Despite hot shooting from the visitors and some growing pains on both sides of the ball, the UNC men’s basketball team took care of Radford in its season opener on Monday night, defeating the Highlanders 86-70 in the Smith Center.
𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/wlzLabtwp6
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) November 7, 2023
“I felt like everybody that played made plays that were impactful for us to come out with the win tonight,” said head coach Hubert Davis afterward. “I was really happy with everyone.”
Preseason All-American Armando Bacot lived up to the billing down low, extending his own school record with his 69th career double-double: 25 points and 13 rebounds, both of which were game-highs. No other Tar Heel had more than four boards. Joining Bacot in double figures were R.J. Davis (13 points), Notre Dame transfer Cormac Ryan (13) and Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram (12).
In a departure from the trend of his first two seasons, Hubert Davis used his bench early and often against the Highlanders. All 11 scholarship players saw time for the Tar Heels, with 10 of them playing at least eight minutes. Nine of eleven players scored.
“Top to bottom, we’ve got really good players,” said Ryan. “Guys who really compete, guys who can come in on any given night and blow the doors off… it’s a long season. It’s a long game. You’re gonna have to try and wear people down sometimes. That depth is big for us.”
Indeed, Carolina’s depth appeared to slow down a hot shooting start from the Highlanders, who shot 17-34 (50 percent) in the first half but just 11-32 (34.4 percent) in the second. By contrast, UNC backed up a 16-29 (55.2 percent) first half with a 16-32 (50 percent) second half.
“I was really proud of their response in the second half defensively,” Davis said. “In the first half, we were doing a good job guarding their actions for the first 20-25 seconds, then they would go one-on-one and we were just breaking down.”
“Our main objective coming out of halftime was to guard the ball,” said freshman guard Elliot Cadeau, who finished with a team-high six assists in his highly-anticipated debut. “We weren’t doing well in one-on-one defense. We just took pride on that more in the second half.”
Radford led for 7:25 in the first half and trailed by only five going into halftime. Carolina shot well during the opening half but committed eight turnovers, which turned into eight Highlander points. UNC committed just three in the second half, and as Radford’s shooting tailed off, the Tar Heels were able to stretch the lead thanks to efficient post play from Bacot. He scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting in the final 20 minutes.
“Our advantage is attacking the paint,” Davis said. “Armando did a really good job.”
Ryan, Ingram and Paxson Wojcik each finished with three assists, contributing to a team total of 18 on the night. Carolina topped 18 assists just four times all of last season.
“I think we could’ve had over 20,” Davis said. “We missed a couple bunnies. I love the way that we share the basketball.”
Wojcik was the subject of medical attention before the game after taking an elbow to the face from Bacot during a shootaround. Wojcik received stitches and wore a wrap on his head, but still started and scored five points.
“I got him pretty bad,” Bacot said. “He went down. I was surprised he played. My elbow was hurting, too. I got him clean.”
Carolina has not lost a season opener since the 2004-05 season, and has not lost a home opener since 2001-02. The Tar Heels will be back in action at home in the Smith Center against Lehigh on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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