which had ballooned to as many as 16 points down to as little as five at 61-56 with 2:45 remaining. The Runnin’ Bulldogs shot just 30 percent in the first half, but boosted that to 53 percent in a hot second, scoring 44 points in the process. And though Gardner-Webb made just 10 shots in that cold first half, five of them were dunks. The visitors outscored the Tar Heels 32-14 in the paint.

“It’s very difficult to do the exact opposite of what the coaches have asked you to do,” a clearly displeased Davis said. “That was very confusing to me.”

“The great thing about all this is it’s stuff that can be fixed,” said senior center Armando Bacot, who once again fell short of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. “It’s just little nicks and stuff we’ve gotta figure out with our defense. Once we get that all together, we’ll be in good shape.”

Junior guard Caleb Love led the Tar Heels with 20 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Love turned on his offensive game after halftime, shooting 6-12 from the floor and playing all 20 minutes. He leads Carolina with 20.7 points per game this season.

“We had to all play better,” Love said. “I was just getting my buckets in the rhythm of the game. I just found my rhythm.”

Bacot did not finish as UNC’s leading rebounder, though the Tar Heels did win the rebounding battle for the first time this season. The team’s leading rebounder was the shortest player on the floor: junior guard R.J. Davis, who Hubert Davis called “the heart of this team.” In a press conference in which the theme was the team’s shortcomings, R.J. Davis was the only player to attract specific praise.

The others were not so lucky, and Hubert Davis even intimated lineup changes could be on the horizon.

“One of the things I think helps with hunger and thirst is playing time, and lack of playing time,” he said. “It’s a long time since I played, but I do remember that gets your attention. That’s one of things that over the next three or four days, it will be addressed, it will be re-evaluated, it will be tweaked and pivoted and changed and altered.

“I could practice tonight,” a fired-up Davis went on. “We have to give them a day off tomorrow. I’m obligated, by rules, to do that. But I’m ready to go tonight. I can’t wait for practice on Thursday. I’m ready to go.”

If you feel the earth trembling that morning, it’s probably the Tar Heels running.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.

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