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CHAPEL HILL — Alberto Osuna is fully healthy and having a blast. The senior slugger never felt quite right while battling a left hamate injury last season, and his power numbers suffered. He got healthy and fitter in the offseason, and the results have been impressive.
No. 9 North Carolina’s fifth Quad 3 victory Monday night didn’t change the Tar Heels’ NET ranking, but more bracket projections are shifting the Tar Heels up to the No. 1 seed line.
CHAPEL HILL — While RJ Davis was etching his place in Carolina basketball history and shooting himself into the national player of the year conversation, Miami was intent on ruining the party. His Smith Center-record 42 points and seven 3-pointers, both career-highs, helped the No. 9 Tar Heels beat a hot-shooting Miami team Monday night. But the 75–71 victory wasn’t put away until Jae’Lyn Withers sank two free throws with two seconds left.
Carolina moved up a spot to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll Monday after winning at Virginia 54–44 in its only game last week.
BLACKSBURG, Va. — It only seems like Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore have been dominating the ACC for 10 years. It’s only been five seasons, but there are plenty of coaches in the league who won’t miss them. Even after that duo helped the Hokies beat North Carolina for the sixth consecutive time, 74–62 on Sunday, don’t include UNC coach Courtney Banghart in that group.
No. 10 North Carolina’s seventh Quad 1 victory not only solidified the Tar Heels’ NCAA resume but puts them in a good position to win the ACC regular-season title.
Caleb Love helped No. 4 Arizona rebound from a loss with 28 points to score his 2,000th career point, and Justin McKoy scored career-highs of 26 points and six 3-pointers in a Hawaii victory. Meanwhile, Kerwin Walton scored 18 points in a loss for No. 23 Texas Tech, D’Marco Dunn helped Penn State get a big win, and Dontrez Styles played well as Georgetown ended an 11-game losing streak.
Hosts Desmond Johnson and R.L. Bynum and guest hosts, including former Tar Heels Pete Chilcutt and Tyler Zeller, talk Carolina men’s basketball on the “Bleav in Heels Hoops” podcast, presented by Tar Heel Tribune and Tobacco Sports Radio.
CHAPEL HILL — Vance Honeycutt’s good arm and improved power stroke were just what No. 15 North Carolina needed to emerge from a terrific pitching battle with No. 11 East Carolina. The junior center fielder led off the eighth inning by launching a 1–2 curveball 409-foot feet over the left-field fence as the Tar Heels won the opener of a three-game series Friday over the Pirates 2–1 at Boshamer Stadium.
CHAPEL HILL — Could RJ Davis and Armando Bacot become the first Carolina teammates to have their jerseys go up in the Smith Center rafters since four members of the 2015–16 team earned the honor?
It hasn’t always gone smoothly for Puff Johnson in his first season at Penn State, but he made a huge play Wednesday when the Nittany Lions pulled off a huge upset of No. 14 Illinois. That was one highlight for the former Tar Heels during a week that Caleb Love and Dawson Garcia scored in the 20s while Destiny Adams and Kennedy Todd-Williams each scored 15.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina’s record would be dramatically different if a few plays at the end of close losses had gone differently. The Tar Heels repeatedly shot down any chance that Thursday’s game against No. 6 N.C. State would come down to one or two possessions like the other defeats. UNC came through with its best perimeter shooting game of the season, never trailing after the opening quarter, on its way to an 80–70 win at Carmichael Arena.
Just because No. 10 Carolina isn’t playing a mid-week game doesn’t mean there aren’t fluctuations in the Tar Heels’ NCAA resume. A pair of Tuesday night blowouts both helped and hurt the league-leading Tar Heels (20–6, 12–3 ACC), who fell one spot to 10th in the NET rankings.
CHAPEL HILL — Vance Honeycutt’s likely last season at Carolina couldn’t have started much better, making history and helping the Tar Heels get off to an impressive start. The third home run of the season for the talented junior center fielder, a 365-foot grand slam that just made it over the right-field fence in the fourth inning, sparked No. 15 UNC to an 8–7 victory over Elon on a cool Tuesday evening at Boshamer Stadium.
With some of the players UNC expected to create good guard depth watching from the sidelines, Coach Courtney Banghart has had to adjust. Redshirt sophomore Kayla McPherson is out for the season with a knee injury. Lower-body injuries have kept sophomore Paulina Paris out for the last eight games and freshman Reniya Kelly sidelined for the last two.
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