By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Skittish late-game stretches on both ends of the floor have made putting opponents away challenging for North Carolina.
Against ACC newcomer California, the Tar Heels changed that, hammering the Bears with a 22–6 second-half run on their way to an easy 79–53 victory Wednesday at the Smith Center for their season-high fourth consecutive victory.
“We really emphasized it, once it came down to crunch time — let’s put this team away,” said Seth Trimble (12 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals), who continues to shake off the rust in his third game after missing three with a concussion. “Today, we made sure that we really finished this game.”
Carolina (12–5, 5–1 ACC) got a Quad 3 win it couldn’t afford to lose against Cal (8–9, 1–5) with season-bests for margin of victory and fewest opponent points. The Tar Heels did it by finally putting two good defensive halves together and battling for defensive rebounds better in the second half.
“I think we put a whole 40 together on the defensive end,” said freshman Ian Jackson, who again led the Tar Heels in scoring with 13 of his 20 points in the second half while pulling down seven rebounds. “That was an emphasis when we came into the locker room at halftime. A lot of the year, we played one half defensively. So, coming out here and playing two halves defensively was huge for us.”
After the Tar Heels had trouble putting away SMU until late, Coach Hubert Davis showed the team a video explaining what they had to do differently. Most of it was showing second-half defensive lapses.
Davis asked the team at halftime, “Are we going to be able to put two halves together?” His team gave them an emphatic answer, and he said improving under the defensive boards was important.
“I just thought our job defensively, of being able to defend and not put them on the free-throw line [was big] — that’s been a problem for us,” said Davis, whose team allowed Cal to attempt only five free throws.
Coach Davis credited Trimble, Jae’Lyn Withers (5 points, 4 rebounds), Jalen Washington (6 points, 4 rebounds) and Ven-Allen Lubin (7 points, team-high 8 rebounds, career-high 3 blocks) with collectively energizing UNC during that second-half surge.
“I just felt like that was the huge key for us to be able to extend the lead in the second half was their energy and their effort,” Coach Davis said. “And I was really proud of them. I told the team that that was the key in the second half.”
Having Trimble’s lock-down defense was integral to holding Andrej Stojakovic, Cal’s leading scorer who came into the game leading the ACC in conference-game scoring, to a season-low six points (the previous low was 10 points against San Diego State). Trimble, Drake Powell and Withers made it rough for the sophomore.
“We did a good job,” Davis said of the defense on Stojakovic, who didn’t score for nearly the game’s first 15 minutes. “When he was trying to post us up, we doubled, got the ball out of his hands. We didn’t give him any open looks really from three, and we defended him without fouling. That’s a step forward for us.”
The numbers don’t tell the whole story of Trimble’s overall impact as he played in his return to the sixth-man role he had last season.
“I felt like he had his fingerprints on a number of different plays, whether it was offensively or defensively, and so I felt like his energy was there, his attention to detail. It looked more like Seth tonight,” Coach Davis said.
The Tar Heels got another outstanding game from sophomore point guard Elliot Cadeau (15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal), as he exploited Cal’s drop coverage with aggressive drives and jump shots. There were still some bad passes, as he had four of the Tar Heels’ 10 turnovers, but it was a good overall effort.
“[The big] was really low on the drop, and I felt like he was playing the pass a little bit. So I was looking for my own shot a lot,” said Cadeau, who scored 11 first-half points.
After Cal took a brief two-point lead, UNC went up by eight with a 12–2 run capped by a Cadeau 3-pointer and a transition Jackson layup and the lead hit 11 on a Trimble layup at 9:32. The Bears pulled within six nearly three minutes later, but UNC reeled off an 8–2 run with four points each from Cadeau and Washington to give UNC a 12-point edge.
Cal trimmed the lead to seven when UNC went scoreless for nearly four minutes. However, a Davis 3-pointer with 40 seconds left gave UNC a 39–29 halftime lead. Cal opened the second half with a 6–2 run to cut the lead to six, but Powell pushed it to 11.
Two driving Cadeau layups gave UNC 15 straight points and capped that mammoth 22–6 run with 7:50 left to balloon the lead to 24 as Cal went scoreless for nearly six minutes.
Two Jackson layups gave UNC a game-high 27-point lead with 2:05 left.
Center Mady Sissoko led the Bears with 16 points and eight rebounds, with Joshua Ola-Joseph adding 10
NOTES — UNC is back home at 2:15 p.m. Saturday (The CW) against Stanford (11–6, 3–3), which lost Wednesday night at Wake Forest 80–67. … It’s UNC’s longest win streak since winning eight in a row from Feb. 17 (against Virginia Tech) through March 15 (against Pittsburgh) last season. … When junior transfer Cade Tyson entered the game in the first half, it was his first action in three games. … In the first half, UNC shot 56.7%, its best first-half shooting of the season and the best in the Smith Center since shooting 57.6% against Tennessee on Nov. 29, 2023. … Carolina’s 39 first-half points tied a season-high in ACC play, which the Tar Heels also scored against SMU and Notre Dame. … RJ Davis’ 309th 3-pointer tied Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim for 12th in ACC history. … Davis (2,397 points) passed Duke’s Kyle Singler for seventh on the ACC’s all-time scoring list. … UNC leads the series with Cal 5–1, including 3–0 in Chapel Hill. … UNC has won 24 straight games when holding its opponent below 70 points and 24 in a row when holding its opponent to below 60. … The Tar Heels are 8-0 this season when it builds a double-digit lead, which UNC has built in three of the last four games.
UNC 79, California 53
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Duke | 8–0 | 19–1 | 2 |
| No. 22 Clemson | 7–1 | 17–4 | 30 |
| N.C. State | 6–2 | 15–6 | 27 |
| No. 17 Virginia | 6–2 | 17–3 | 16 |
| Miami | 5–2 | 16–4 | 36 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 4–3 | 16–4 | 24 |
| SMU | 4–3 | 15–5 | 32 |
| Virginia Tech | 5–4 | 16–6 | 55 |
| No. 20 Louisville | 4–4 | 14–6 | 19 |
| Stanford | 3–4 | 14–6 | 71 |
| California | 3–5 | 15–6 | 52 |
| Syracuse | 3–5 | 12–9 | 83 |
| Boston College | 2–5 | 9–11 | 157 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–6 | 11–10 | 140 |
| Notre Dame | 2–6 | 11–10 | 81 |
| Wake Forest | 2–6 | 11–10 | 66 |
| Florida State | 2–6 | 9–12 | 114 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–6 | 9–12 | 118 |
* — Through Tuesday games
Monday’s result
No. 4 Duke 83, No. 20 Louisville 52
Tuesday’s results
Pittsburgh 80, Wake Forest 76, OT
N.C. State 88, Syracuse 68
No. 17 Virginia 100, Notre Dame 97, 2 OTs
Virginia Tech 71, Georgia Tech 65
Wednesday’s games
Florida State 63, California 61
Stanford at Miami, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday’s games
No. 4 Duke at Virginia Tech, noon, ESPN
Pittsburgh at No. 22 Clemson, noon, ACC Network
No. 17 Virginia at Boston College, 1:30, The CW
No. 16 North Carolina at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at No. 23 Louisville, 2 p.m., ESPN
N.C. State at Wake Forest, 3:45, The CW
California at Miami, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Stanford at Florida State, 6 p.m., ACC Network
Notre Dame at Syracuse, 6 p.m., The CW
Monday’s game
Syracuse at No. 16 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 13 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. 14 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. 7 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. 17 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | ESPN |
| 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. 20 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 22 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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