By R.L. Bynum

HONOLULU — There may have been no jet lag for No. 10 North Carolina, but the Tar Heels rebounding desire was late to arrive.

That, and Elliot Cadeau sitting for 14 first-half minutes with two fouls kept Hawai’i in the game for one half. Carolina turned on the jets of its potent transition game and ran it into overdrive in the second half, pulling away for an 87–69 victory Friday at a packed Stan Sheriff Center.

The importance of Cadeau, the Tar Heels’ best player through four games, is obvious. But that was amplified when UNC (3–1) only outscored Hawai’i 26–24 with the sophomore point guard on the bench in the first half.

“That was really frustrating,” Cadeau said. “I don’t like sitting helplessly on the bench. I can’t do anything. I don’t really like that. So, it was hard for me.”

Cadeau collected 17 points, four assists and two steals in only 23 minutes, again showing a slick ability to slither to the basket with a feathery touch around the rim with either hand and create offense in the half court and in transition.

“He’s in control of his body,” Coach Hubert Davis said. “He does a really good job; he’s strong, too. He can take a hit and still stay on balance in the air and be able to finish. And he can finish with either hand. He can go either direction. And so when he drives into the lane, he has a great understanding of when to shoot and when to pass. And when he’s on the floor, great things happen.”

Having Cadeau back for most of the second half was important.

“I feel like my role on this team is to push the pace,” said Cadeau, who has scored in double figures for four consecutive games for the first time in his career. “So, when I get in, that’s one of my main objectives to do is just press the base, get everybody running. I do that with push-aheads. I try to pass the ball ahead of me.”

Coach Davis said that attacking the basket with penetration was the big change after halftime, getting stops on the defensive to ignite fast breaks. His teams have outscored opponents 42–1 in fast break points in the last two games.

“I feel like our guards could get to the rim any time they wanted to and really put a lot of pressure on the rim,” Coach Davis said. “We were able to get steals and deflections. We were able to get our hands on a lot of balls and deflections that allow us to get out in transition.”

RJ Davis, who led UNC with 18 points and two 3-pointers and had four assists along with Cadeau and Seth Trimble, said the Tar Heels have the athletes for that sort of full-court game.

“We can get up and down,” RJ Davis said. “We’re athletic. We’re quick enough to beat the defenders down. So, that’s what we were able to do. We were able to get stops. I think sometimes in first half, we were losing sight of our man. They were able to get back-door cuts and easy ones. They were just going off our mistakes, and we changed that in the second half.”

Between now and the start of the Maui Invitational, the Tar Heels will hear the word “rebounding” frequently. Coach Davis yelled at them about it in the first half and says he’ll continue to drive home the point.

Hawai’i stayed in the game under the boards, with a 10–3 offensive-rebounding edge and a 23–14 overall rebounding advantage at halftime. It got a little much better in the second half, with UNC getting outrebounded 17–13.

“That allowed us to be able to get out in transition,” Davis said.

The improvement Coach Davis liked was allowing only two second-chance points after halftime, but getting outrebounded for the first time this season irritated him.

“I’m not happy with that, but I felt like the way that we reacted and responded in the second half in terms of defensive, finishing the possession with the rebound,” he said. “I thought was much better, especially second-chance opportunities.”

Rainbow Warriors center Tanner Christensen pulled down nine of his 10 rebounds in the first half.

Trimble scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, and Ian Jackson added 11 points as Carolina players scored.

Hawai’i surprised UNC with a zone after rarely playing it before Friday’s game.

“I thought our set plays against the zone got us really good looks and shots,” Coach Davis said. “Once we started attacking the middle to get to the free throw line, extend and attack the basket, that’s when we were able to get some shots and get fouled and get to the free throw line. So, I thought we responded really well to a team that normally doesn’t play zone.”

Hawai’i (4–1) made only one of its first 10 shots, but Cadeau picked up two fouls in the first 3½ minutes. A transition RJ Davis layup gave UNC a 13–2 lead 6½ minutes into the game.

Hawai’i pulled within five on a Harry Rouhliadeff jumper with 4:37 left, prompting Hubert Davis to put Cadeau back in the game. He promptly drove for a three-point play, but the Rainbow Warriors cut it to three before 3-pointers from Davis and Drake Powell in the final minute gave the Tar Heels a 41–34 halftime lead.

“I wouldn’t connect it to Elliot being on the bench,” Coach Davis said. “I would connect it to Hawaii playing really well. They are a good basketball team. They were on their home floor, and they made a run.”

Carolina took control with a 19–4 run — with nine Trimble points — to go up by 20 on a Powell bucket with 13:53 left. The Rainbow Warriors made 5 of their first 6 3-point attempts after halftime and pulled within 12 with 10:27 remaining.

But Hawai’i went more than six minutes without a field goal, and two Cadeau free throws pushed UNC’s lead to 80–60 with 4:37 left.

Gytis Nemeiksa led the Rainbow Warriors with 16 points and Akira Jacobs added 13.

NOTES — The UNC team flies to Maui on Saturday, where the Tar Heels will open play in the Maui Invitational (bracket, schedule below) at 6:30 p.m. HT/11:30 p.m. ET Monday in the final first-round game. The Flyers (5–0), who lost an exhibition game 98–74 to Xavier, have beaten Saint Francis 87–57, Northwestern 71–66, Ball State 77–69, Capital 76–55 and New Mexico State 74–33. … Dayton is No. 38 in KenPom, better than 14 ACC schools, only behind Duke (No. 4), Pittsburgh (No. 11), UNC No. 13 and Clemson (No. 17). … Dayton has won two of three meetings, including 79–68 in the 2010 NIT final. UNC’s only win was when the No. 2 Tar Heels won 81–51 on Dec. 31, 2006. … Carolina wore its home white uniforms because Hawai’i had special floral green uniforms. … The Hawai’i players came out for final warmups with the pep band playing the “Hawaii 5-0” theme song. … Roy and Wanda Williams were at the game. … RJ Davis passed Sam Perkins for fourth on the all-time UNC scoring list. Davis has 2,159 points and Perkins scored 2,145 from 1980 to 1984. … Hawai’i drew 8,377 for the game after averaging around 2,700 for its first four games. … Carolina shot 57.7% from the floor in the second half and 51.9% for the game. It was the third straight game the Tar Heels shot 50% or better in the second half and the second time in a row UNC shot 50% for the game. … It was the third straight game UNC attempted at least 30 free throws (31 at Kansas, 34 vs. American and 34 at Hawai’i). … Carolina and Vanderbilt are the only Division I schools that have played two true road games after also playing at No. 1 Kansas. … This is UNC’s 15th trip to Hawai’i, where it is 35–5, but the first time since 2016. The Tar Heels are 17–1 in Honolulu and 3–0 in the Stan Sheriff Center, with earlier wins there in 1994 as the No. 1 team (88–76) and in 2016 as the No. 5 team (83–68).

No. 10 UNC 87, Hawai’i 69

ACC tournament

Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 12 Notre Dame 55, No. 13 Pittsburgh 54
No. 15 California 82, No. 10 Virginia Tech 73, 2 OTs
No. 14 Syracuse 66, No. 11 Florida State 62
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Georgia Tech 66, No. 9 Virginia 60
No. 5 North Carolina 76, Notre Dame 56
No. 7 Stanford 78, California 73
No. 6 SMU 73, Syracuse 53
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 (and No. 1-ranked) Duke 78, Georgia Tech 70
North Carolina 68, No. 4 Wake Forest 59
No. 2 (and No. 13-ranked) Louisville 75, Stanford 73
No. 3 (and No. 10-ranked) Clemson 57, SMU 54
Friday’s semifinals
Duke 72, North Carolina 71
Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Saturday’s championship
Duke 73, Louisville 62

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. 17 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	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. East Tennessee State	10–1
			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. 23 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