By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — While RJ Davis’ 36 points were the most impressive part of No. 3 North Carolina’s 85–64 victory Monday over Wake Forest, the trend of solid defense and rebounding continues to be a big reason for the nine-game winning streak.

During a high-energy speech to his team at halftime, Coach Hubert Davis challenged his team to eliminate defensive mistakes and play better on that end. The Tar Heels delivered by holding Wake Forest to 26.7% shooting from the floor and 0 of 9 shooting from 3-point range in the second half.

The Deacons settled for many one-and-done possessions with only two offensive rebounds. That was a season-low for Wake Forest and a UNC opponent, and the fourth consecutive game with the Tar Heels allowing five or fewer.

“Rebounding is the main ingredient of success,” Coach Davis said. “Another part is our commitment to the defensive end.”

UNC (16–3, 8–0 ACC) leads the ACC in defensive rebounding (20.1 per game) and rebounding margin at (+7).

The Tar Heels have outrebounded nine consecutive opponents after having a 43–30 edge against the Deacons, allowing them to rebound only 9.7% of their misses. Those rebounds on the defensive end led to transition opportunities, particularly in the second half.

“It allows us to get out on transition,” Coach Davis said. “We’re just really good in transition. All five guys are running, pitching the ball ahead. We’ve got great spacing, so we can get to the basket, we can spray 3s. We can hit our bigs in the middle of the post. Once we started, that got us going. But it all started on the defensive end.”

Seth Trimble didn’t score but consistently is a terrific defender off the bench.

“Seth is our most gifted on-ball defender,” Coach Davis said. “He just is, with his athleticism and strength. He can pick up full-court and make it hard for you to get across half-court. He can play on the ball, and he can get through screens off the ball.”

Elliot Cadeau’s improvements game-by-game on defense are obvious, and he might face more challenges in practice guarding RJ Davis than he does during games.

“It’s a good challenge for me,” said Cadeau, who had one steal. “One of the things I have been getting better at throughout the year is my defense. Having to guard him and every other guard on the team is making me better every day.”

Coach Davis said that Cadeau is figuring out how to be a good defender in high-level college games and distribute better on the offensive end.

“I feel like he gets better and improves every day of practice and every day of the game,” Coach Davis said.

Hunter Sallis led Wake Forest with 18 points, but Carolina made him earn every point and held him to seven after halftime on 1 of 5 shooting. UNC disrupted the Deacons’ offense and often made them play faster than the would prefer.

Carolina leads the ACC in defensive 3-point shooting percentage at 29.1%.

Louisville is the outlier, making 44.4% of its 3-point attempts, but the seven other January ACC opponents only made 13.8% (18 of 103) of their shots from outside the arc.

Wake Forest entered the game making 39.3% of its 3-point attempts but was only 3 of 20 against UNC’s defensive pressure that forced numerous tough shots. That was a season-low for the Deacons, but only the third-lowest by a UNC opponent (N.C. State shot 10% and Clemson shot 5.6%).

The Deacons shot 35.6% from the floor, leading to many UNC rebounds and transition opportunities, particularly in the second half.

“We were really good in transition. All five guys were running. We pitched the ball ahead. We’ve got great spacing, so we can get to the basket. We can spray 3s. We can hit our bigs in the middle of the post, and once we started, that got us going.”

The Tar Heels will try to keep the momentum going at 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) at Florida State (12–7, 6–2), which won Tuesday at Syracuse 85–69

UNC season statistics

ACC standings

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 3 Duke	0–0	10–0	2
California	0–0	9–1	57
SMU	0–0	9–1	31
No. 24 Virginia	0–0	9–1	21
No. 11 Louisville	0–0	8–1	13
No. 14 North Carolina	0–0	8–1	15
Miami	0–0	8–2	26
Virginia Tech	0–0	8–2	55
Stanford	0–0	7–2	115
Notre Dame	0–0	8–3	71
Clemson	0–0	7–3	27
Wake Forest	0–0	7–3	63
Georgia Tech	0–0	7–4	206
N.C. State	0–0	6–3	42
Syracuse	0–0	5–3	75
Florida State	0–0	5–4	117
Pittsburgh	0–0	5–5	164
Boston College	0–0	5–6	180

* — Through Tuesday games
Tuesday’s results
No. 10 BYU 67, Clemson 64
Virginia 84, Maryland Eastern Shore 60
California 91, Dominican 71
Wednesday’s games
Notre Dame 80, Idaho 65
N.C. State 85, Liberty 45
Massachusetts 76, Boston College 74
Thursday’s games
Western Carolina at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saint Joseph’s at Syracuse, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday’s games
Massachusetts at Florida State, noon, ACC Network
Louisiana-Monroe at Miami, noon, ACCN Extra
South Carolina Upstate at No. 14 North Carolina, 2 p.m., The CW
Evansville at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ACC Network
Mercer at Clemson, 3 p.m., ACCN Extra
Memphis at No. 11 Louisville, 3:30, ESPN
Hofstra at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Pittsburgh at Villanova, 4:30, TNT
Northwestern State at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
No. 19 Kansas at N.C. State, 5:30, ESPN
Stanford at San Jose State, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
SMU at LSU, 8:30, SEC Network
Sunday’s games
Maryland Eastern Shore at Virginia Tech, noon, ACCN Extra
Queens at Wake Forest, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday, Dec. 16, games
Lipscomb at No. 3 Duke, 6 p.m., ACC Network
No. 11 Louisville at No. 20 Tennessee, 7 p.m., ESPN
Florida State at Dayton, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
South Carolina at Clemson, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Florida International at Miami, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Marist at Georgia Tech, 7:30, ACCN Extra
East Tennessee State at No. 14 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 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. 19 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. 9 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	2 p.m.	vs. USC Upstate	The CW
16	Tuesday	8 p.m.	vs. East Tennessee State	ACCN
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 24 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 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. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte