No. 3 North Carolina rips Boston College to finish undefeated in ACC road games
Only one team — Virginia in 2018 — had finished a season 9-0 in ACC road games.
North Carolina became the second, after a 79-66 road win over Boston College (14-15, 5-12 ACC) on Tuesday night.
It was a tight game for 10 minutes, but after that the Tar Heels dominated. The third-ranked Tar Heels jumped out to a 23-point halftime lead and held a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Senior forward Luke Maye was hot early. He had a double-double by halftime and finished with 17 points, 20 rebounds and five assists.
Cam Johnson had 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. UNC freshman Coby White, who was the ACC player and freshman of the week after scoring 34 and 28, respectively, against Syracuse and Clemson last week, finished with 11 points.
“We can make it look real good or we can make it look a little ugly,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “Tonight we did a little bit of that, but for the most part, we played really well.”
UNC (25-5, 15-2) now has won six consecutive games and 13 of its last 14 heading into its final game with Duke at home on Saturday.
A win over Duke would give UNC a share of the ACC regular-season title and solidify at least a No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament. UNC must beat Duke, and Virginia must lose to Louisville in order for the Tar Heels to get the No. 1 seed.
Williams was back coaching Tuesday after missing the second half of UNC’s game against Clemson on Saturday after suffering from a vertigo attack.
“I’m thrilled to finish a game, especially thrilled to finish a game here,” Williams said, referring to a 2016 game at Boston College where he also suffered a vertigo attack and had to leave.
The game Tuesday had a quick start. Both teams took care of the basketball and were effective from the floor. Boston College guard Ky Bowman’s third 3-pointer of the game gave the Eagles an 11-6 lead after almost three minutes of play.
The score was tied at 16 with 14:17 left in the first half. Then the Tar Heels went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes of the game.
The run was capped off by two consecutive 3-pointers, one by Johnson and junior wing Brandon Robinson.
The Eagles cut the lead to six points, but that was the closest they would get. Boston College missed eight consecutive shots and shot 24 percent from the floor in the first half.
Meanwhile, Johnson and Maye continued to hit shots, and helped UNC get out to a 48-23 lead at halftime.
“I thought I needed to come out aggressive and try to make plays,” said Maye, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. “I thought that was big for us. Early, they were making a lot of shots, and we just had to combat that. I thought we did a good job getting the ball inside and dominating there.”
In the second half, the Eagles were better. They hit 10 of their first 15 shots and cut the Tar Heels’ lead to 14 points with 10:33 left in the second half. Bowman, a native of Havelock, N.C., who initially committed to UNC to play football in high school, finished with 23 points to lead the Eagles.
But after cutting the Tar Heels’ lead, the Eagles went on another scoring drought and the Tar Heels took advantage, cruising the rest of the way.
This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 9:55 PM.
