UNC survives preseason scare, closes out Charlotte in OT
Michael Malone had to tell his players to relax in the early huddles.
Before UNC closed out Charlotte 89-82 in overtime of its final preseason game in the Dean E. Smith Center, Tuesday night looked like it could have been a really bad result for the North Carolina men’s basketball team.
Malone said his team looked like the “Keystone Cops,” and while it would be surprising if a single player on his roster knew what he meant, the comparison to the comedic silent film series about a bumbling group of policemen in the early 1900s was an apt comparison. UNC couldn’t shoot, it couldn’t dribble, it couldn’t pass.
“These guys work so hard,” Malone said. “I mean, we’ve had really good practices, and then they get into these game situations, and the first time in front of a home crowd, and I thought they were just kind of very excited.”
But fortunately for the Tar Heels, this one didn’t count. And fortunately for the Tar Heels, playing through the game pressure they created on their own, they still prevailed. A wild end of regulation and costly error by the 49ers — calling a timeout that led to a technical and the game-tying free throw from UNC — gave the Tar Heels life and allowed it to avoid embarrassment of falling to its mid-major foe.
Malone noted that his team has not won a first half yet, and it was the “understatement of the night” when a reporter suggested this first half wasn’t what UNC wanted, shooting 39.3% as it fell into a 15-point hole at one point. But whatever it took for them to be in that dangerous position, UNC played better thereafter.
“I like the fact that we just stayed with it,” Malone said. “We stayed with it, and we found a way.
“But yeah,” he added, “lots to clean up.”
Things could not have started off much more brutally for the Tar Heels. Their largest deficit a 25-10 disadvantage with 10:31 left in the first half. UNC missed 11 of its first 14 field goals in the game to that point. And some of the looks were really good. North Carolina forward Jarin Stevenson drove under the basket less than five minutes into the game, and pitched a pass out to a wide open Terrence Brown on the left wing for 3 … and Brown air-balled the shot at the 15:15 mark.
The Tar Heels were missing wide open shots and playing sloppy with the ball, while Charlotte guards Keyshaun Tillery and Dorian Finister were nailing several turnaround jumpers in the mid-range — tough shots against a solid UNC defense that made the deficit worse and worse. North Carolina, though, got a little something going at the end of the half.
A Stevenson lob finish in transition at the 4:09 mark and Brown playing with some energy helped the Tar Heels finish on a 19-7 run in the final 5:13, including a 9-0 run in the final 1:29. They went to the half down just 36-33 to their visiting mid-major opponent. Malone said that small a halftime deficit was a “miracle.”
“Everybody calm down a little bit,” UNC guard Jaydon Young said of the halftime message. “I think we were all moving a little too fast.”
Charlotte went up by nine again, but then the Tar Heels cut it back to a three-point game with 14:31 left after a 7-1 run over 1:02. A 3-pointer by Young tied the game at 45 just 53 seconds later. Another Young 3-pointer 1:48 later gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the game, 50-49. The Tar Heels, finally, were starting to string some baskets together. They connected on 8 of 10 shots on a run that was capped by Young connecting on a layup to give UNC a 54-51 lead to force a Charlotte timeout.
The Tar Heels looked like it would establish some momentum there, pushing the lead to seven points with 8:28 left. But Charlotte wouldn’t go away. So a few offensive rebounds, a few 3s and then a turnover by the Tar Heels with 5:19 left led to Tillery getting fouled in transition. And when he missed the second, UNC let up another two offensive rebounds before Finnister gave the 49ers the lead back 68-66.
Regardless of the result, it was shaping up to be a forgettable performance for UNC. The Tar Heels’ last tune-up before the first season of the Michael Malone era in Chapel Hill was filled with 14 turnovers, 12 offensive rebounds by Charlotte and their mid-major opponent making it work for every basket down the stretch. But they at least tried to fight through a bad performance overall.
Charlotte had a six-point lead with 2:31 left in the game, but a 3 by UNC’s Stevenson cut the 49ers lead in half. The Tar Heels forced two turnovers and a miss to Charlotte, but Brown lost the ball off his leg in the second-to-last possession of the game. Charlotte made two at the line to push the lead back to three points, 78-75, but after Avdalas hit a layup, Charlotte called a timeout it didn’t have.
Brown split a pair of technical free throws, sending the game into overtime after the 49ers couldn’t score on their final possession of regulation. And after the back-and-forth overtime period, it finally broke through. A 3-pointer by UNC forward Jarin Stevenson with 2:12 left in the overtime period put the Tar Heels ahead for good, which gave way for Brown. He passed the ball to center Sayon Keita on the right elbow, and Brown was expecting the freshman to shoot the ball.
“That’s the mid-range that he shoots all the time in practice,” Brown said, cheerfully.
But Keita fired him the ball beyond the 3-point line on the right wing, and the shot clock was dwindling, so he put it up.
“I felt like it was a dagger,” Brown said. “I felt like the game was over when I hit that.”
Here are some takeaways from the game.
UNC’s rebounding is a real issue
Malone said that rebounding isn’t a skill — it’s a “want to, a desire.” It’s one thing to falter on the boards to Indiana. The Hoosiers employ a massive roster that allowed them to outrebound North Carolina 53-31 in their exhibition blowout of the Tar Heels on Oct. 18. But Charlotte is a different case. UNC should have the advantage there.
But the Tar Heels’ rebounding issues might be a common trend this season. UNC trailed the 49ers 20-17 on the glass in the first half. Even as North Carolina competed a bit better, it was two offensive rebounds in a single trip down the floor by Charlotte with under seven minutes left that led to a 3 to cut UNC’s lead to 64-63 at the 6:45 mark. The same thing led to the 49ers taking the lead soon after.
UNC was out-rebounded 36-30 on the boards, with their starting center, Keita, having just two rebounds and Stevenson just had two as well. To get dominated like the Tar Heels did is a concerning proposition for the regular season.
“We got to come with a different mindset,” Stevenson said. “I know Coach Malone is going to be on us about it next practice, and yeah, something we just have to figure out.”
Terrence Brown comes alive
It was clear through UNC’s first two preseason games that Terrence Brown still needed to find his rhythm. So out of the under-8 media timeout, Brown took his time. He put the ball between his legs, almost skipping as he tried to bounce into his moves up the floor. He looked loose. A little too loose, though.
Brown had the ball stripped from his hands, forcing him to scramble to retrieve the ball behind him, but he couldn’t toss it into the frontcourt before a 10-second violation was called with 7:31 left in the first half. Brown seemed to acknowledge his mistake to the sidelines. He likely knows — this hasn’t been the start that was expected out of the Utah transfer, who averaged 19.9 points in his junior season.
So from that moment on, he snapped out of whatever that was. Brown seems at his best when he’s attacking with almost reckless abandon, so that’s what he did the rest of the game. He scored three of UNC’s final seven field goals in the first half, which unlocked something as he had his best scoring performance of the preseason, putting in 27 points. He was going at it with Charlotte guard Keyshaun Tillery — and Tillery went off, too — but it seemed to help him get engaged with the game.
He and Avdalas are going to interchange with the ball in their hands. But UNC needs that version of Brown.
“We both need the ball in our hands, so I’m comfortable with being off the ball,” Brown said. “I’m comfortable with being on the ball. I’m just getting used to all of it right now.”
Jaydon Young’s scoring off the bench a difference maker
Young didn’t have to do much.
The junior guard, several times, received the ball right in his shooting pocket in the right corner. All he needed to create space was to take a dribble and side-step to the left. That was how Young, almost casually, erased Charlotte’s lead. The junior guard likely got a greater opportunity with starting guard Matt Able not able to play in the game, and he took advantage of his 23 minutes on the court.
“Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins,” Malone said. “And JY can get hot from the 3.”
He scored all of his 11 points in the second half. The first exhibition revealed the type of impact that another guard who didn’t earn much time last season, Isaiah Denis, can provide. This game might have showed something similar for Young.
“I honestly just want to play as hard as I possibly can, bring a little spark,” Young said, “and then normally that energy feeds into getting open shots.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2026 at 10:15 PM with the headline "UNC survives preseason scare, closes out Charlotte in OT."
