UNC gets revenge against Wake Forest on senior night
Roy Williams had warned against putting too much stock into how much North Carolina dominated Syracuse on Saturday.
Syracuse primarily plays a zone, while other teams do not. So the preparation is much different, he said. But after shooting lights out against the Orange, the Tar Heels did it again.
Mainly, because UNC freshmen Cole Anthony and Garrison Brooks never cooled off. They helped the Tar Heels pull out a close win over the Demon Deacons 93-83 at the Dean Smith Center.
Anthony scored a team-high 28 points and 7 assists. Brooks finished with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Senior Brandon Robinson, who was playing in his final home game at UNC, added 18 points.
It was the second time this season that both Anthony and Brooks scored 25 or more points in the same game. The last time was Saturday against Syracuse.
UNC (13-17, 6-13 ACC) led for the majority of the game, however it remained close throughout. Wake Forest senior guard Brandon Childress was tough to stop. The shifty guard scored 24 points and answered almost every UNC run.
But it was not enough to stop the Tar Heels, who have now won three consecutive games, since dropping seven straight in February.
It is the Tar Heels’ first three-game winning streak since they won five straight games to open the season.
“Every win is important to us,” Williams said. “For me, I’ve always really emotionally, wanted it, dramatically for our seniors and in particular B-Rob and Shea, who have been there for four years.”
The win also keeps UNC’s hopes alive of getting a first-round bye in the ACC tournament.
Along with Robinson, six UNC players — Robinson, Shea Rush, Robbie O’Han, Christian Keeling, Justin Pierce and Caleb Ellis, were recognized before and after the game. Robinson, Rush, O’Han, Keeling and Pierce all started. Ellis walked on the court with the starters before coming off.
The five seniors played well defensively in their short stint together. But when Williams finally put his starters in, the Tar Heels went on a 12-0 run, and led 12-2 after the first four minutes.
Wake Forest (13-16, 6-13) came back and kept the game close. At halftime, UNC led 35-34. But the Tar Heels, who shot 50 percent from 3 in the first half, stayed hot, and used it to pull away.
The score was 60-56 with a little more than 10 minute left, when UNC went on a 3-point shooting barrage. The Tar Heels made four 3-pointers in a five-minute span to take a 78-69 lead with 5:23 left.
Wake Forest hit two 3-pointers in the final two minutes to cut the lead to 83-77 with 1:40 remaining.
But the Tar Heels held onto their lead and got the win.
And one
The Tar Heels, who entered Tuesday’s game shooting 29 percent from 3-point range, were on fire for the second consecutive game. They finished 10 of 17 from the 3-point line against Wake Forest.
The Tar Heels were 11-for-26 against Syracuse.
Personal foul
The Tar Heels did not defend the 3 well themselves. Wake Forest finished 9 of 20.
“We’re still not getting stops we need to get,” Williams said.
ICYMI
UNC freshman forward Armando Bacot, who sprained his ankle on Saturday against Syracuse, did not play on Tuesday. He was considered a game-time decision and dressed out. But he never entered the game.
“He felt like he was about 65 percent and didn’t think he could move his feet laterally, so it wasn’t much of a decision,” Williams said. “It was an easy decision to sit him.”
Bacot missed his first game of the season. All five of the Tar Heels’ regular starters have missed at least one game this season. The only regular rotational player that has not missed a game is Christian Keeling.
Making sense of the numbers
21: The number of points off turnovers for the Tar Heels. Wake Forest had 13 turnovers and the Tar Heels made them pay.
58.8: The Tar Heels’ 3-point shooting percentage. It was the second game in a row, and second time this season, that UNC hit double-digit 3-pointers and shot better than 40 percent from 3.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 9:04 PM.
