UNC basketball empties its bench, Tar Heels pull away from The Citadel in 100-67 win
North Carolina needs more of this.
The Tar Heels’ 100-67 win over The Citadel on Tuesday in the Dean E. Smith Center marked the team’s first truly dominating performance this season.
It was complete in a way that the Heels haven’t been balanced in the two seasons Hubert Davis has been at the helm, because it wasn’t just the starters playing a big part in the win.
Carolina’s bench had been outscored in every game this season with the exception of a 16-12 advantage in its loss at Virginia Tech. Powered by career-high games from freshman Tyler Nickel and sophomore Dontrez Styles, the Heels’ bench outscored The Citadel 42-18.
“We have depth on our team and the great thing about it is, when we need it, we have that ability to put guys and to make impact plays on both ends of the floor,” Davis said. “I’m really happy to be able to get extended minutes for those guys and they stepped up and played extremely well.”
Styles scored his first points of the season on a 3-pointer, his first since making the opening 3 in overtime against Baylor in the NCAA tournament that steadied the team from total collapse. He tied his career-highs with nine points and six rebounds.
Styles hadn’t played in five games this season, due to what he said was his inconsistency in practice, but he said he was trusting the process.
“Of course, I’m a competitor, if you’re not frustrated with not playing, you shouldn’t be playing basketball that’s how I feel,” Styles said.
Nickel missed his first three 3-pointers, but guard Caleb Love kept coming back to him and he reeled off three of his next five to score 16 points. Love, who led the team with 17 points, joked that Nickel is probably the most confident shooter on the the team because, “he thinks every shot is going in.”
“I’m really comfortable with everybody but Caleb has made it very clear to me that he’s comfortable getting me looks or whatever the case is,” said Nickel, who later added that Carolina should never have a drop off using the bench “because we we all have a great ability — different great abilities in the way we play the game.”
Freshman forward Jalen Washington, who made his season debut in Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech, chipped in six points in six minutes.
They all contributed to giving UNC a boost Davis was looking for in the first half when he used a total of 10 players.
“I didn’t have a plan to play 10 players in the first half, but we needed a spark,” Davis said. “In the first half, we needed energy and enthusiasm and we needed it to come from the bench and we were just, I was just going down the line to be able to find that.”
What he found could help propel the Heels moving forward.
Junior forward Puff Johnson, freshman guard Seth Trimble and sophomore guard D’Marco Dunn are the only reserves to average at least 10 minutes a game and the trio Davis used consistently. Dunn is currently out with a broken bone in his left hand.
If Nickel, Styles and Jalen Washington are reliable enough to stay in the rotation, it will benefit the Heels deeper into the season.
“That’s our hope, we really want to get some confidence in those bench guys,” senior forward Armando Bacot said. “…You look back last year towards the end we were all the way burnt out. It’s not sustainable playing 35 minutes, just them being able to get in and step up and play big minutes I think it’s great for their confidence and coach can be also confident in putting them in spot minutes to go out and compete and do what they do.”
Bacot is back doing what he does with 14 points and 11 rebounds, which moved him past Billy Cunningham for a program record 62 games in double figures rebounding.
One game after the Heels had their highest assist percentage on made baskets (55.5) against Georgia Tech, they improved that to a season-high 24 assists on 32 baskets against the Bulldogs.
It made for a higher number of quality shots too, reflected in their 3-point percentage. Led by forward Pete Nance, who made his first three 3s en route to scoring 16 points, Carolina shot 15-for-31 from behind the arc.
UNC entered the game shooting just 28.8 percent from 3-point range, but had seven players make at least one. And arguably the most encouraging sign was seeing starters R.J. Davis, Love and Nance combining to go 9-for-14.
“We’ve been getting better and just trying to work and work and just tighten those screws,” Bacot said. “We still have a flawed team, there’s still a lot of stuff we got to work on, but as long as we just keep getting better and better and better when it’s time and it gets even more and more serious, we’ll be a great team.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 9:05 PM.