By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — It wasn’t always smooth, but that can be expected in the opener for a roster shuffled with numerous offseason changes.

What didn’t change was the dominance of fifth-year center Armando Bacot, who helped No. 19 Carolina eventually pull away from pesky Radford for an 86–70 victory Monday at the Smith Center.

Coach Hubert Davis said a few weeks ago that he needed Bacot to dominate. He did that, notching his 69th career double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds, leading four starters scoring in double figures. Cormac Ryan and RJ Davis added 13 and Harrison Ingram scored 12.

“For this game especially, [Coach Davis] did a great job all week just telling the guys they need to get it to me early,” Bacot said. “I think you saw that just with the first play, it was a beautiful play and I got an easy dunk. After that, I knew it would be a good game because I got going.”

Bacot posted up and took advantage of a four-inch height advantage over Radford’s center. That helped the Tar Heels stretch out the offense and create chances for him and his teammates for an efficient offense that last season’s team could only dream about, thanks to sharing the ball well.

Bacot had an unfortunate impact in the shootaround Monday afternoon when he elbowed Paxson Wojcik in the forehead, leading to 10 stitches and plenty of blood.

“It was a freak accident, ” Wojcik said. “Just had to get stitched up. Definitely not the way I want shootaround or pregame to go. It’s nothing crazy. I had my headband on. I had my Band-Aid and my patch up here, so I was just hoping I didn’t get hit again, and it split open.”

Bacot said they go at it hard in practice, and hard contact just happens sometimes.

“He was coming off a screen, and I just booped him right in the head and blood everywhere,” Bacot said. “I was like, “Oh, Lord. I hope I didn’t make him miss his first game as a Tar Heel.’ He ended up playing, thank God, and that just shows his toughness, and he played a great game for us and we needed him. So, that was amazing.”

Coach Davis said that he’s never experienced anything like that as a player.

“There are things that have happened as a coach that I’ve never experienced,” he said. “So, five on 0 dummy offense, for Pax to get hurt. I just don’t understand that. I’m thankful that he was OK enough to play.”

Besides some turnover issues, the offense looked crisp.

Sophomore guard Seth Trimble showed off his defensive talent after missing the exhibition game and freshman Elliot Cadeau again showed some dazzling moves and passing ability with six assists. Cadeau was the point guard whenever he was in the game, and Trimble played exclusively at the two spot.

“We have guys that can consistently make shots from the outside and what that does is it gives us spacing to be able to throw the ball into the post,” Coach Davis said after his team shot 52.5% from the floor and 35% from 3-point range. “It gives us spacing to be able to penetrate and get to the basket.”

There was a lot of talk about Davis not using his depth last season, but it’s evident that this will change this season.

“We’ve got 11 starters,” he said. “Guys can come in at any time and contribute and not only can contribute but can make impactful plays on both ends of the floor to give us a chance to be the best team that we can possibly become.”

Cadeau admitted that coming off the bench was new to him and had required some adjustments.

“I’ve never really done that before,” he said, going on to explain what he does while on the bench. “I’m looking at everything. Like how the ball screen is being guarded, when RJ is doing well, when RJ is struggling. I try to learn from him because he plays my position out there, and I’m just looking at him most of the time.”

Radford took advantage of defensive breakdowns many times in the first half, but the more talented Tar Heels eventually wore down the Highlanders.

“I loved the way that we shared the basketball, and also was really proud of their response to the second half defensively,” Coach Davis said. “I thought in the first half, we were doing a good job guarding their actions for the first 20, 25 seconds, and then they would go one-on-one, and we were just breaking down and allowing the middle drives, easy layups, uncontested jump shots. I thought they did a better job on one-on-one defense and taking pride in that in the second half.”

D’Auntray Pierce’s layup for Radford tied it at 20 with 10:55 left in the first half as the Highlanders outscored UNC 12–8 while RJ Davis was on the bench for 6½ minutes. Radford took a 29–26 lead with a 7–0 run.

When Ryan fed Ingram for a transition dunk to give UNC a 44–41 lead with 40 seconds left in the first half, it was only the second fast-break basket. The Heels led 46–41 at halftime.

“It felt great,” RJ Davis said. “It felt like a family environment. Overall, I think we did some good things. There will be a lot of things that we can learn from it. But it’s still early in the season. Just proud of the team’s effort and the way we bounced back in the second half.”

Carolina played 10 players in the first half, with West Virginia transfer James Okonkwo the only scholarship player who didn’t get into the game at that point. He entered the game in the final minute.

“I think we did a good job sharing the ball,” Ryan said. “We had a couple of turnovers, but once you kind of reined it in a little bit, Elliot did a great job finding guys, RJ had a great job, Armando was passing in the post well, Harrison was moving the ball really well. Getting out and running and sharing the ball, I think we did a great job.”

A Cadeau drive capped a 7–0 UNC run to give the Heels a 63–55 lead with 12:21 left. An RJ Davis bucket and a corner Ryan 3-pointer pushed the lead to 13, 74–61, with 7:06 remaining, and the Heels coasted from there.

“I thought the communication [on defense] was much better in the second half and getting to those spots,” Coach Davis said. “One of the things that I really love about Armando is that he has the ability to move his feet so he can guard guards out on the perimeter. There were a number of times in the game where he was matched up against a guard and forced them to a tough 3 or a tough 2.”

Ingram had an explanation for why 18 of UNC’s 32 field goals were assisted.

“We’re all IQ players,” he said. “Elliot is one of the best passers that I have ever seen, Cormac is a shooter but also a good passer, Armando can pass, R.J. can pass, and I can pass. I feel like it is a lot of playing together and enjoying each other off the court.”

NOTES — Carolina plays the second of three consecutive home games to start the season on Sunday, facing Lehigh at 2 p.m. (ACC Network). The Mountain Hawks, who finished 16–14 last season and have a KenPom rank of 269, opened with an 84–78 home loss Monday to Cornell. Lehigh visits Penn State, featuring former UNC players D’Marco Dunn and Puff Johnson, at 7:30 Friday. … The 86 points were the most by UNC in a season opener since defeating Northern Iowa, 86–69, in the first game in 2017–18. … Carolina shot 52.5% from the floor, making it the Heels’ 24th straight victory when shooting over 50% from the field. … UNC is 102–12 in season openers and has won 19 in a row since the Santa Clara loss in Oakland, Calf., to start the 2004–05 season. … Carolina hasn’t lost a home opener since falling to Hampton to start the 8–20 season in 2001-02. … UNC is 3–0 against Radford, including a 101–58 win in the first round of the NCAA tournament on its way to the 2009 national championship. … Before the game, UNC wore shooting shirts with Walter Davis’ No. 24 and his last name over the number. There was a pregame moment of silence for the Carolina great, and uncle of Hubert Davis, who passed away last week. “I told the team that the reason I’m here is because of Uncle Walt,” Coach Davis said. “I don’t get a scholarship, I don’t get a chance to go here without Uncle Walt. And so because of that, everything significant in my life has happened because of Uncle Walt.”

No. 19 UNC 86, Radford 70

UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	20:00	Davis	Wojcik	Ryan	Ingram	Bacot	17–10
17–10	15:58	Cadeau	Davis	Wojcik	High		0–0
17–10	14:48		Ryan	Ingram		Washington	3–6
20–16	12:18					Bacot	5–6
25–22	9:39	Davis	Trimble	Ryan	Ingram		1–7
26–29	7:43			Wojcik	Withers		4–2
30–31	5:55					Washington	4–4
34–35	3:40	Cadeau	Davis	Ryan	Ingram	Bacot	7–6
41–41	54.2	Davis	Trimble				3–0
44–41	27.6(1)		Wojcik				10–9
54–50	16:00(2)	Cadeau	Davis		Withers		4–5
58–55	14:14			Ingram			3–0
61–55	12:43		Trimble			Washington	2–3
63–58	10:56		Davis	Ryan	Ingram	Bacot	2–0
65–58	10:29	Davis	Ryan	Ingram	High		4–2
69–60	8:39		Wojcik	Ryan	Ingram		8–3
77–63	6:01					Washington	0–0
77–63	6:00				Withers		6–5
83–68	3:04		Trimble			Bacot	2–2
85–70	:58			Wojcik		Okonkwo	1–0
86–70	Final

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