Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Ahead of the final game before the holiday break, North Carolina had its hands full trying to prepare for an Oklahoma Sooners offense, led by sophomore guard Otega Oweh and junior guard Javian McCollum. Here’s a look at what strategies Carolina coach Hubert Davis employed on the defensive end and how they were able to take the 10-0 Sooners out of their normal rhythm.
With No. 11 Carolina’s 82–69 victory Wednesday over No. 7 Oklahoma, the Tar Heels have already equaled their Quad 1 win total from last season.
Cameron Johnson and Cole Anthony each scored 20 points, Coby White netted 17, and Day’Ron Sharpe pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds on a productive night for UNC alums.
CHARLOTTE — No. 11 North Carolina finished a pre-Christmas gauntlet of challenges against highly ranked teams impressively against No. 7 Oklahoma, fueled by the Tar Heels’ best defense of the season. RJ Davis collected 23 points, four 3-pointers, five assists, three steals and no turnovers as UNC ended a two-game losing streak with an 81–69 victory Wednesday at the Spectrum Center at the second Jumpman Invitational.
CHARLOTTE — No matter what matchup a Carolina player draws after switching on a screen, Coach Hubert Davis contends that if the Tar Heels box out better, the rebounding problems of the last two games will get fixed.
North Carolina’s trip to Atlanta didn’t help the Tar Heels’ NET ranking, but they’ll have plenty of chances to improve it in the next couple of weeks. No. 11 Carolina (7–3) has a NET ranking of 37, which is down five spots since Saturday’s 87–83 loss at the CBS Sports Classic to No. 9 Kentucky (NET ranking of 27), with all three losses in Quad 1 games.
Coby White continues to do it all for the Chicago Bulls, and was on triple-double watch in the final minutes. But disrupting a potential game-tying inside drive by a 7–0 center in the final seconds was new.
Oklahoma will be ranked higher than North Carolina when the teams meet on Wednesday after the Sooners moved up four spots to No. 7 and the Tar Heels fell two spots to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday afternoon. The Sooners (10–0) and Tar Heels (7–3) meet at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center at 9 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN) in the final game of the four-game, two-day Jumpman Invitational.
Carolina basketball great Eric Montross died Sunday after being diagnosed with cancer in March, surrounded by his family — wife Laura, daughters Sarah and Megan and son Andrew — at his home in Chapel Hill.
ATLANTA — A sure sign of a team leader is when he’s critical of his play after leading the team in points, rebounding and assists. But that was RJ Davis after No. 9 Carolina’s 87–84 loss Saturday night to No. 14 Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic.
Three former Carolina players had big games in tough losses Saturday.
Caleb Love’s season-high 29 points, 20 in the second half, weren’t enough for No. 1 Arizona to overcome No. 3 Purdue. D’Marco Dunn scored a career-high 17 points and Puff Johnson had a season-high 15 points in a tough overtime loss with a controversial finish.
ATLANTA — Cormac Ryan found his shot in Atlanta, but Armando Bacot could barely get off any shots against No. 14 Kentucky’s tall, physical lineup that dominated the boards. Even with Bacot neutralized for most of the game, No. 9 Carolina challenged No. 14 Kentucky until the end but couldn’t get enough stops or plays in the final minutes as the Wildcats held on for an 87–83 victory Saturday at the CBS Sports Classic in the State Farm Arena.
It is still early in the season, but it’s already NCAA resume-building time for the No. 9 North Carolina men’s basketball team. Tuesday’s 87–76 loss at Madison Square Garden to No. 5 and reigning NCAA champion UConn (NET ranking of 7) was the first of six Quad 1 opponents in seven games under the current NET rankings.
CHAPEL HILL — “Rebounding.” Carolina coach Hubert Davis, in lightning-fast fashion, provided that one-word answer Thursday afternoon when asked what his team had worked on — even before the reporter completed the question — since the No. 9 Tar Heels lost 87–76 on Dec. 5 in New York to No. 5 UConn.
This is the first episode of the “Bleav in Heels Hoops” podcast, presented by Tar Heel Tribune and Tobacco Road Sports Radio, with c-hosts Desmond Johnson and R.L. Bynum talking about Carolina basketball. In the first episode, they discuss this list of the top 10 UNC-Kentucky games, look back at the loss to UConn and ahead at Saturday’s game in Atlanta against Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic.
tarheeltribune.com 