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Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: April 19, 2024 @ 7:23 pm
CHAPEL HILL — A path of improvement continued its positive trajectory Wednesday night for the North Carolina men’s basketball team as the Tar Heels pulled out an 80-73 Atlantic Coast Conference victory against visiting Wake Forest inside the Smith Center.
Marking the fourth victory in its last five outings following an 0-2 start to league play, the Tar Heels are hoping to continue to march forward while showing measurable improvements, yet still believing there are much higher gears to achieve.
“I still feel like we’ve got to put together a complete game,” North Carolina forward Armando Bacot said. “We haven’t been anywhere, not even 20 percent as good as I think we can be. I feel like it’s still a lot more strides we can go.
“Us as a team have not put together a game where everybody has played great. It’s always something — somebody’s in foul trouble, somebody’s not playing good, and I feel like once we can get it to where everybody’s playing good and us flowing, I feel like we’ll be a really good team.”
Bacot, who finished with 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting and six rebounds, helped lead a second half in which the Tar Heels (9-5 overall, 4-3 ACC) took the opportunity to settle down and take a glimpse at the mirror in their ongoing search for an identity.
After trailing 33-31 at halftime, North Carolina found its shooting touch, cut its number of turnovers by a third and put forth a stronger defensive effort in the second half to pull away from the Demon Deacons (3-6, 0-6).
“I felt like we just played harder,” North Carolina junior wing Leaky Black said of the second half. “The talent’s there. Everything’s there. We have all the horses.
“But, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not playing hard and playing with a motive. So, that’s just what we’re all trying to feed everyone. Look, as soon as y’all want to wake up and play, the game will be ours. But, if you keep messing around, obviously, these guys are going to hang around and it’s gonna be another game like last year. I think the energy changed a lot.”
Bacot scored 14 of his points in the second half and the Tar Heels shot 54.8 percent from the field, a vast improvement from the 38.7 percent clip the team connected on in the first half.
“They was playing one-on-one on the whole game and I knew I had a size advantage on them,” Bacot said. “I knew I was a lot stronger than those guys, so I knew once I caught in on that block, I’d be good.”
Bacot wasn’t alone in his improved second-half performance. Freshman guard Davis provided nine of his 13 total points in the final 20 minutes for the Tar Heels, who turned it over only three times in the second half after nine first-half turnovers.
The mistakes that were once haunting the Tar Heels earlier in the season are ones that they’ve managed to cut back on, Black said. Yet, there’s still more work to be done to nip them in the bud, completely.
“I feel like we’re playing together,” Black said. “We’re not breaking plays off and trying to make one-on-one moves and the stupid turnovers; those plays are still there but I don’t think there as many as there were at the beginning of the season. I feel like we’re starting to play more together and buying in on the defensive end. I feel like that’s been changing a lot, so as soon as we get our offense going, these games won’t be so close.”
It’s all part of the process for a blooming team with numerous freshmen apart of the fold and finding their role.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Tar Heels see improvements, hope to find higher gear moving forward
