By R.L. Bynum
No. 20 North Carolina has one more tuneup against an overmatched opponent before the challenges ramp up significantly starting next week in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
How much more significant?
The combined KenPom rankings of all six potential UNC opponents in the Bahamas after facing Northern Iowa (KenPom ranking of 103) in the first round is 210, 42 lower than the 252 ranking of UC Riverside (1–2), Friday’s 8:05 p.m. opponent at the Smith Center (ACC Network).
After the Tar Heels (2–0) face Northern Iowa on Wednesday, they’ll meet either No. 21 Villanova (37 KenPom ranking) or Texas Tech (40) on Thanksgiving Day, with the potential opposition two days later No. 14 Arkansas (15), Michigan (23), Memphis (27) or Stanford (68). Five days after that, on Nov. 29, No. 7 Tennessee (8) visits the Smith Center in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
It’s not as if there haven’t been surprising challenges in the first two games, despite facing the 280th-toughest schedule in the country through two games. UNC only won 86–70 against Radford (192 KenPom ranking) and having a hard time dealing with the deliberate offense of Lehigh (254) in a 90–68 victory.
“It’s still early in the season,” RJ Davis said after the Lehigh game. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on, but I’m proud of the way we overcame adversity a little bit [in the] second half.”
Coach Hubert Davis liked how his team responded to Lehigh’s best shot.
“There wasn’t any panic when they cut it to three,” he said. “There just wasn’t any at all. There was a calmness of we need to execute on offense and get the shot that we want and, defensively, we need to step it up and start getting some stops.”
UC Riverside is picked to finish seventh in the 11-team Big West after finishing third last season when it went 22–12.
The Highlanders had nearly as much offseason roster turnover as Carolina, with six newcomers: two Division I transfers (Clancy Bird from Seattle and Ben Griscti from Incarnate Word), two true freshmen (Chip Brunt and Jayden Mojica) and two junior college transfers (Gavin Davis from West Los Angeles College and Isaiah Moses from Southern Idaho).
Redshirt freshman Barrington Hargress, in his second season with the program, leads the team in scoring (12.3 points per game), shooting (50%), 3-point shooting (7 of 14) and assists (4.0 per game). The 6–0 Hargress was No. 45 on ESPN’s point guard rankings in the high school Class of 2022.
Senior center Armando Bacot, last week’s USBWA national player of the week and ACC player of the week, won’t have the height advantage over the opposing center he enjoyed in the first two games, with Griscti, a junior, and redshirt junior Jhaylon Martinez both 6–11.
Martinez (averaging 7.7 points and 4.7 rebounds) started the first two games — a 76–59 home win over UC Merced and an 83–52 loss at Utah — and Griscti (8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds) started Sunday’s 76–65 loss at Portland.
All-time ACC player-of-week awards
12 — Antawn Jamison, 1995–98 – X
10 — Tyler Hansbrough, 2005–09 – X
< 7 — Armando Bacot, 2019–present
6 — Phil Ford, 1974–78 – X
5 — Luke Maye, 2015–19
5 — Joel Berry II, 2015–19 – Y
5 — Marcus Paige, 2012–16 – Y
5 — Michael Jordan, 1981–84 – X
5 — Mike O’Koren, 1976–80 – Y
X — jersey retired; Y — jersey honored
Bacot leads the team with 23.5 points and 16.5 rebounds per game. He put up a 25.8 game score in the Lehigh game under the John Hollinger system, where 40 is the maximum score. RJ Davis got a 17.7, and Harrison Ingram a 10.4. Bacot’s score using the EFF efficiency format (NBA average is 15) was 39, with Davis at 21 and Ingram at 15.
“Armando has been amazing throughout his entire career, but there’s a sense of urgency that I haven’t seen in him, and I think that’s because this is it,” Coach Davis said. “There’s no more after this. And there’s a passion and there’s a desire in him to want to leave on a good note, whatever that looks like and so I love that he plays that way. That’s something we need every game.”
NOTES — Bacot (1,856 points) needs eight points to pass Walter Davis (1,863) for 10th on the UNC career scoring list. RJ Davis (1,339 points) is tied for 45th with Rusty Clark. … Tyler Zeller, one of four former UNC stars filling in this season for Eric Montross, debuts on the Tar Heel Sports Network as an analyst for this game. A Pittsboro resident, Zeller enters his third season as an assistant coach at Northwood High School, where UNC commitment Drake Powell is a senior. … Kevin Fitzgerald and Dan Bonner will be on the ACC Network call. … This is the first meeting between UNC and UC Riverside, the Highlanders’ first game in North Carolina and Carolina’s first game against a Big West team since winning at Hawaii 83–68 on Nov. 18, 2016. … The Highlanders are making the trip east just for this game, which is their only game east of Bozeman, Montana. … UC Riverside lost its only previous game against an ACC team, falling 66–62 to Boston College on Nov. 25, 2011, in Anaheim, Calif. … Fourth-year UC Riverside coach Mike Magpayo was the Big West Coach of the Year last season. … UC Riverside is seventh in the country in turnover percentage at 9.3%. … UC Riverside is one of two Division I schools with the Highlanders nickname. UNC beat the other, Radford, on Nov. 6.
UNC season statistics
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 16 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 11 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 10 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 18 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
tarheeltribune.com 