It wasn’t always easy. But then again, it’s rarely come easy this season for the Tar Heels.
Carolina scrapped out a tough, 72-64 win over visiting Boston College Tuesday night in the Smith Center, never trailing in the game but never quite putting it out of question until the final minute.
HEELS WIN.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/VgAabhEKPU
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) January 18, 2023
The biggest headline of the night belonged to the biggest Tar Heel on the floor. Senior center Armando Bacot scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to record his 60th career double-double, tying him with Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham for the school record. He also inched closer to Tyler Hansbrough’s school record for total rebounds, and now stands 16 away from tying that mark.
“I definitely was going for it today,” Bacot said after the game. “It means a lot. I guess I can credit Cole Anthony, Caleb Love and R.J. for all the missed shots.”
“It’s a great feeling as a coach, not having to guess, ‘Is this guy gonna play well?'” head coach Hubert Davis said. “With Armando, there’s no guesswork… what he’s doing statistically, it’s just unbelievable.”
For the first time since the opening minutes of the Wake Forest game on January 4, Bacot was joined in the frontcourt by graduate forward Pete Nance. Nance returned to the starting lineup after missing the previous three games (and most of a fourth) with a nagging back injury, aggravated against the Demon Deacons. Nance scored UNC’s first basket of the game and finished with six points and five rebounds. When on the bench, he sported a heated back brace and a custom chair to soothe his back.
“I don’t know if it helped at all, but I stayed loose all game,” Nance said. “It was just a precautionary thing.
“I knew before warmups I was gonna play,” he went on. “It was something that I wanted to be super cautious with… it’s felt great.”
UNC’s frontcourt still wasn’t quite healthy though, as freshman Jalen Washington sat out the game with an ankle injury suffered during that day’s shootaround. Washington dressed out on the bench but did not play.
In a departure from the trend, Carolina’s bench scored just seven points against the Eagles (four from D’Marco Dunn and three from Puff Johnson). UNC’s “Big 3” did the bulk of the scoring, with Bacot, R.J. Davis and Caleb Love combining for 54 of the team’s 72 points.
Sixteen of those came from Love, who finished in double figures despite more cold shooting from the floor. Love finished just 2-10 from three-point range after missing all of his long-range efforts at Louisville.
Still, Love’s finest moments of the night came when Carolina needed them most. Boston College cut what had been an 11-point Carolina lead down to just one point at 56-55 with 6:07 remaining, capitalizing on a UNC dry spell which had lasted for more than three minutes. Love found that a good time to knock down his second three of the night, then backed it up with a layup in transition. His five-point spurt ensured Boston College wouldn’t get within a possession for the remainder of the game. Love even capped off his night with a reverse dunk with 45 seconds left.
“My shots weren’t falling, but that’s not all that I come out there for,” Love said. “There’s other things I can do on the floor: defending, getting steals, creating for my teammates. That’s exactly what I was trying to do.”
Of the dunk, Love said, “I was just trying to do something a little different.”
What wasn’t different Tuesday night was the result for the home team: Carolina is now 9-0 in the Smith Center this season. Up next is a stiffer challenge than a Boston College team which did not make a single three-pointer on the night (the first time since 1990 UNC has not allowed a single three in a game): NC State, which stands just on the outside of this week’s AP Top 25 poll. The Wolfpack already sport wins over Duke and Miami, and will look to avenge two losses to the Tar Heels last season. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Featured image via Todd Melet. For a complete photo gallery of the game, click here.
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