Quick Hitters - UNC Basketball Late Night

North Carolina held their annual Late Night festivities on Friday evening after taking a year off due to COVID-19. Just like after every Tar Heel basketball game, here are @isaacschade's Quick Hitters from the event.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Oct 16, 2021 4:18 AM EDT

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s "Late Night 'N HD" on Friday evening in the Dean Dome.

Highlights:

First off: What a joy to have a crowd back in the Smith Center. Let’s make that place rock this season Tar Heel fans.

Late Night ‘N HD contained many of the traditional elements of Late Night With Roy, but with a few tweaks. Most notably, the men’s team didn’t do a choreographed dance with the dance team.
As host Brian “B-Daht” McLaughlin introduced Justin McKoy he said, “Welcome home!”. The overt meaning was clearly to welcome home McKoy from the University of Virginia to his home state of North Carolina. But under the surface, B-Daht simple phrase spoke to so much more than merely McKoy’s homecoming. Welcome home to those of you who missed being at the Dean Dome last year. Welcome home to Coach Hubert Davis who is sliding into a new chair that he was born to sit in. Welcome home to Roy Williams who found a new and unfamiliar vantage point in the Dean E. Smith Center to watch young men he recruited play basketball on a court with his name on it.
Speaking of which, it was extremely odd to see Coach and Mrs. Williams just occupying two of the Dean Dame seats just like any of the rest of us.

Listening to the bios of the coaching staff rattled off back-to-back, it’s incredible to see the links between all the various eras during which they played at Carolina.
B-Daht asked Coach Davis just one question: “How are you feeling?” From the time Coach received the mic until the crowd finished erupting and chanting “Hubert” and the new Tar Heel head man had composed himself, 55 seconds had elapsed (not exaggerating, I timed it with my phone).
If you somehow had missed this fact previously, Hubert Davis loves the University of North Carolina with a relentless burning passion.

The video team put together a video montage “hosted” by Rece Davis to honor Coach Davis. The others to appear in the video were: Roy Williams, Eric Montross, Digger Phelps, Don Nelson, Pete Chilcutt, Coby White, Luke Maye, Nassir Little, Cam Johnson, Brice Johnson, Cole Anthony, James Michael McAdoo, Justin Jackson, Kenny Williams, Theo Pinson, and Marcus Paige. As you would imagine, Coach Williams had the final word.

Following the women’s team scrimmage and a moment of honoring cancer survivors in the arena, everyone’s attention turned to the three-point shooting contest. Three co-ed duos each had 0:45 to see who could make the most total combined threes. The teams were Brady Manek and Carlie Littlefield, RJ Davis and Kayla McPherson, and Kerwin Walton and Eva Hodgson. Manek / Littlefield were first out of the gate and totaled 22 treys (Manek was 11-for-23). Davis / McPherson were next and bettered the first team by four with Davis hitting an insane 19 out of 24, including a streak of seven. Finally, Walton / Hodgson got off to a slow start but ultimately tied Davis / McPherson. After missing three of his first four, Walton hit 16 of his final 18, including a streak of nine, for the tie. In the 30-second tiebreaker, Davis went 12-for-17, and Walton was 14-for-18.
The three-point shooting display was impressive, but here’s the question on everyone’s brains: Will the three point shooting we witnessed tonight carry over to actual basketball games? We’ll find out soon enough.
Can we just stop for a moment and acknowledge how dapper Marcus Ginyard looks in a suit?!
As for the actual scrimmage, the players were divided up into two teams of eight. Puff Johnson sat out, recovering from injury.
Here are the team rosters (* denotes starter):

White Team

(#1) Leaky Black*
(#4) RJ Davis*
(#34) Duwe Farris
(#13) Dawson Garcia*
(#0) Anthony Harris*
(#40) Rob Landry
(#25) Creighton Lebo
(#45) Brady Manek*

Blue team

(#5) Armando Bacot*
(#11) D’Marco Dunn
(#2) Caleb Love*
(#35) Ryan McAdoo
(#22) Justin McKoy*
(#3) Dontrez Styles*
(#24) Kerwin Walton*
(#15) Jackson Watkins

The game was played in four quarters, with each quarter ending when a team reached the next successive 15-point interval, with the winner being the first to 60.
The seas parted for Caleb Love to register a dunk for the first basket of the scrimmage.
Armando Bacot hit a three – it truly is a new era in Carolina men’s basketball.
The scoring was spread out well in the first quarter, with eight of the 10 registering at least one point, including all five Blue Team starters. Overall Caleb Love and Armando Bacot led all scorers with 18 each.

The Blue team went on a 9-0 run to start the third quarter with all the points going to Love and Bacot. Bacot also ended the quarter with a ferocious jam off an offensive rebound.
Kerwin Walton showed that he intends to be more than merely a shooter this season. He had a pump fake and drive to lane for a slam. When you’re as adept a shooter as he is, those pump fakes will have defenders slumping out of the gym all night. Walton had another dunk in the fourth quarter.
The White Team started off the fourth quarter with some beautiful ball movement that ended with a big-to-big baseline pass from Brady Manek to a wide-open Dawson Garcia on the baseline for a dunk.

My personal favorite highlight of the night: Bacot grabbed a defensive rebound, turned and fired an outlet pass to the other end of the floor where Justin McKoy, who was running ahead in transition, needed just one dribble to drop in a lay-up plus the foul.
The scrimmage ended with freshman Dontrez Styles knocking down a mid-range jumper. Styles also had a couple baskets in the first few minutes of the game and finished with six.
By the way - the night was not just about the on-court activity. The Tar Heels picked up their first commitment from the class of 2023 in the midst of Late Night: Simeon Wilcher, a 6'4" combo guard.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is this year's exhibition game at home against Elizabeth City State on Friday, November 5. Tip is at 7:30pm ET.

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