CAROLINA 72, BOSTON COLLEGE 64
JANUARY 17, 2023
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

UNC Scoring Leader: Armando Bacot 20
UNC Rebound Leader: Bacot 16
UNC Assist Leader: Bacot and RJ Davis 3
Team Records: UNC 13-6, 5-3 ACC, Boston College 8-11, 2-6 ACC

• Armando Bacot had game highs in points (20), rebounds (16), assists (tied, 3) and blocks (tied, 1).
• Bacot tied the all-time UNC record for double-doubles with 60. He tied Billy Cunningham, who had 60 from 1962-65.
• Bacot and Cunningham are tied for eighth in ACC history with 60 double-doubles.
• Carolina is 45-15 when Bacot has a double-double (8-3 this season).
• Tonight was the second straight game Bacot had a double-double in the first half. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the first half at Louisville and 10 points, 12 rebounds vs. the Eagles.
• Bacot has 1,203 career rebounds, becoming the second Tar Heel with 1,200 (Tyler Hansbrough holds the record with 1,219).

• It was Bacot’s 67th career game with 10 or more rebounds, extending his own UNC record, and his 21st with 15 or more.
• It was his 19th career game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
• It was his second consecutive game with 16 rebounds, the first time this season he had 15 or more in consecutive games.
• Bacot has 1,616 points, 26th most in UNC history. He passed Mitch Kupchak (1,611) and Hubert Davis (1,615) tonight.
• Bacot has scored 20 or more points in seven of his last 10 games, including January 10 at Virginia when he played only 78 seconds before injuring his left ankle.
• Bacot, who came into the game averaging an ACC-best 4.4 offensive rebounds, had five offensive rebounds. Carolina is 7-3 this season and 27-10 in his career when he has five or more offensive boards.

• Carolina did not allow a three-point field goal for the first time in 33 seasons (Boston College was 0 for 6 from three). The last opponent that did not make a three was Jacksonville on 11/27/1990. The opponents had made a three in 1,149 straight games since the Jacksonville game.
• RJ Davis was 4 for 7 from three-point range and had 18 points.
• Davis has made 16 three-pointers in the last five games (16 for 28).
• Davis passed Jerry Stackhouse for 72nd in UNC scoring with 1,081 points.
• Leaky Black had four steals, the sixth consecutive game he made two or more steals. He has 18 in the last six games.

• Pete Nance played for the first time since a brief stint vs. Wake Forest on January 4. He made two three-pointers, had a season-high three offensive rebounds and scored six points in 30-plus minutes.
• Caleb Love made two three-pointers, the biggest of which came with 5:21 to play to stop an 8-0 BC run and give Carolina a 59-55 lead.
• Love passed James Worthy, Harrison Barnes, Joe Wolf and James Michael McAdoo to move into 57th place in UNC career scoring with 1,235 points.
• Carolina made 10 three-pointers, the third time this season with 10 or more (15 vs. The Citadel and 11 vs. Portland).
• Carolina attempted 29 threes and 32 two-pointers (47.5% attempts from three). The only game in which UNC attempted a higher percentage of field goal attempts from three against The Citadel on 12/13/22, when the Tar Heels attempted 31 of 65 shots (.477) from beyond the arc.
• The Tar Heels improved to 9-0 at the Smith Center this season and 24-2 over the past two seasons.

Series vs. Boston College
• Carolina is 21-6 all-time vs. the Eagles.
• UNC has won three in a row and 15 of the last 16 vs. BC.
• Carolina is 8-3 in Chapel Hill (all in the Smith Center).

Next Game: Saturday, January 21, vs. NC State, 5 p.m. (ACC Network)

Discussion
A decent win against a really really bad team. Louisville shot 7% from 3 while the Heels shot well from inside, including the FT line. This was a poor 3-point game, again, for this team, shooting only 29% from 3 while taking 42% of their shots from behind the arc. The Heels only got 0.44 assists per field goal, which shows that the offense is falling in that trap of guys trying too many one-on-one plays, settle for poor 3-point shots. The guard play has to improve!

I am starting this thread 🧵 a little sooner than I like but since my wife and I have to drive to Chapel Hill and check into her hotel before going to the game in person I figured I better get it up and running…

If u have not noticed yet that none of the ESPN networks or the ACC network are showing the game so if u do not have Bally South u will not be able to watch it.

This is the main reason I try my best every game to do a running play by play and a constant score update for people who do not have access to the radio or tv broadcast.

Since I will be in the stands instead of being in my Lazy Boy at home my descriptions of the contest will be much less precise but those out of the Bally South viewing area I will still try and give you updates the best I can…

Let’s home this game will be a springboard for a long winning streak…

It seems there is a thread needed for 2023.

...and that was TCB and "ball don't lie".

After a crappy start we indeed took care of business, but I'd be remiss if I didn't go ahead and get outta the way: Is there a competent friggin officiating crew left in college basketball? Geez, these guys stunk it up and thankfully this game wasn't gonna be close enough for the zebras to make a difference, because trust me, that would NOT have gone well for us.

OK, let's get to the more pleasant stuff:

- Louisville has a lotta size but only one skilled perimeter guy. and once we actually started seeing man-and-ball and cutting off his drives, they were gonna be challenged to mount much offense outside the paint. We took advantage of that by anticipating their passing lanes and handoff action, which generated TOs and transition.

- Speaking of size, when we went "Big" in the second half with Washington at the 4, that completely negated them inside. And how about Washington in general? Man, he has sure picked a good time to get his legs under him. And what more can say about Mando, back with a double-double in the first 10 minutes on a leg-and-a-half?

- and speaking of TRANSITION --- we committed to pushing the ball and it accounted for getting out of the early hole and closing the first half with a decent lead --- 20 out of our 37 came in transition. We took the foot off the gas again some in the second half, but some of that was understandable, what with (often anticipation/phantom) fouls mounting up.

- speaking further of transition, nothing sparks sound breaks like passing ahead --- and Dunn in particular made at least 3 sweet pitch-aheads that resulted in baskets. The bad news is that once our starting Guards put their heads down, this concept too often disappears. We indeed got away with some ill-advised takes and/or quick-triggers

- After a clunky first half in his start, Puff came back with a strong second.

- As for Dunn, I would hope that today's play removed any doubt as to who should be the first 2/3 off the bench. He has made a big Sophomore leap in every facet of the game (which was apparent going back to camp, TBH), and if you give him the minutes he's more than likely to deliver. Also, good to see Styles give us some solid minutes amidst the aforementioned foul issues.

- However, as for bench minutes, I'd still like to see Hubert be more consistent and less seat-of-the-pants with substitutions. Trimble had a couple of loose moments in the first half, but that's no reason to get totally buried on the bench until garbage time. And again, Nickel has gone from an early-rotation guy to MIA. I mean, "depth" is just something on paper unless ya utilize it.

- As for defense, we probably could've blown it open sooner with more aggression against these guys, The few times we scrambled, we got TOs or stops, including a backcourt steal off 44. and what's this??? ZONE made an appearance! Good time with all the foul trouble.

- One last thing: I'd really like to see us return to "pointing to the passer" as an expectation, as it was under Dean. It's a Carolina staple and way more than symbolic. I only saw it a couple of times today.

Anyway, a soild TCB win on the road vs a team that had to get a dispropotionate amount of their points at the line. Again, good thing this wasn't a closer one --- that, and their ball-don't-lie bad FT shooting . The dichotomy of when we play Carolina basketball as opposed to when we don't, was once again on display. I vote for even more of the former, and moving a step past TCB on Tuesday...

Remember the freshmen class of: Phelps, Reese, Sullivan, Montross and Rozier (who would transfer to Louisville later). Or the class Matt Doherty brought in of: Felton, McCants and May. What about McInnis, Wallace and Stackhouse and more recently the group of: Berry, Pinson and Jackson. There are probably more great classes but these are some that quickly come to mind.

But the question is where will this most recent class rank in close comparison to some of the classes of the past? What do you think?

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I don't mean to sound greedy but come on down Mr. Stevenson!

It looks like it will be blacked out on ACCN in my area. It's being shown on a cable channel I don't get, and that's always been a reliable clue of a blackout.

Anybody have any suggestions where to stream for free?

For those that wish Hubert would bench Caleb- well his faith in him helped us get Jackson. As a fan on twitter said: it paid off on the recruiting trail and will hopefully pay off on the court once more this March.

@BrendanRMarks
Why did five-star guard Ian Jackson pick UNC over Kentucky? "You have to go where you feel comfortable, and (where) you can make mistakes and they’ll stick with you.”

Sources close to five-star Ian Jackson told Rivals that his trip to North Carolina over this past weekend went excellent. The 2024 wing hit it off with Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis and Jackson and his company really enjoyed how much of a down to earth guy that he is. Jackson also likes the family feel in Chapel Hill.

As for his recruitment, Rivals is told that a decision is expected by the end of January and it’s seen as a “neck to neck” race between North Carolina and Kentucky. Kentucky holds the lead in Rivals FutureCasts, but apparently the Tar Heels made a very strong impression on the visit and this could come down to the wire.

Okay, the staff is getting increasingly aggressive with class of 2023 prospects and we believe will hit them hard this spring and summer, so we are launching the 2023 thread. We will post all content and related notes to the class in this thread.

I have been in the camp of hating OOC games against non-P5 opponents. But, this whole transfer portal has me re-thinking scheduling strategy for the future. Let’s bring in the top non-P5 opponents to CH and it gives our coaches a chance to evaluate, first hand, these kids and it also gives the kids a chance to see our campus and facilities. We aren’t going to be able to pull a bunch of P5 stars here through the portal, so why not get a head start on more realistic options?

I hope it is not a mental thing after having all three shots taken in close during the first half of the Virginia game blocked but to this observer he seems to be a little hesitant to shoot from the outside when he is in the game…

He seems to be a spark 🔥 off the bench especially defensively when he comes in to replace one of the starting guards but when he and Black are in the squad suffers offensively because of the lack of scorers…

Yes I know his main job is to be a facilitator but to keep the opponents honest he must at least launch a few jumpers or go strong to the hole every now and then.

Dunn got so many minutes Saturday because he played solid defense on Ellis and he looked to score when the opportunity arose especially when Davis was in foul trouble…

Trimble is quick and has some hops so I am hoping as the season progresses he will help the Heels by shooting the rock 🪨 a little more…

Has anyone else noticed that Trimble seems to be a little hesitant at this time in taking jumpers?

If u could pick four team's to be in the Final Four, who would you pick and what match ups? My teams would be Heels, Puke, Kansas, and Kensucky.

Semi finals in would like
Heels vs. Kansas. Heels win
Puke vs. Kensucky. Puke wins

Final
Heels vs. Puke. Heels win 81 to 77😁