By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina flipped the switch with its pressure defense midway through the second half, and Florida State was helpless to do anything about it.
No. 17 North Carolina turned a 12-point deficit into a 14-point edge with a 30–4 run as the Heels rebounded from a sluggish first half to earn a 78–70 victory over the Seminoles, thanks to 12 points off turnovers after halftime.
“I was just proud of the guys, their effort and for them not to panic and stay within what we try to do on the offensive end and make the change,” said UNC coach Hubert Davis, who had the team press after baskets for the first time. “I said, ‘guys, you like this you want to keep doing this?’ They said, ‘let’s keep doing it.’ That’s exactly what I wanted to see, was some life and that press got us going.”
When Carolina (7–1, 1–0 ACC) turned up the press on defense, it shifted the game and allowed the Tar Heels to erase a 14-point early second-half deficit. It came one game after the Seminoles (4–3, 0–1) blew a 17-point second-half lead in Wednesday’s 68–66 home loss to Georgia.
RJ Davis again led the way with 27 points, a season-high five assists and two steals, with Armando Bacot (13 points, 13 rebounds, four blocks) putting up his 80th career double-double and Harrison Ingram (the only Tar Heel to score in double-figures in every game) adding 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“We were able to turn the ball over and speed them up a little bit and get steals and then get right back into it after we scored,” RJ Davis said. “I think that’s what speaks to just how we can switch from our base defense going into a press and I think that’s the diversity of this team in terms of being able to switch up on the fly.”
RJ Davis is the first Tar Heel to score at least 27 points in three consecutive games since Joseph Forte did it in 2001 and the 10th in program history to do it.
“It’s my senior year, and I put a lot of work into this offseason [on] my shot, my mental [approach], just to get myself prepared for what’s coming,” he said. “Just gonna stay down, stay humble, and not really worry too much about praise or even denial. Just remain in the present and just continue to keep working.”
UNC hadn’t trailed by more than 14 points since the 89–84 overtime victory over Ohio State on Dec. 17 last season in New York before Florida State seized the momentum with hot shooting. Carolina had trouble running its offense because of the Seminoles’ switching on defense, but did better against that in the second half by driving to the basket more.
“Just the switching,” Bacot said, explaining the first-half offensive struggles after he put up double-digit rebounds for the 80th time in his career. “It’s weird because it’s hard to really prepare for a team like that because you can’t run any of your sets. They just take everything away. A team like that, you’ve kind of have to feel them out and eventually, we figured it out. We spaced out, set a lot of ball screens and drove the ball because we noticed that the bigs weren’t helping at all. We probably got 20 points on dead open layups.”
Seth Trimble, who had nine points and was a team-high +24 before coming out after getting elbowed in the hip, was a big part of the rally.
“Just bringing the intensity all game,” said Trimble when asked what he brought the team off the bench. “For the first time all year, we lacked intensity. I just made sure to try to bring [the enthusiasm] in the second half.”
Coach Davis said that going to the pressure defense gave his team energy and life.
“For the first half and the beginning of the second half, I think the energy and the effort just, for whatever reason, wasn’t there,” he said. “It seemed like we were a step slow on both ends of the floor and just weren’t getting the loose balls, weren’t getting the rebounds, weren’t finishing around the basket, weren’t making open shots.
“And when we went to the press, it brought our energy up, it got us steals and deflections, and we were able to convert on that,” Coach Davis said. “If we didn’t get a steal or deflection, it sped them up. When they missed, it got us out in transition, where we want to be offensively. Because of that, we were able to attack the basket.”
After Florida State took a brief 7–6 lead, UNC went on an 8–2 run with 3-pointers from Davis and Cormac Ryan and another Davis jumper to lead by five 5½ minutes in. Two Jamir Watkins 3-pointers and another one from Chandler Jackson in a 9–0 FSU run to put it up by two. UNC responded with a 7–4 run, capped by a fast-break Trimble layup and Ingram’s steal and dunk.
Florida State scored the last eight points of the first half, and two Darin Green Jr. 3-pointers gave the Noles a 35–29 halftime lead after the Noles scored seven 3-pointers. It was UNC’s lowest halftime point total of the season, lower than the 34 the Heels had in the 83–81 overtime loss to Villanova.
The Tar Heels were sluggish on offense and allowed too many open shots on the other end in the first half. Elliot Cadeau (seven points, three assists, one steal) sat for six first-half minutes with two fouls, and Bacot picked up his second foul late in the half.
“We were nonchalant in the first half on defense, but once we started the press, I think everything changed, ” Cadeau said. “We always had confidence we could win this game.”
He’s learned quickly that teams circle trips to Chapel Hill.
“Every time somebody comes in the Dean Center, they give us their best shot,” Cadeau said.
Florida State opened the second half with a 10–2 run, which included an RJ Davis pass to the corner with no teammate there, to balloon its lead to 14. UNC cut it to five on a driving Davis layup with 11:25 left to cap a 16–7 run fueled by better defense.
“The thing that we struggled with last year was down the stretch being able to make the discipline and the details, the free throw, the box out, not to turn the ball over, get the loose ball,” Coach Davis said. “I thought that’s where at times we struggled last year.”
Davis’ 3-pointer and a transition Trimble layup punctuated a 22–0 UNC run to turn an eight-point deficit into a 14-point lead. Davis hit a 3-pointer with 1:31 left after the Noles had pulled within six.
“I think the press was great for us,” Ryan said. “We got a lot of easy points off with just skills. I think our defense was also a lot better. Even when they broke the press, we were not fouling, we were making them take tough twos. The sign of a great team is to get tested and bounced back. The first ACC game, it’s a game you really have to win. This December game, it’s a crucial game. I’m really proud of our guys for stepping up and doing it.”
Watkins led the Noles with 17 points.
“North Carolina did a great job of sorting out our weaknesses and they took advantage of our weaknesses like great teams do,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “My hat goes off to them. They upped the pressure and created some indecision on our part and we didn’t do a very good job handling it and there lies a loss to a very good team.”
NOTES — Carolina gets two days off before facing reigning national champion and No. 4 UConn at Madison Square Garden at 9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN) in the Jimmy V Classic. On Friday night, the Huskies (7–1) lost 69–65 at No. 5 Kansas. No. 13 Florida Atlantic (6–1), which made a Final Four run last season, faces No. 24 Illinois (5–1) in the first game at 6:30 (ESPN). … Other Tar Heels with 27 or more points in three straight games are Brad Daugherty (1986), Phil Ford (1978), Charlie Scott (1970), Bobby Lewis (1965–66), Billy Cunningham (three separate times in 1964 and once in 1963), Pete Brennan (1958), Lenny Rosenbluth (three separate times in 1957, once in 1956, and once in 1955) and George Glamack (1941). … RJ Davis has made 27 free-throw attempts in a row. It is his second-longest streak, having made 37 straight, beginning with the last five games in 2021–22 until the fourth game of the 2022–23 season. … The Tar Heels are 57–14 in ACC openers, including 63–8 in home games. … Carolina leads the series with FSU 54–16, including 44–15 since the Seminoles joined the ACC for the 1991–92 season, 24–4 in Chapel Hill, 21–4 at the Smith Center and 3–0 under Hubert Davis. UNC has won four of the last five meetings.
No. 17 UNC 78, Florida State 70
UNC lineup combinations
| Score | Time | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Segment score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | 20:00 | Cadeau | Davis | Ryan | Ingram | Bacot | 14–9 |
| 14–9 | 14:29 | Davis | Ryan | Ingram | Withers | Washington | 2–9 |
| 16–18 | 11:19 | Trimble | Wojcik | Bacot | 3–4 | ||
| 19–22 | 9:27 | Cadeau | Ingram | 4–0 | |||
| 23–22 | 7:19 | Davis | Ryan | 1–0 | |||
| 24–22 | 5:37 | Ryan | Ingram | High | 1–3 | ||
| 25–25 | 4:55 | Washington | 2–2 | ||||
| 27–27 | 4:02 | Bacot | 0–0 | ||||
| 27–27 | 3:38 | Cadeau | Davis | Ryan | Ingram | 2–3 | |
| 29–30 | 1:49 | Washington | 0–5 | ||||
| 29–35 | Half | Bacot | 10–13 | ||||
| 39–48 | 14:20 | Davis | Trimble | 4–4 | |||
| 43–52 | 12:26 | Withers | 5–4 | ||||
| 48–56 | 10:10 | Cadeau | Davis | Trimble | Ingram | 3–0 | |
| 51–56 | 9:18 | Washington | 5–0 | ||||
| 56–56 | 7:41 | Bacot | 11–0 | ||||
| 67–56 | 6:11 | Ryan | 11–14 | ||||
| 78–70 | Final |
UNC season statistics
| 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 |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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