By R.L. Bynum

CHARLOTTE — No. 5 Carolina’s expected domination inside gave the Tar Heels a big edge, and Jae’Lyn Withers’s energy off the bench was a big catalyst in making that happen.

But, as with many games this season, RJ Davis’ second-half push put the game away as UNC overcame what Coach Hubert Davis said was “out-of-character” play before halftime.

Playing in his hometown, Withers collected a season-high 16 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season as No. 1-seed UNC ended Wagner’s amazing run with a 90–62 victory Friday at the Spectrum Center.

“I think he did set the tone,” said UNC coach Hubert Davis, whose Tar Heels (28–7) have a significantly bigger challenge in Saturday’s 5:30 second round against Michigan State (CBS).

Withers, who grew up a five-minute drive from the arena, couldn’t have asked for much more in his NCAA tournament debut

“It’s extremely rewarding,” said Withers, who also had three assists and a steal. “Obviously, having a double-double in front of all those fans and my family, and contributing to the win is great. It’s obviously my first time in the tournament, so to do that in my first game is surreal.”

RJ Davis scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, leading the charge as the Tar Heels cleaned up some sloppiness, turned up the tempo and played better in the second half.

“I think in the first half, we didn’t do a good job of getting out on the primary break,” said Davis, after UNC didn’t get a fast-break basket for the first 25 minutes of the game. “We had zero fast-break points going into halftime. The emphasis in the second half was to try to get out and run because that’s a big advantage for us, especially when we are playing in primary and getting easy layups.”

Although UNC led 40–28 at halftime, they didn’t play up to Hubert Davis’ standard, and he let his team hear about it in the second half.

“I felt like at times we were out of character in the first half,” Davis said. “We’ve just got to be better defensively. We talk about finishing each possession defensively. One, without fouling, and two, getting the rebound. Just got to do a better job at that. It hasn’t been any secret.

“We’ve identified what allows us to have success, and that’s get after it defensively, rebound, and take care of the basketball,” he said. “I felt like in the first half we had moments where we weren’t checking any of those boxes, and that’s something, as you continue to move forward and specifically against Michigan State, you just can’t do that. You’ve got to be sound in all three of those areas.”

Bacot (20 points, 15 rebounds) recorded his 86th double-double in the first half, one away from tying Tim Duncan’s ACC record. This extended his NCAA tournament double-double streak to seven games and helped Carolina earn a 48–20 edge on inside points.

He navigated through Wagner’s zone well to take advantage of the Tar Heels’ height edge.

“Early on in the year, I felt like at times I was a little impatient and not being able to find my spots,” Bacot said. “Ever since we started working on that, I’ve been a little more comfortable and figuring out my spots and not feeling like I need to rush anything.”

Elliot Cadeau’s NCAA tournament debut was rough. He went scoreless with three assists and four turnovers.

Wagner rallied after UNC scored the game’s first six points to tie it at 13. The Heels responded with Withers scoring six points in an 8–2 run to go up by 7. The lead expanded to 10 four minutes later on Bacot’s put-back with 7:27 left in the first half.

A 3-pointer from Cormac Ryan (13 points) with 2:04 left in the first half gave UNC a 14-point lead, and Carolina led 40–28 at halftime. For the sixth time in the last seven first halves, UNC shot better than 50% from the floor, at 51.9%.

An 11–4 UNC run shoved the lead to 18 on a Davis layup for the Heels’ sixth consecutive fast-break bucket. Withers’ alley-oop dunk with 8:33 left put an exclamation point on a 10–2 run to expand the lead to 20.

But UNC knows that it will have to play better on Saturday.

“Attention to detail is definitely No. 1,” RJ Davis said. “On the defensive end, a couple of times in the first half, there was miscommunication or no communication that kind of led to open threes not getting the 50–50 loose balls. We’re usually on top of that.”

Melvin Council Jr. and Julian Brown each scored 18 points to lead Wagner (17–16).

NOTES — Michigan State (19–14) won 69–51 over Mississippi State in Thursday’s first Charlotte game. … UNC will face the Spartans in the NCAA tournament for the first time since UNC’s 89–72 victory in the 2009 national championship game in Detroit. … UNC is 5–0 in NCAA tournament games against the Spartans and leads the all-time series 12–4. … Carolina is 166–27 in Charlotte, including 13–1 in NCAA tournament games in the Queen City. … UNC is 35–2 in NCAA tournament games in North Carolina. … Carolina shot 55%, its best shooting in an NCAA tournament game since shooting 61.5% in the 88–43 Elite Eight win over Notre Dame in 2016. … 2005 national champion Marvin Williams and Larry Brown were at the game. … The crowd for the afternoon session was announced as 18,223. … Withers’ best previous scoring game was 15 points against Louisville. … UNC is 9–0 this season and 21–1 under head coach Hubert Davis when scoring 90 or more points. … Carolina shot a season-high 50% from 3-point range (9 of 18), topping the 46.7% at Duke when it made 7 of 15. … The Tar Heels outrebounded Wagner, 43–24, the 24th straight game they have outrebounded the opponent (by a margin of plus 245).

No. 5 UNC 90, Wagner 62

Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
27	Friday	W, 117–53	vs. St. Augustine’s	Exhibition
	November
6	Monday	W, 86–70	vs. Radford	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 90–68	vs. Lehigh	2–0
17	Friday	W, 77–52	vs. UC Riverside	3–0
			Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas
22	Wednesday	W, 91–69	Northern Iowa	4–0
23	Thursday	L, 83–81, OT	Villanova	4–1
24	Friday	W, 87–72	Arkansas	5–1
			ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
29	Wednesday	W, 100–92	vs. No. 6 Tennessee	6–1
	December
2	Saturday	W, 78–70	vs. Florida State	7–1, 1–0 ACC
			Jimmy V Classic in New York
5	Tuesday	L, 87–67	No. `1` Connecticut	7–2
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
16	Saturday	L, 87–83	No. 12 Kentucky	7–3
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
20	Wednesday	W, 81–69	Oklahoma	8–3
			—————————
29	Friday	W, 105–60	vs. Charleston Southern	9–3
	January
2	Tuesday	W, 70–57	at Pittsburgh	10–3, 2–0 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 65–55	at Clemson	11–3, 3–0 ACC
10	Wednesday	W, 67–54	at N.C. State	12–3, 4–0 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 103–67	vs. Syracuse	13–3, 5–0 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 86–70	vs. Louisville	14–3, 6–0 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 76–66	vs. Boston College	15–3, 7–0 ACC
22	Monday	W, 85–64	vs. Wake Forest	16–3, 8–0 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 75–68	at Florida State	17–3, 9–0 ACC
30	Tuesday	L, 74–73	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 9–1 ACC
	February
3	Saturday	W, 93–84	vs. No. 13 Duke	18–4, 10–1 ACC
6	Tuesday	L, 80–76	vs. Clemson	18–5, 10–2 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–72	at Miami	19–5, 11–2 ACC
13	Tuesday	L, 86–79	at Syracuse	19–6, 11–3 ACC
17	Saturday	W, 96–81	vs. Virginia Tech	20–6, 12–3 ACC
24	Saturday	W, 54–44	at Virginia	21–6, 13–3 ACC
26	Monday	W, 75–71	vs. Miami	22–6, 14–3 ACC
	March
2	Saturday	W, 79–70	vs. N.C. State	23–6, 15–3 ACC
5	Tuesday	W, 84–51	vs. Notre Dame	24–6, 16–3 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 84–79	at No. 13 Duke	25–6, 17–3 ACC
			ACC tournament Washington
14	Thursday	W, 92–67	Quarterfinals: Florida State	26–6
15	Friday	W, 72–65	Semifinals: Pittsburgh	27–6
16	Saturday	L, 84–76	Final: N.C. State	27–7
			NCAA tournament
21	Thursday	W, 90–62	First round in Charlotte: Wagner	28–7
23	Saturday	W, 85–69	Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State	29–7
28	Thursday	L, 89–87	Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama	29–8