By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Among the faults that irritate UNC coach Hubert Davis the most is failing to hit the boards hard and getting outhustled, and there were plenty of reasons for him to be agitated on Saturday.
The No. 14 Tar Heels held on for an 80–62 victory at the Smith Center over upstart USC Upstate, but it wasn’t pretty. One day after final exams concluded, UNC appeared to be in a fog much of the afternoon.
Davis was so animated during the under-eight second-half timeout that he was dabbing his face with a towel to absorb the sweat that was pouring out. Caleb Wilson was the only starter in the game when play resumed.
“I knew that they got multiple offensive rebounds, and they were playing harder to get those offensive rebounds than us,” Davis said. “And I felt like we were leaking out in transition. And so that’s something that we’ll talk about at practice.”
Davis, who undoubtedly blurted out his favorite faux curse word, “bejeebus,” said that that the practices leading to the game went poorly and that translated to the game.
“[The practices weren’t] at the level of attention to detail that is required to put yourself in a position to be successful,” Davis said. “You can’t use an excuse that we had final exams. I’m married, and I’ve got three kids, and I got prepared for this game early.”
Davis said there were areas he liked, such as 20 of the 28 field goals being assisted, taking good shots and taking care of the basketball (20 assists against six turnovers; a season-high assist percentage of 71.4%).
But there was plenty he didn’t like.
“I identified the areas that have to be there every day,” Davis said. “It’s not the missed shots and the turnovers. Everybody misses shots, everybody turns the ball over, everybody makes mistakes. I just think the things that you have control over are non-negotiable. You have to bring energy, effort, attention to detail, enthusiasm.”
That showed up in the box score with USC Upstate (6–6) getting more offensive rebounds (11–7) and having as many second-chance points as the Tar Heels (11) while only winning the overall rebounding battle 37–34.
More on the game
— Check out an extensive photo gallery from the game.
— Caleb Wilson played through a foot injury in putting up seventh double-double.
— No brace for Trimble’s forearm as he’s been active in non-contact drills, nears return
— Powell brings quick-release perimeter shots, defense UNC needed
— Tar Heels slide in NET rankings after unimpressive Quad 4 win
“Unacceptable,” Davis said. “For them to have more offensive rebounds than us is not good, and for us to outrebound them only by three, when I’ve talked about rebounding and how important it is for us to dominate points in the paint? We did not play well.”
Wilson (20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, 22.3% usage rate) earned his seventh double-double and Jonathan Powell tied his career-high with 17 points, scoring three 3-pointers for UNC (9–1). Luka Bogavac (15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, team-high +25, 21.4% usage rate) and Henri Veesaar (14 points, 9 rebounds) both had productive games.
“We’re going to have a good film session after this game,” Veesaar said. “We’re gonna look at all the clips that we did wrong, wherever guys didn’t do their jobs, where they have a lot to do better, and those are the simple things that we can fix. And if you have it on tape, watching a video, you know what you gotta do.”
Wilson said he missed a couple of practices with a foot injury but Davis and a UNC spokesman said he did something in practice each day.
Davis praised Powell, who also played well on the defensive end with a pair of steals.
“He not only made shots, but timely shots, especially from three,” Davis said of Powell. “I think it was an eight-point game in the second half. He had a three in the corner, taking it to double figures, and that extended the lead for the remainder of the game.”
Davis pointed to Jaden Young’s 3-pointer late in the first half in a sequence that gave the Tar Heels some life. It was his first 3-pointer since the opener against Central Arkansas.
“That three was huge for us. It got us going,” he said. “[James Brown] dove on the floor. I was animated there because that was hustle, and it might not show up on Instagram stories, but I thought it was the biggest play of the game.”
Carolina scored the first seven points on a layup and 3-pointer from Veesaar and a Wilson dunk. After an Upstate 3-pointer cut the lead to two, UNC went on a 6–3 run that Kyan Evans highlighted with a beautiful cross-court transition pass to Powell for a dunk.
Upstate, which missed its first six shots, took a 3-point lead at 8:36 of the first half on back-to-back Tyler Smith 3s to cap an 11–2 run.
“We think that we relaxed a couple times when we play, when we lead with double digits,” Bogavac said. “But we can’t do this. We can’t do this against bigger teams.”
The Spartans went scoreless for more than 7½ minutes (seven straight misses) as UNC scored 14 consecutive points to go up 11 at 3:11 of the first half, on a Wilson dunk and a Bogavac transition layup. UNC led 37–28 at halftime after assisting on 12 of 15 field goals.
Karmani Gregory scored every point in a 7–3 Upstate run to pull within six in the first 2:20 of the second half. UNC went on a 9–2 run, going up by 13 at 15:02 on Wilson’s 3-point play. Upstate sliced the lead to eight on a follow shot by Jafeth Martinez at 10:15.
But Derek Dixon and Powell scored back-to-back 3-pointers to start an 8–2 run to shove the lead back to 14 at 8:13.
After Davis let his team have it during that under-8 timeout, layups by Jarin Stevenson and Powell pushed the lead to 16.
The Spartans got a pair of 3-pointers in an 8–0 run to slice their deficit in half at eight with 4:19 remaining, prompting another Davis timeout.
Powell ended the Upstate run with a corner 3-pointer, starting a 12–0 run to put the game away, with seven points coming from Wilson, to go up by 20.
Learic Davis led Upstate with 14 points before fouling out, with Mason Bendinger adding 13.
Notes
— Carolina plays the third of three consecutive home games at 8 p.m. Tuesday (ACC Network), facing East Tennessee State (8–3). The Buccaneers had won two games in a row before losing 76–75 at Austin Peay on Friday night.
— It was the first meeting between UNC and USC Upstate, which fell to 2–20 against ACC teams.
— Seth Trimble still was out of uniform but had no brace on his left forearm.
— UNC won the opening tip for only the second time this season.
— Powell scored 17 twice last seaason at West Virginia. He scored 17 against N.C. Central on Dec. 10, 2024, and against Oklahoma State on Jan. 4, 2025. Powell had season-highs with six field goals, three 3-pointers and two steals.
— It was the eighth time in 10 games with at least four Tar Heels scoring in double figures.
No. 14 UNC 80, USC Upstate 62
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Duke | 8–0 | 19–1 | 2 |
| No. 22 Clemson | 7–1 | 17–4 | 31 |
| No. 17 Virginia | 5–2 | 16–3 | 14 |
| Miami | 5–2 | 16–4 | 36 |
| N.C. State | 5–2 | 14–6 | 27 |
| No. 16 North Carolina | 4–3 | 16–4 | 23 |
| SMU | 4–3 | 15–5 | 33 |
| Virginia Tech | 4–4 | 15–6 | 53 |
| No. 20 Louisville | 4–4 | 14–6 | 19 |
| California | 3–4 | 15–5 | 55 |
| Stanford | 3–4 | 14–6 | 72 |
| Syracuse | 3–4 | 12–8 | 79 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–5 | 11–9 | 145 |
| Notre Dame | 2–5 | 11–9 | 83 |
| Wake Forest | 2–5 | 11–9 | 65 |
| Boston College | 2–5 | 9–11 | 157 |
| Florida State | 1–6 | 8–12 | 113 |
| Pittsburgh | 1–6 | 8–12 | 126 |
* — Through Monday games
Saturday’s results
No. 16 North Carolina 85, No. 17 Virginia 80
No. 22 Clemson 77, Georgia Tech 63
N.C. State 71, Pittsburgh 72
No. 4 Duke 90, Wake Forest 69
Miami 85, Syracuse 76
No. 20 Louisville 85, Virginia Tech 71
SMU 83, Florida State 80
Notre Dame 68, Boston College 64
California 78, Stanford 66
Monday’s result
No. 4 Duke 83, No. 20 Louisville 52
Tuesday’s games
Wake Forest at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m., ACC Network
No. 17 Virginia at Notre Dame, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Syracuse at N.C. State, 7 p.m., ESPN U
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Wednesday’s games
California at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACC Network
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
UNC season statistics
| 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 |
Photos by Joshua Lawton
tarheeltribune.com 