Behind a dominant performance from their big men, the Tar Heels cruised to an 82-62 win over Northeastern on Wednesday night at the Smith Center.

Freshman forward Day’Ron Sharpe led UNC in scoring with 15 points, while senior Garrison Brooks added a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Another Tar Heel freshman forward, Walker Kessler, added a career-high 10 points in a game where UNC scored 44 of its 82 points in the paint.

Armando Bacot also chipped in nine points and eight rebounds as UNC’s size proved to be too much to handle for Northeastern (9-8)

“We have four big guys that have been shooting a much higher percentage than our perimeter players,” head coach Roy Williams said afterward. “I mean, it wasn’t a great shooting day for our big guys today, but over the course of the season they’ve shot a much higher percentage. For us, it’s the smartest thing to get them the shots. I think all four of our guys are big time college players who are going to be big time players and play basketball for a living.”

The Tar Heels also had a huge advantage on the backboards, winning the rebounding battle by a margin of 48-33.

On the perimeter, freshman point guard Caleb Love set a new career-high with nine assists while fellow freshman Kerwin Walton tied his career-high with 14 points.

It was a solid performance from a UNC team that wasn’t even sure if it would get to play a game this week when its originally scheduled game against Virginia Tech on Tuesday was postponed.

Northeastern was added to the schedule as a last-minute replacement, but it all worked out fine in the end for the Tar Heels–who have played just seven of their 20 games at home so far this season.

“This whole thing that’s going on right now, I feel heck of a lot safer coming here and playing than I do getting on a plane going somewhere else and playing,” Williams said. “And again, we didn’t try to find number 353 in the country. We found a team that had a higher RPI, net, whatever it is, than three teams in our league. Yes, if we have to go on Twitter again, I’m going to try to find another home game. [That’s the] bottom line.”

Up Next:

The Tar Heels are currently scheduled to play Louisville on Saturday, but that could end up changing as the Cardinals continue to deal with COVID-19 issues inside their program.

Game Notes:

  • UNC shot 42 percent for the game and turned the ball over just 10 times.
  • Northeastern was led by 27 points from guard Tyson Walker, 21 of which came in the first half.

 

FINAL BOX SCORE

 

Photo via Robert Willett (ACC Media)

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