Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Boston College

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 91-65 road win over Boston College on Sunday afternoon.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Jan 3, 2022 4:08 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 91-65 road win over Boston College on Sunday afternoon.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

ESPN wasn’t about to screw up the airing of this broadcast after what happened with Carolina’s last Sunday afternoon game. I imagine Carolina fans are still involuntarily twitching when they hear "F" and "1" put together.
Given the time off for Christmas and the postponed Virginia Tech matchup, it had been 12 days since the Tar Heels last played (December 21 vs. Appalachian State). But it had been even longer for Boston College, who hadn’t taken the court since a December 13 loss to Albany.
Carolina has not only started out ACC play 2-0, but both wins have been road games. Winning on the road in ACC play was a staple of the Roy Williams era in Chapel Hill. Even still, Coach Williams won his first two ACC road games only four times in his 18 years at UNC, and not until his fifth season. Hubert Davis just did it in year one.
Thanks in part to scheduling, but mostly due to winning what’s in front of them, Carolina has two ACC road wins on their resume by January 2 (both of which were by more than 15 points). The earliest the Tar Heels hit that mark under Roy Williams was January 8.
Ho-hum, another double-double for Armando Bacot, who now has nine in the first 13 games of the season. He’s also secured four in a row. To continue to keep in perspective what the junior is accomplishing, this is an historic pace. When Brice Johnson set the single-season Carolina record for double-doubles, he was two behind Bacot’s pace at the same point.

Bacot also knocked down his first career three-pointer in the game.
Carolina was down two players in this game, one of whom (Justin McKoy – COVID protocols) they knew about before tipoff. The other, Dawson Garcia, suffered a head injury when a Boston College player landed on him within the first two minutes of the game.
Buoyed by Bacot’s 5-5, the Heels shot a perfect 12-12 on free throws in the first half and finished the game 16-19.
For those that care about such things, Carolina’s dominant win propelled them into the top-30 at KenPom (No. 29).
Four Tar Heels scored in double-figures…in the first half. Caleb Love, RJ Davis, Armando Bacot, and Brady Manek each reached that marker before halftime, and each ended up with at least 17 points.
Carolina had nine turnovers, marking the fourth time they’ve finished with single-digit turnovers this season.
Caleb Love finished with 22 points, the fifth time he’s broken the 20-point barrier this season. He’s scored exactly 22 all five times. Love was on fire from deep in the early going of the second half, knocking down three three-pointers in the first five minutes of action.

Boston College had a miserable first half shooting – 6-36 (16.7%).
The Eagles came out much more determined and engaged in the second half, but had already dug too deep a hole and Carolina still shot a higher field goal percentage than did the home team in the final 20 minutes.
Including today’s 58.3% second half shooting, Carolina has shot 50% or better in the second half in each of the last seven games. Going a step further, the Heels have shot at least 50% in at least one half in each of the last eight games.
Carolina is surrendering too many offensive rebounds. They gave up 12 today and have allowed three straight opponents to reach double-digits in that category.
Armando Bacot posted the highest Carolina plus/minus for any single game this season with a +30. Unfortunately for him, that total was eclipsed in the same game by Caleb Love’s +34.
Season high five assists for Leaky Black (against just one turnover). That’s a number you want to see more often.
RJ Davis didn’t miss a single shot. He was 5-5 from the field (including 2-2 from three) and 5-5 from the free throw line.
BC started the game on a 4-0 run, UNC missed their first seven shots, didn’t score for the first 3:36, and Dawson Garcia left the game, all within the first couple minutes. Despite all that, Carolina still scored 91. It helps that after missing those first seven shots, the Heels made nine of their next 13 and reeled off a 21-4 run (and a 15-1 run later in the same half). In fact, when UNC took a 5-4 lead on a Caleb Love floater, they never again trailed.
The drought between BC field goals in the first half was lengthy. Karnik made a second-chance layup with 18:01 left and as the next Eagle field goal went through the net the clock read 11:25.
The first half lead just kept blossoming. Back-to-back Brady Manek threes gave Carolina a 16-point lead at 8:25. The lead hit 20 (32-12) at 5:20 courtesy of an Armando Bacot baseline jumper. But things weren’t done: A Caleb Love lay-up gave Carolina a 30-point FIRST half lead at 46-16 with 0:46 before halftime. The largest first half margin was 31, which ultimately settled in at 29 at the half.
While he didn’t have a monster statistical game, Kerwin Walton’s confidence seemed to be brimming after his performance against Appalachian State. He knocked down a three and made an aggressive, driving reverse layup.
Carolina faces another road test on Wednesday at Notre Dame on a pretty quick turnaround. We’ll have to wait and see if Dawson Garcia will be available or not.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Armando Bacot

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is another road game against Notre Dame on Wednesday, January 5. Tip is at 9:00pm ET on ESPN2.

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