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As Caleb Love’s struggles continued, RJ Davis gave North Carolina just the backcourt boost it needed for 39 minutes. Then Love came through at the end. Love followed up a huge 3-pointer with 36 seconds left with a drive and dish for a Brady Manek layup with 3.1 seconds left. His heroics, and 60.7% second-half shooting, gave the Tar Heels a wild 79–77 bounce-back win at Clemson on Tuesday night.
Walker Miller’s amazing season at Monmouth just keeps getting getter. Miller scored a game-high 22 points in Sunday’s 76–63 road victory over Quinnipiac for his fifth game of at least 22 points this season. He added a 3-pointer, six rebounds and two steals.
CHAPEL HILL — Instead of the greatest rivalry in sports delivering another memorable evening, it delivered North Carolina’s fourth blowout loss of the season. It was more painful for the Tar Heels than the first three because it was against No. 9 Duke, but was very familiar. The common elements were there again: a hot-shooting opponent, horrible UNC shooting, poor defense and the suspension of all hope because of a slow second-half start.
WINSTON-SALEM — After battling four talented ranked ACC teams in the last five games, No. 24 North Carolina took full advantage of a night against a struggling league team. The Tar Heels’ 78–59 win over Wake Forest looked and felt like many of their dominant games of their 13-game unbeaten streak, particularly in the first half, and they led by 29 midway through the final quarter.
The much-anticipated ESPN Films documentary “The Tournament: A History of ACC Men’s Basketball,” promises to rekindle many memories for longtime Carolina fans and give insights into the evolution of the program to the younger ones. Can the debate over the infamous 1975 scoreboard game be settled? Should Lenny Rosenbluth have been called for charging in 1957? Both rankle Wake Forest fans years later. UNC alum John Dahl co-produced the 10-part, 10-hour series with fellow Emmy Award winner Jonathan Hock. It debuts on ACC Network at 9 p.m. Monday, with two episodes every Monday until March 7, the week of the ACC Tournament. It includes clips from over 160 interviews.
Carolina will try to rebound from a losing football season without record-breaking quarterback Sam Howell against a challenging schedule. Announced Monday night, the schedule includes four teams ranked in the final AP Top 25, seven that earned bowl bids and another that made the FCS playoffs.
There was quite a bit of vitriol from North Carolina fans toward Christian Laettner during his time at Duke and that hasn’t changed over the years. ESPN even produced a 30 for 30 documentary called “I Hate Christian Laettner. Many Tar Heels fans agree with that sentiment but UNC coach Hubert Davis isn’t in that group.
North Carolina gave AP Top 25 women’s poll voters plenty of reasons to correct their error of a week ago when they dropped the Tar Heels out of the poll after seven consecutive weeks. Add the fact that two teams ranked No. 21 or below lost and fell out of this week’s poll helped put UNC No. 24 this week after being ranked No. 20 two weeks ago.
Former North Carolina centers Brandon Huffman and Walker Kessler both are playing for teams that are unbeaten in league play and atop their conferences.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina showed much more fight in its rematch with No. 3 N.C. State and even delivered a solid punch early. But that only delayed the Wolfpack’s big punch until midway through the game. The difference from the first meeting was that an 18–0 Wolfpack run wasn’t a knockout punch. The Tar Heels battled back until the end before falling 66–58 Sunday at Carmichael Arena in front of a season-high home crowd of 4,136.
When coaches go through the final seasons of their careers, it often becomes a retirement tour with gifts handed out at each stop. That won’t happen on Feb. 5 when Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski coaches his final game at the Smith Center.
The only people who like 9 o’clock starts are television partners, so whenever one of those games gets moved earlier, it’s a good day. Thursday is a good day.
Finding North Carolina’s Wednesday home game against Boston College on television may be a challenge for some fans. Although you might see it listed as an ESPN3 offering, it will be blacked out in all areas, including North Carolina, where the game is offered on a regional sports network.
CHAPEL HILL — Armando Bacot said last week that he was desperate to turn Carolina’s season around.After a demoralizing loss at Wake Forest, he took it upon himself to get things started right for the Tar Heels on Monday night in their 78–68 victory over Virginia Tech.
A season after North Carolina fell a win short of the national championship game, the Tar Heels are No. 6 in the preseason Inside Lacrosse Preseason Media poll. The Tar Heels come off a 13–3 season that ended with a 12–11 loss to Virginia in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.
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