Tar Heels Bounce Back, Beat UCLA 78-56

One day after a disappointing loss to Butler, the Tar Heel basketball team changed up its lineup, came out fresh, and rolled to a 78-56 victory over the no. 22 UCLA Bruins on Thanksgiving night in the Bahamas.

Roy Williams started Isaiah Hicks, Joel James, and Nate Britt in place of Brice Johnson, JP Tokoto and Kennedy Meeks. James was a non-factor, but Hicks finished with 10 points on 5-7 shooting – tying the career high he set the day before.

“They pay me a lot of money to make decisions,” said head coach Roy Williams on the lineup switch. “I was ticked off (after the Butler game), I made decisions – and it worked out fine.”

Meeks, Johnson and Tokoto prepare to enter the game after sitting the first couple minutes. (Photo by Nick Vitali.)

UCLA jumped out to an early 7-point lead, but Carolina came back quickly, took the lead, and went into halftime up 43-29. UCLA cut the lead to 9 early in the second half, but the Tar Heels rolled from there, dominating in the paint and hitting outside shots over the Bruins’ zone. Marcus Paige gave Carolina a 17-point lead with back-to-back three-pointers, and UCLA never threatened again.

“We shot the ball better, and we caught UCLA on a night when their shots didn’t go in,” said Williams.

Paige led the way for the Heels with 21 points. Justin Jackson added 12 and JP Tokoto chipped in 10 off the bench.

“We did get a little motivation from our coaching staff” after the Butler game, said Paige. (An understatement, presumably – as a laughing Williams sat beside him.) “I like the way we responded; hopefully we won’t have to have a lot of those teaching points again.”

A night after being out-muscled by Butler, the Tar Heels led the Bruins 34-28 in points in the paint.

The key stat, though, was turnovers. Hounded by Carolina’s defense, UCLA turned the ball over 23 times to UNC’s 11, and UNC capitalized, leading the Bruins 31-6 in points off turnovers.

“For us it’s easy now to see the difference in how we played tonight versus how we played yesterday,” said Paige. “Being unselfish, flying around on defense – that’s a more fun style to play, and when you see the results…why wouldn’t you want to play that way?”

In all, ten Tar Heels scored in the game – including Sasha Seymore, who came in late with the Heels up big.

“We play more guys than they do…and so it was important for us to have fresh troops out there most of the time,” said Williams. UNC’s deeper bench meant their players would be better rested in the second half, a big advantage in case the Heels needed a comeback.

On this night, though, they didn’t even come close to needing it.

Meeks and crew celebrate the Tar Heels’ victory. (Photo by Nick Vitali.)

The Heels next face Florida in the fifth-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, Friday night at 8 pm. (The Gators narrowly escaped an upset bid by UAB in the late game. Florida and UNC last met in the 2000 Final Four.) Wisconsin and Oklahoma will meet in the final at 4:30.

Tar Heels Bounce Back, Beat UCLA 78-56

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