UNC returns to action with 26-point win over Boston College. Here’s what we learned
Reminders of the pandemic were all over North Carolina’s 91-65 win at Boston College on Sunday. From fans presenting vaccination cards before their tickets; to UNC forward Justin McKoy being sidelined after entering into COVID-19 protocol; to Eagles forward T.J. Bickerstaff and guard Brevin Galloway wearing masks while playing.
It was like the final reminder of why the game was on Sunday instead of its originally scheduled date on Saturday. The Eagles were just coming out of pausing all team activities due to a COVID outbreak.
Carolina’s last game was a Dec. 21 win over Appalachian State after last Wednesday’s game against Virginia Tech was postponed. BC hadn’t played since a Dec. 13 loss to Albany and was forced to postpone games against Wake Forest and Florida State.
Both teams shot the ball in the opening minutes like they hadn’t played in a while. But The Heels quickly erased the rust and ran away to a 49-20 halftime lead. It was their largest halftime lead since leading N.C. State at half 56-23 on Jan. 8, 2017.
Caleb Love led UNC (10-3, 2-0 ACC) with a game-high 22 points including four 3-pointers. Armando Bacot recorded a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. R.J. Davis and Brady Manek rounded out Carolina’s double figures scorers with 17 points each.
Here’s what we learned from North Carolina’s win:
Small ball beginnings?
UNC forward Dawson Garcia played the first two minutes but exited the game and did not return. He had his shot blocked and, in the scramble for the loose ball, Boston College 7-footer Quinten Post fell on Garcia’s head.
The Heels rotation changed with Garcia unavailable and McKoy already sitting out. It forced them to play some stretches with four guard lineups. That actually seemed to help Carolina early.
The first time they went small, Manek got free on a dunk off an assist from Anthony Harris. Manek returned the favor with an assist on a Kerwin Walton 3-pointer from the top of the key. It helped power a 16-5 spurt and a 27-11 lead after Manek hit consecutive 3s.
“We’ve done it in practice, but not a lot,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “So to be able to have extended minutes in a game and see how successful it was having Leaky (Black) at the 4, having a smaller lineup and seeing how well we were on both ends of the floor, is very encouraging to me.”
Davis did not have an update on Garcia immediately following the game. He said Garcia “was experiencing headaches” and they got worse during the game. If Garcia is forced to miss Wednesday’s game at Notre Dame, the Heels will at least have a better feel for playing small.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with the status of Dawson, the status of Justin in our next game against Notre Dame,” Davis said. “It’s nice going into that game understanding that we do have that flexibility and versatility of being able to go big and small and really be able to be good on both ends of the floor”.
Road warriors
The Heels won their third road game of the season. That didn’t happen last season until their win at Duke on Feb. 6. Carolina hasn’t won its first three road games in a season since 2007-08 when it went 13-0 on the road.
It helped that Conte Forum wasn’t very hostile. Boston College students had not yet returned to campus. The New England Patriots had a home game at the same time. The Boston Celtics also played on Sunday evening.
And considering the Eagles are very much in rebuilding mode under first-year coach Earl Grant — they just lost to Albany 61-57 in their last home game — tickets were available and a lot were claimed by Carolina-blue clad fans.
“Coming in, we knew it wasn’t going to be that type of atmosphere — no rowdy crowds or not anything like that,” Love said. “So yeah, from jump (Davis) said we have to bring our own energy and that’s what it was from the bench onto the court.”
The Heels have won their three road games — including at College of Charleston and Georgia Tech — by an average margin of 18 points.
“We have really good poise on the road, we take care of the basketball, we really get after it defensively,” said Davis, who then joked if he knew why, he would have called Purdue, Tennessee and Kentucky and played all of those losses on the road.
Defensive response
UNC coach Hubert Davis said limiting points in the paint was a major emphasis during the almost two weeks the team didn’t play a game. The Heels were still reeling a bit from allowing Kentucky to score 54 points — many on layups — in the paint.
Carolina’s defense was much more stout against the Eagles. Entering the game Boston College averaged scoring 49 percent of its points in the paint. On Sunday it managed only 22, as the Heels held BC to just 16 percent shooting in the first half.
“We just played really well on defense, the second half kind of got a little a little sloppy, but to start we came out and played hard,” Manek said. “We got that lead in the first half because of our defense. Because we were making shots. Because we were playing together and forcing them to take take more contested or bad shots. We just had a good day, and a lot of it goes into the defense.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 2:54 PM with the headline "UNC returns to action with 26-point win over Boston College. Here’s what we learned."