Back in January, the Tar Heels managed just 58 points in a full game against Boston College.
Saturday afternoon against Florida State, they put up 62… in the first half.
A scorching-hot opening 20 minutes for Carolina, combined with putrid offense from the Seminoles, staked head coach Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels to a 62-24 halftime lead. It’s the largest-ever halftime lead for Carolina over an ACC opponent in the Smith Center, and the third-largest against any opponent in the building. To grasp just how large it was, Florida State outscored UNC by 18 points in the second half, and the Tar Heels still won by 20.
𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/0ZTFciqGiI
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) February 12, 2022
“We wanted to be the first ones to send a statement,” said sophomore guard R.J. Davis. “And I think we did that.”
UNC’s first-half stats beg a double take. Carolina shot 23-31 (74 percent) from the field in the first 20 minutes, as well as 9-12 from three-point range. Sophomore guard Caleb Love broke out of his shooting slump in a big way, hitting five of six threes in the first half. He would finish with 18 points, a career-high six threes (he’d only hit four in the previous three games combined), and tie a season-high with six assists.
Two days before Valentine’s Day, it was certainly the weekend of Love.
“I put too much work in for me to switch anything up,” he said. “Some people like to get superstitious about what shoes they wear… but I just kept working.”
Carolina’s offense benefited from one of its most balanced scoring outputs of the season. Four UNC starters scored in double figures, eight scored overall, and the Tar Heels got 22 points from the bench. Eight of those 22 came from freshman Dontrez Styles, in what was the best performance of his young college career. His 16 minutes played were by far a season-high.
“I just feel like I got better mentally,” Styles said of his improvement this season. “I’m at a better place now. I’ve been talking to therapists. They’ve been helping me a lot.”
Offense and defense worked together for the first eight minutes, as Carolina opened the game with 18 unanswered points, forced four early turnovers and didn’t allow a basket until 11:52 remained on the clock. By then, it was already 24-3 Tar Heels.
“We knew what the score was,” Love said. “Each time-out, I was just telling my teammates, ‘Stay on their necks. Don’t let up at all.'”
For Hubert Davis, it was a gratifying opening salvo.
“It just confirms and continues to show me that I think we can be a really good defensive team,” he said.
Against a Florida State frontcourt featuring three seven-footers, junior forward Armando Bacot still put up a strong line, scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to secure his 19th double-double of the season. It’s the 20th time in 25 games he’s finished with at least 10 rebounds. Perhaps even more impressive: the Seminoles finished with only four blocks against the undersized Tar Heels.
UNC also dominated on the fast break, recording 20 points on those opportunities. In a season where the Tar Heels have struggled at times running the break, it felt like a vintage Carolina basketball performance.
“I think we’re one of the better teams in the country in transition,” Davis said.
The Seminoles came into the game missing three key players, including two seniors, and certainly aren’t the force they’ve been in the ACC in past years. Still, Saturday’s win had to feel good against an opponent which had taken three of the previous four against the Tar Heels, including a close win in the semifinals of the 2021 ACC Tournament.
But due to the Seminoles’ recent streak of losses, this game was just a Quad 3 win for Carolina. The Tar Heels do have one Quad 1 win to their name this season over Michigan, but it remaining that way is dependent on the Wolverines’ performance down the stretch. Carolina has two more opportunities to secure Quad 1 wins: at Virginia Tech next Saturday and at Duke in the regular season finale.
But if you’re looking for bracketology forecasts, don’t go to UNC’s head coach.
“I don’t know what a ‘quad’ is,” Davis said on Friday. “Honestly, I have no idea.”
For the sake of Davis’ sanity, this may be beneficial. But for those of us who do practice the unholy art of bracketology, each win, no matter the opponent, helps UNC try to inch off the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The 20-point blowout losses like those of the previous Saturday? Let’s just say each of those sharpens the theoretical needle.
“I like to look at things from a positive standpoint,” Davis said. “And I’m really proud of our guys, throughout the entire season, that they’ve been willing to get back up and compete and fight.”
Featured image via Todd Melet. For a complete photo gallery of the game, click here.
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