An 11-day layoff didn’t seem to affect the UNC basketball team for the worse. The Tar Heels dominated Boston College from tip-off to buzzer, using a balanced scoring attack to notch a 91-65 win Sunday afternoon, the program’s first of 2022.
𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/8T9A5Z7u03
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) January 2, 2022
Due to the ACC’s scheduling, this was UNC’s first visit to Conte Forum since the 2018-19 season. The Tar Heels only hosted the Eagles in the 2019-20 season, and had their game against BC cancelled due to COVID last year.
Four different Tar Heels scored 17 points or more, led by sophomore guard Caleb Love, who tied his season-high with 22. It’s the fifth time this season Love has scored 22 points.
“I laughed at Coach, I was like, ‘I’m at 22, Coach!” Love said. “And he took me out. But it’s all good. We’ve gotta get the young guys some run, and it was good to see them out there learning and getting better.”
The ‘young guys,’ freshmen Dontrez Styles and D’Marco Dunn, combined for 10 points off the bench, with each logging season-highs in minutes.
Junior forward Armando Bacot poured in 18 and recorded his ninth double-double of the season by snagging 11 rebounds. R.J. Davis and Brady Manek both scored 17, with Davis not missing a shot against the Eagles, going 5-5 from the floor and 5-5 from the foul line.
“He played really well,” Manek said of Davis. “He’s one of those guys that you need to step up and needs to make big shots for us… he was getting out there and playing hard defense. We just all played together.”
The game was Carolina’s first since a December 21 win over Appalachian State in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels’ December 29 game against Virginia Tech was postponed due to COVID protocols within the Hokies’ program. The status of this game was also in doubt, as the Eagles had also been in COVID protocols over the holiday break. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday before being moved to Sunday.
“We’ve been itching to play,” Bacot said. “There have been a lot of different cancellations and stuff like that, so we were all ready to play and pretty pumped for the game.”
The Tar Heels began the game shorthanded, as junior Justin McKoy was ruled out due to COVID protocols. The roster got thinner mere minutes into the game, as starting forward Dawson Garcia was forced to exit after taking a blow to the head. He did not play the rest of the game, and head coach Hubert Davis did not have any update to Garcia’s status afterward.
With the win over the Eagles, UNC is now 2-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The Tar Heels have now also won their first three road games of the season, although Conte Forum at times felt more populated with UNC fans.
“There was a lot of blue out there,” Bacot said. “I saw more blue than I saw red.”
The team’s next scheduled game is also a road trip: a visit to Notre Dame on January 5 at 9 p.m.
“I guess being on the road, it just sharpens us on both ends of the floor,” Davis said. “Other than that… I don’t know what it is. If I knew the answer to that, I would’ve called Kentucky and told them, ‘Let’s play you in Lexington.’ I really like the way we’re playing on the road, but it really doesn’t matter, road, neutral or home: with this team, if we do the things we’ve practiced in practice… we’re gonna put ourselves in a position for good things to happen.”
Featured image via UNC Athletic Comminications/Maggie Hobson
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines