Once again, the top-ranked men’s basketball team in the land had to sweat one out at home.
And once again, it did just enough to avoid disaster.
The Tar Heels trailed by seven points at the half to plucky College of Charleston and found themselves befuddled by the Cougars’ breathless pace. Add in an unusually bad first-half performance from preseason All-American Armando Bacot (one point, one rebound), and there was reason to worry in Chapel Hill Friday night.
But Bacot and the rest of the Tar Heels played inspired basketball in the second half, with the senior from Richmond, VA pouring in 27 points and grabbing five rebounds to help UNC rally, take the lead and pull away down the stretch. In fact, the 102-86 win bore an uncanny resemblance to Carolina’s road win in Charleston last season.
Heels win.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/dyK0h5xT6L
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) November 12, 2022
Staring down a halftime hole, head coach Hubert Davis called the Tar Heels a word no basketball player likes to be called: soft.
“It wasn’t pretty,” said fifth-year wing Leaky Black, who ended the night with 15 points, one shy of his career high. “He let us know how we looked out there. We were not playing tough at all. We were getting beat in every aspect of the game.”
“In my generation, if somebody calls you soft, it’s real,” Davis said. “But they were. We were soft in the first half. We were soft at parts against UNC-Wilmington. There’s a physicality that has to be brought all the time.”
That accusation sat particularly heavy on the shoulders of junior guard Caleb Love, who scored eight points in the first half but made just two shots. On defense, he found himself taken advantage of multiple times by Charleston’s Dalton Bolon, who scored 14 points in the first 20 minutes.
“I took it on the chin,” Love said of Davis’ halftime speech. “I don’t think I was being soft, but [Bolon] was getting whatever he wanted. I took it personal.”
Sounds an awful like a certain Carolina alumnus whose silhouette graces Love’s jersey.
Love did his best to transform into His Airness in the second half (he ended the night with 25 points, punctuated by a massive breakaway dunk), but the true star of the show was Bacot. His 28 total points were one off tying his career high, and though he didn’t secure his first double-double of the season, he still controlled the paint in a night-and-day improvement from the sleepy first half.
“We came out and we wanted to establish the big fella right away,” said graduate forward Pete Nance. “And he showed the player that he is.”
Bacot didn’t mince words when assessing his performance in the opening half, calling it “terrible.”
“I didn’t think I played a good game today,” he said. “I guess it’s something I’ve got to think on and look at film and see what I need to work on.”
It’s easy to see why Bacot was less than impressed despite his scoring outburst: for the second straight game, Carolina was out-rebounded by a smaller opponent. The Cougars won the rebounding battle 35-32, including a 15-8 advantage in offensive rebounds. It was a surprising setback for a team which ranked third in the country in defensive rebounding last season.
“That’s something that we pride ourselves on,” Davis said. “That’s something that needs to change, and will change.”
The 16-point win and 102-point biscuit-giving performance may cause some to forget the potential crisis brewing at halftime. But combine the antsy atmosphere with Monday night’s mediocre performance against UNC-Wilmington, and all may not be well with the No. 1 team in the country. Fortunately for Carolina, there are potentially 38 games remaining to get better.
“I felt… a little bit of a burden of the expectations,” Davis said. “I felt like on every play they were trying to make it look like the way we looked in April. And that’s just not possible.”
Will November showers bring April flowers? It’s too early to tell. But if Davis has to keep throwing the word “soft” around at halftime, the forecast may be gloomier than expected.
Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
