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North Carolina will have two five-star players playing in the McDonald’s All-American Games on April 1 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Forward Caleb Wilson, a 6–9, 195-pound power forward who committed to the Tar Heels last Thursday and 6–2 wing Nyla Brooks — the top players in the UNC men’s and women’s teams’ Class of 2025 — will represent the Tar Heels in the games.
Two days later, North Carolina’s defensive effort in its 102-96 victory Saturday over Boston College still befuddles Coach Hubert Davis. That frustration translated into some frank discussions with his team.
CHAPEL HILL — With the game on the line, Florida State guard Ta’Niya Latson showed why she’s the nation’s leading scorer and left No. 13 North Carolina heartbroken. After Latson’s shot-fake drew UNC’s Reniya Kelly and Indya Nivar in the air, she drove by them and Alyssa Ustby for the game-winning bucket at the buzzer to give the Seminoles an 86–84 win Sunday, their fifth consecutive victory at Carmichael Arena.
CHAPEL HILL — The only way that a Quad 4 win can help a team is if it’s a blowout, and North Carolina’s overtime victory Saturday over Boston College was decidedly not like that on a day that a Tar Heels loss earlier in the week was upgraded.
Just in time for the week of the season’s first North Carolina-Duke men’s basketball meeting, a commercial has begun running that will amuse Tar Heels fans.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina’s worst defensive performance in years put the Tar Heels on the edge of disaster. UNC eluded what would have been a rock-bottom loss, getting enough late stops and making some clutch plays late to pull out a 102–96 overtime win Saturday over Boston College at the Smith Center.
CHAPEL HILL — It’s a time of adjustment and growth for Ian Jackson. That’s how UNC coach Hubert Davis described what the freshman guard has gone through over the last two games.
Like last Saturday, if you want to watch Carolina’s men’s basketball game this Saturday, you’ll have to find your local station on The CW Network. Saturday’s game at the Smith Center against Boston College will be on the network, tipping off at 2:15 p.m.
North Carolina’s 67–66 Quad 1 loss Wednesday at Wake Forest has sunk the Tar Heels near the bottom of the NCAA tournament bubble, according to the latest bracket projections, while the loss to Stanford was upgraded. Stanford is up to 71st in the NET after Wednesday’s 88–51 home win over Miami, flipping the Tar Heels’ 72–71 Jan. 17 home loss to the Cardinal from Quad 3 to Quad 2.
CHAPEL HILL — With the way that Lexi Donarski is shooting of late, Wake Forest had no shot at pulling an upset.
In the best shooting run of her career, the fifth-year guard scored five 3-pointers for the third consecutive game, pouring in 17 points, as No. 13 North Carolina pulled away from a four-point halftime lead for a 76–51 victory Thursday at Carmichael Arena.
Bill Belichick has coached his share of Monday Night Football games, and his debut as the North Carolina coach will also be on Monday night. UNC’s opener at 7:30 on Sept. 1 with TCU at Kenan Stadium will be the final opener for ACC teams next season and will air on ESPN.
UNC football general manager Mike Lombardi made his weekly appearance on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday, addressing many topics, including Coach Bill Belichick’s signing of his contract with UNC.
As impatience with Coach Hubert Davis continues to ramp up among some boosters and a segment of the North Carolina fanbase, you have to wonder if the same sort of heat would be coming if Roy Williams was leading this team. Even Davis’ most ardent supporters wouldn’t compare him as a coach to Williams, but comparing the numbers to gauge performance is fair.
WINSTON-SALEM — Carolina’s perimeter shooting was as frigid as the temperatures outside Joel Coliseum, and that has squarely put the Tar Heels on the NCAA tournament bubble. Intent on living or dying by 3-point attempts, the latter led to UNC’s second consecutive one-point loss in a game that wasn’t that close. The Tar Heels continually settled for perimeter shots that — other than a stretch of three consecutive makes in the second half — rarely fell, leading to an ugly 67–66 loss Tuesday night to Wake Forest.
North Carolina’s 72–71 Quad 3 loss to Stanford has the bubble talk simmering again for the Tar Heels, with one projection sending them to the First Four in Dayton. The consensus of 69 bracket projections listed on Bracket Matrix, which had UNC (12–7, 5–2 ACC; 38th in the NET rankings) as the second-highest No. 9 seed before the loss to the Cardinal, now has the Tar Heels as the highest No. 10 seed. Fourteen project them as a No. 8 seed, and seven as a No. 11 seed.
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