The Tar Heels didn’t let a skilled Furman team get their goat.
In years past, this was a game that Carolina could have lost after blowing out to an early lead and then settling for a halftime tie, giving up ten 3-pointers to the hot-shooting Paladins.
Clearly, the Heels’ key to taking back the game was continuing to pound the ball inside and controlling the offensive glass where they won the second-chance points battle, 19-0. And they had to close out better on Furman’s excellent long-range shooters, who missed 16 of their 18 second-half 3-balls as Carolina grabbed the momentum and ran the lead up to 22 points before securing a fifth-straight win on the way to Las Vegas for a Saturday headliner against fourth-ranked UCLA.
Once again, Hubert Davis played a short bench, using sophomore Anthony Harris as his sixth man over last year’s starter Kerwin Walton, from whom Hubert obviously needs more than shooting.
Harris and Leaky Black are becoming the stoppers when the match-ups dictate that. Black also drained his first 3-pointer of the season and earned high praise from his coach.
“I asked in the preseason, what do you have to do to get on the floor and what do you have to do to stay there?” Davis said. “The answers to those questions are a huge determining factor on your own personal career. Leaky has done that the best. He’s been able to play his role perfectly.”
Davis also praised his dynamic backcourt duo of Caleb Love and RJ Davis for more than scoring, noting that they combined for 11 assists and 3 turnovers after going 1 and 7 in the so-so win over Elon. And also the big brigade of Dawson Garcia, who scored UNC’s first nine points and finished with his first double-double as a Tar Heel; Armando Bacot who had his sixth of the season and Brady Manek who had 13 and 6 in only 19 minutes.
Whereas it looked like the 8-2 Tar Heels weren’t ready for the Bruins in their last outing, they changed that narrative; when the going got tough this time, they were made of tougher stuff.
They have now held five straight opponents to under 64 points and an average of less than 40 percent shooting.
Go get that bear.
Photo via Todd Melet.
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