By R.L. Bynum The good news for North Carolina is that Armando Bacot rebounded from a rough stretch to again play like the Tar Heels’ leading scorer. Other than a huge rebounding edge, it was hard to find many more positives as Carolina was sloppy on offense and didn’t seem focused until it was too …
Continue reading “UNC’s rally to clean up sloppy effort falls short at Syracuse”
By R.L. Bynum Roy Williams has been happily married for decades, but guesses that starting a fifth marriage would be about as challenging as predicting whether his young North Carolina players will either be pumped up for a game or perform well. “Maybe if you’ve seen a guy who’s been married five times, ask him …
By R.L. Bynum CHAPEL HILL — It’s as hard for a coach to win 900 games as it is for a young team to be consistent. A spunky Marquette team made sure that it wouldn’t be Roy Williams’s 900th victim on Wednesday. North Carolina never recovered from a rough start as a fired-up Golden Eagles …
Continue reading “Instead of celebrating milestone win, Williams lets off frustrations”
By R.L. Bynum CHAPEL HILL — When North Carolina’s freshmen were repeatedly making mistakes earlier in the season, you had to be reminded that they were freshmen. Reminders were also needed Saturday night, but for a good reason. They played like seasoned players who knew where to be, what to do and how to do …
Continue reading “Freshmen flourish as Carolina rolls to best win of season”
By R.L. Bynum CHAPEL HILL — It was all about getting in a game against a decent opponent for North Carolina and finding a rhythm during this uneven pandemic season. That was nowhere to be found in Saturday’s loss at Virginia. It took the better part of one half to find it and, for a …
Continue reading “Heels eventually find their rhythm, rout Northeastern”
By R.L. BynumNorth Carolina saved its best combination of inside scoring punch and perimeter-shooting clout all season for rival Duke. And freshman point guard Caleb Love saved his best game of the season for college basketball’s best rivalry. The Blue Devils were pesky to put away but they couldn’t handle all of that in the …
Continue reading “Love’s best game of the season, scoring balance lead UNC to big win at Duke”
By R.L. Bynum Just when you thought that North Carolina had left the sloppy, poor-shooting basketball full of defensive lapses behind them, it all came back like another bad day for Bill Murray on “Groundhog Day.” The Tar Heels rallied from a season-low 21 first-half points to pull within four but could come no closer …
Continue reading “On Groundhog Day, UNC only sees a shadow of the team had been flying high”
By R.L. Bynum Three consecutive victories and six wins in the last seven games weren’t enough to return North Carolina to the AP Top 25, leaving the Tar Heels out of the poll for a sixth consecutive week. Voters evidently want to see much more from UNC, including victories over better teams. The Tar Heels …
Continue reading “UNC unranked for a sixth consecutive AP Top 25 poll”
By R.L. Bynum North Carolina’s NCAA tournament prospects that were shaky just a couple of weeks ago now look solid after six wins in seven games, three consecutive victories and, more importantly, finally a Quad 1 victory. The Tar Heels streak of making nine consecutive NCAA tournaments looks safe. After Carolina went 14–19 last season, …
Continue reading “UNC solidifies its NCAA tournament resume with Quad 1 victory at Pittsburgh”
By R.L. Bynum Roy Williams has a lot of reasons to be happy. Not only has North Carolina won three consecutive games and six of its last seven, the Tar Heels are doing it the way he loves — with the offense focused on getting the ball to their two big men. With better facilitating …
Continue reading “Surging Tar Heels pound the ball inside consistently, hold off Pitt”
