CHAPEL HILL — “We’ve been here before; we’re not losing this game.” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said his players repeatedly said that during late timeouts as the Tar Heels played through another heart-thumping finish.
Author: R.L. Bynum
Cam Johnson to compete in NBA 3-point shooting contest
The Brooklyn Nets’ Cameron Johnson, on pace for career-highs in several categories, will be one of eight players in the 3-Point Contest on NBA All-Star weekend. Johnson scored 17 points and three 3-pointers in Brooklyn’s 119–112 Wednesday home loss to Washington in his return after missing six games with a right ankle sprain.
Belichick, girlfriend, make splash at NFL Honors, drawing comment from Snoop Dogg
You know that Carolina football has changed when Snoop Dogg talks about the program’s head football coach. That happened during the NFL Honors ceremony that the entertainer hosted Thursday night when he couldn’t help but notice Coach Bill Belichick arriving at the event in New Orleans with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
ACC drastically alters baseball tournament format to 16-team, single-elimination event
The ACC drastically changed the league’s baseball tournament format on Wednesday, with all 16 teams making a single-elimination tournament.
UNC’s next two games crucial, with few projecting them to make NCAA men’s field
With North Carolina’s chances of making the NCAA men’s tournament looking dire, a stretch of two games in three days beginning Saturday is crucial. Only 14.4% of bracket projections listed on Bracket Matrix (13 of 90) have the Tar Heels (13–10, 6–5 ACC) in the field 40 days away from Selection Sunday, with 12 of them predicting the Tar Heels as a No. 11 seed, which would mean a trip to Dayton, Ohio, for the First Four.
Hubert Davis says he’ll hire general manager, expand staff
North Carolina’s men’s basketball program will join UNC’s football program and many other basketball programs in adding a general manager, Coach Hubert Davis said on Monday night. During the “Hubert Davis Live” radio show, the fourth-year head coach said that a bigger staff is essential and that “we’re going to hire a GM.”
Hubert Davis says there’s time to turn the season around
With RJ Davis as the only current player who was part of North Carolina’s 2022 turnaround from February struggles to the national championship game, Coach Hubert Davis says he doesn’t mention that season to the team.
Even with UNC (13–10, 6–5 ACC) mired in a stretch of four losses in the last five games heading into Saturday’s 4 p.m. home game (ESPN2) with Pittsburgh (14–7, 5–5), he said that he emphasizes that there is plenty of time to turn the season around.
Love, Walton, Garcia, Styles, Zelaya have huge weekend games
Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton had big games Saturday to help their streaking teams earn road victories, while Dontrez Styles had his best game of the season in a loss for slumping N.C. State and Ali Zelaya had her career-best game to finish a monster weekend. Both Love and Dawson Garcia hit memorable recent buzzer-beaters.
Ustby leads Heels to fastest 20th win in 11 years; they complete 2–0 California trip
Alyssa Ustby did it all for No. 15 North Carolina to help the Tar Heels complete a huge 2–0 week in California. Ustby scored 16 points, tied her career-high with four 3-pointers and made a crucial defensive play at the end to help UNC hold on for a 69–67 victory Sunday at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., after Stanford erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Nearly half of bracket projections leave UNC men out, Heels fall more in NET
North Carolina’s men’s basketball team clearly has a lot of work to do 43 days away from Selection Sunday, and that’s reflected in the latest bracket projections. The Tar Heels (13–10, 6–5 ACC) are left out of the field on 49.4% of the projections listed on Bracket Matrix (45 of 91), with the highest projection as a No. 10 seed by three: by Jason Wells (released Monday), Guru and NP.
UNC puts up fight late but digs too big of a hole at Duke
DURHAM — Giving up height at every position, a daunting matchup for North Carolina turned into a nightmare, and the Tar Heels didn’t put up much of a fight until it was too late against No. 2 Duke. The talented Blue Devils took control early and rolled to an 87–70 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night. UNC made the final score closer with an 18–2 run but lost for the fourth time in five games as an NCAA berth starts to look out of reach.
ESPN column predicts Belichick gets UNC into College Football Playoff next season
North Carolina making the College Football Playoff in Bill Belichick’s first season as coach? That’s the prediction of ESPN’s Bill Connelly in a column published last week, listing the Tar Heels as earning one of the at-large bids.
Duke’s height, length, talent present UNC with huge challenges
CHAPEL HILL — It’s a tall order for North Carolina. The Tar Heels have faced height disparities all season, but nothing like they will at No. 2 Duke at 6:30 Saturday (ESPN).
No. 15 Heels rolls to huge win at No. 19 Cal; first ACC team to win first game on California trip
No. 15 North Carolina bucked the trend in the first season of the two-coast ACC and got a huge Quad 1 victory in the process with one of its best defensive performances of the season. The Tar Heels never trailed after the game’s first 70 seconds, breaking the game open with a 16–4 fourth-quarter run and rolling to a 65–52 victory at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., to hand No. 19 Cal its first home loss.
UNC reloads after losing stars from CWS team, with high expectations
CHAPEL HILL — It’s a sign that Coach Scott Forbes has returned North Carolina to one of the nation’s best programs when losing six draft picks hasn’t changed lofty expectations. The Tar Heels, No. 6 in the D1 Baseball preseason poll, reloaded.
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