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Carolina hoped that the phrase “historically bad” would have been retired after the Tar Heels’ losing season of two years ago but they made it sadly relevant at Coral Gables, Fla., on Tuesday night. As UNC tried to forget the nightmare losses to Tennessee and Kentucky, the Tar Heels added another forgettable effort in an 85–57 loss against a red-hot Miami team.
In the G League, Justin Jackson continues to make the case that he instead belongs in the NBA. In 28 minutes of his Texas Legends’ 117–94 home win Monday over the Oklahoma City Blue, he scored 33 points on 12 of 17 shooting, including 8 of 12 from 3-point range, with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
If Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner was on the NCAA tournament selection committee, North Carolina would likely be a high seed. If he had a vote in either poll, the Tar Heels would probably be ranked. He says that you should keep an eye on the Tar Heels and, in fact, he claims to use three.
Watching video of Miami repeatedly scoring on pick and rolls and getting numerous easy baskets on back-door plays in the Hurricanes’ road upset of Duke no doubt got the attention of UNC coach Hubert Davis. Heading into the Tar Heels’ 7 p.m. Tuesday visit to Coral Gables, Fla., the memory of their well-documented issues dealing with ball screens this season is hard to shake. Davis just hopes that his team’s progress after the nightmare games against Tennessee and Kentucky will be enough to neutralize the Hurricanes.
Centers Garrison Brooks, Brandon Huffman and Walker Kessler each put up double-doubles Saturday as their teams earned big conference victories. Brooks had 16 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season in Mississippi State’s 78–76 home victory over No. 24 Alabama.
On a weekend with injuries to two UNC alums, Nassir Little and Day’Ron Sharpe put up big games as starters and Justin Jackson was back in the G League showing why he shouldn’t be there.
CHAPEL HILL — While Carolina’s unquestioned key to success is Armando Bacot and Caleb Love playing well, winning consistently will require a big game from at least one other Tar Heel. Bacot and Love did their part Saturday night when that third guy was RJ Davis. He rebounded from a scoreless day against Virginia to score 16 of his 21 points in the first half as UNC (12–4, 4–1 ACC) rolled to a season sweep of Georgia Tech (7–9, 1–5) with an 88–65 victory.
On a night when 11 of the 13 UNC alums in the NBA had games, Cole Anthony, Day’Ron Sharpe, Harrison Barnes and Coby White all had big nights. Anthony missed his first career triple-double by one assist, Sharpe scored a career-high 20 points in 22 minutes in his first NBA start, Barnes scored 23 as Sacramento beat the Los Angeles Lakers and Coby White netted 16.
Brandon Huffman’s Jacksonville State team looked like it was going to get blown out Tuesday night, trailing by 20 points to ASUN Conference rival Lipscomb 4½ minutes into the second half. Huffman’s rebound and follow shot cut the deficit to two with 4:59 left and the Gamecocks finished off the rally for an 88–83 victory.
Coby White scored in double figures for the eighth consecutive game as the Chicago Bulls rolled to a 133–87 home win Tuesday night over the Detroit Pistons. White collected 13 points and three assists and continues to create tough decisions for Bulls management as the Feb. 10 trade deadline gets closer. He’s averaging 17 points in the last 10 games and shooting 51.4% from 3-point range in the last eight games.
For the time since Roy Williams left Kansas to take the North Carolina head-coaching job, the Hall of Fame coach was back for a Jayhawks game at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas, on Tuesday night. Williams returned to the venerable arena in October 2014 — along with current coach Bill Self and other former Kansas coaches Larry Brown and Ted Owens — to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the building. But it was the first time he’s been back for a game.
In a battle of UNC alums Monday night, Nassir Little’s Portland Trail Blazers got the better of Day’Ron Sharpe’s travel-weary Brooklyn Nets, but Sharpe had the best game of his rookie season. In the Blazers’ 114–108 home victory, Little had 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal in his 14th consecutive start. Sharpe played a season-high 24 minutes and put up season-high totals of 14 points, six field goals, three blocks and two assists. He tied his season-high of seven rebounds, which he had collected in two earlier games, and was a team-high +14.
Considering how often first-year head coach Hubert Davis has mentioned the importance of his team’s “energy, effort and toughness” to the media, it’s likely that UNC’s players have heard those words more often than they hear the fight song during games. It has everything to do with Davis wanting his team to show the kind of fight it had during Saturday’s impressive 74–58 home victory over Virginia.
It’s not clear why Wayne Ellington didn’t play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ previous two games. What is clear after Sunday night’s game is that his instant offense was being wasted on the bench. By the time Ellington finally got into their home game against Memphis a minute into the fourth quarter, the Lakers already trailed by 26 points.
Seventh Woods had his best game of the season last week for Morgan State. After dishing out seven assists in his five games before Wednesday, he had a career-high-tying eight assists along with 11 points in Morgan State’s 100–41 home win over Goucher College. He was 4 of 5 from the floor with five rebounds, a block and a steal.
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