Let’s just say this game won’t be remembered as UNC’s finest hour.
The Tar Heels’ shooting struggles, particularly from in close, continued against Boston College on Wednesday night, as Carolina finished below 30 percent from the field. Yet, somehow, the Tar Heels still walked away with a 58-47 win over the Eagles to stay perfect at home this season.
𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/8e8LT6oQ4K
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) January 27, 2022
Well, “perfect” may be a strong word. Carolina has not lost at the Smith Center in the 2021-22 season, but that may be the only positive to take from this one.
Junior forward Armando Bacot fought through more shooting woes and saw his double-double streak snapped at 10 games, putting up just 6 points on 1-10 shooting. Despite his slump, the big man pulled down 18 rebounds, 7 of them on the offensive end, and played almost 38 minutes against the Eagles.
Head coach Hubert Davis’ tight rotation was apparent once again, as only eight Tar Heels saw playing time and all five starters played at least 34 minutes. Carolina is currently in the middle of a grueling, five-games-in-11-days stretch, which will conclude after a Saturday home game against NC State and a Tuesday road matchup with Louisville.
“I felt like we were a little tired,” Davis said after the game. “It’s been our third game in five days, [with] preparation for those games in between. And [the players] are also going to class as well. I just felt like we were a little tired.”
UNC shot a dreadful 29.1 percent on the evening, and 26.3 percent on two-pointers. It’s the lowest field goal percentage ever shot by a Carolina team in a win. Not only that, Wednesday night broke a streak of 22 consecutive games in which the Tar Heels lost when scoring fewer than 60 points. The dubious honors were only secured by even poorer offense from the Eagles, who made just one three-pointer in 16 attempts, managed a mere 16 points in the second half and went scoreless over the final 7:13 of the game.
“Moving forward, that’s winning basketball to me,” said senior wing and defensive specialist Leaky Black.
While that figure may look impressive for a team which has struggled with its defense, Davis felt at times it was more about what Boston College didn’t do than what Carolina did do.
“At times, I didn’t think we were playing really good defense,” he said. “I felt like they were missing as opposed to us stopping them.”
Sophomore guard Caleb Love led all players with 16 points on the night, though he required 17 shots to do so. His backcourt partner R.J. Davis added 13, seven of which came in an early second-half flurry. They were the only two Tar Heels in double figures. The only two Carolina players to finish above 50 percent from the floor were Black (2-3) and Puff Johnson (1-2). Johnson provided a boost in a particularly ugly second-half dry spell, hustling for loose balls and scoring on a putback layup. The sophomore wing has seen his playing time increase since coming back from a nagging foot injury which kept him out of action for a full year.
“I’m glad he’s out there. He’s producing. He’s helping us win,” Black said. “Really happy for him moving forward.”
Johnson’s play couldn’t salvage an ugly night for UNC as a whole around the rim. Carolina shot just 8-16 on its layup attempts, after shooting just 6-20 on layups against Virginia Tech Monday night.
“We just didn’t handle [Boston College’s] pressure,” Hubert Davis said. “It was difficult at times to get into our offense. We were dribbling the ball off of our feet. We weren’t catching the ball in positions where we could do something. It was too far away from the basket.”
Still, the head coach found a silver lining.
“A win is a win,” he said.
Black, meanwhile, seemed confident Saturday’s contest against NC State, when the Tar Heels will honor former head coach Roy Williams, wouldn’t be as unsightly a performance.
“I don’t want to jinx anything,” he said. “But I highly doubt that we’ll shoot that low percentage.”
For the sake of the viewing audience, one can only hope.
Featured image via Todd Melet. For a photo gallery of the game, click here.
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