After weathering a spirited first-half push from its overmatched opponents Friday afternoon at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, No. 2 seed UNC took care of business and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament with a 84-66 victory over the No. 15 seed Lipscomb Bisons.
The teams traded the lead back-and-forth over the first 16 minutes of Friday’s game, as Lipscomb (23-10) came out pushing a breakneck pace and hitting enough shots to keep things competitive.
Turnovers also proved to be a problem for the Tar Heels (26-10) in the early going, as Lipscomb scored 13 of its 34 first-half points off of UNC mistakes.
Theo Pinson (left) and Kenny Williams (right) led the way as UNC rolled past Lipscomb in the second half on Friday. (Todd Melet)
Over time, however, the talent disparity between the two sides began to shine through. UNC closed the first half on a 12-1 run and took a nine-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
From there, the Bisons never pulled within eight points as the Tar Heels led by as many as 23 during the final minutes.
All five UNC starters scored in double figures in the game, led by 18 from junior guard Kenny Williams—who nailed four of his five attempts from behind the three-point line.
It was senior wing Theo Pinson that controlled much of the action for the Tar Heels, though, as both a scorer and a playmaker. The Greensboro native nearly recorded a triple double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“It’s a big-time game,” Pinson said. “You win or go home, bottom line. I think, if you don’t have jitters, you’re not human. Bottom line.
“We needed to get our feet wet,” he added. “And as you saw, once we got going, we got going.”
The Tar Heels held Lipscomb to just 36 percent shooting from the floor and kept them under 77 points for the first time in its last 15 games. (Todd Melet)
Even with Luke Maye scoring just 10 points on a 2-for-9 shooting performance from the floor, UNC still shot 51 percent as a team in what was a balanced all-around offensive performance.
Defensively, the Tar Heels held Lipscomb 17 points below its season average and limited the Bisons’ star guard, Garrison Mathews, to just eight points on 3-for-14 shooting from the field.
It wasn’t the prettiest game from start to finish for head coach Roy Williams and company, but they did what they needed to do.
As a result, they earned the opportunity to extend their season at least one more game—and kept hopes of repeating as national champions alive and well.
“Late in the first half, I yelled at them in the huddle and they tried to show me how dumb I was,” Williams told reporters afterwards. “They went out and played very well the last four minutes, got us a little bit of a margin. And then just kept playing and making plays. ”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels will now face No. 7 seed Texas A&M on Sunday.
Game Notes:
- Roy Williams improved to 28-0 all-time in the first round as a head coach.
- Friday was the first NCAA Tournament game in the history of the Lipscomb men’s basketball program.
- UNC snapped Lipscomb’s streak of 14 consecutive games scoring at least 77 points.
- The Tar Heels are now 22-4 this season when Kenny Williams scores in double figures.
- Joel Berry moved past Michael Jordan for 12th place on UNC’s all-time scoring list.
Photo via Todd Melet
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