Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Clemson

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 79-77 road win over Clemson on Tuesday night.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Feb 9, 2022 2:05 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 79-77 road win over Clemson on Tuesday night.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

For the second Tuesday in a row, the Tar Heels went on the road and won a tough slog of an ACC battle in a hostile environment while dealing with questionable officiating. Such is early February in this conference.
The victory gives UNC two straight road wins and moves their record to 4-3 away from the Smith Center in ACC play. Perhaps most importantly, the win allows Carolina to keep pace in the ACC standings, where they are currently 9-4 and just a half-game back of conference-leading Duke and Notre Dame. Carolina is tied with Wake Forest for third (although the Heels are currently the fourth seed because of the head-to-head loss) and a half-game ahead of 8-4 Miami. If the Tar Heels can keep grinding out wins, who knows what might happen.
As you are probably aware, Carolina has historically owned Clemson, winning now 122 of their 144 meetings (84.7%). Coming into this game though, Clemson had won three out of the last four (on the heels of UNC winning 20 of 21). So to pick up a win and reverse that recent history is a step in the right direction.
If the game seemed to lag on, well, frankly it did, clocking in at 2:18 (the longest regulation game of the season thus far). The first half went by quickly enough, and each team finished with six fouls. However in the second half there were 22 total fouls, including two flagrant one fouls and a technical. The officials, (how do I put this kindly?) inserted themselves into the second half. There were several unnecessary fouls called both ways. The final 20 minutes took on the tenor of the 2017 National Championship Game. There was no rhythm and no flow.
Curiously enough though, in a half when the refs were calling everything in sight, they decided to swallow their whistles on what looked like an obvious push-off by Clemson's PJ Hall just before scoring the Tiger’s final basket of the game. And that doesn’t even bring up the fact that it would have been Hall’s fifth foul. It’s not my business how a ref chooses to adjudicate a game, but is it too much to ask for consistency?
Thankfully for the referees, in this scenario the no-call turned out to not be a big deal and even set up the opportunity for the game-winning basket from Brady Manek off a Caleb Love drop-off pass. So perhaps we should thank them for the opportunity to watch a game-winning play in the waning seconds.

After the Manek bucket however, the game was not even close to being declared over, as 3.1 ticks remained on the clock. As every Carolina fan knows, while 3.1 is shorter than the not-to-be-mentioned 4.7 seconds, it’s still a world of time. Clemson proved as much, running a great end-of-game play to get a good look at a wing three for the win at the buzzer. Fortunately for Carolina, the shot fell just shy and hit the front rim. Ball game.
Caleb Love’s shooting slump continues. He was 4-12 from the field 2-7 from three) and committed five turnovers. But for all his troubles, Love kept his head and made two great plays to help account for Carolina’s final five points. Love hit a three to give Carolina a 77-75 lead in the final minute and then had the aforementioned assist to Manek for the final basket. The most impressive part was that Love had the maturity to not force up a layup in traffic, but rather drove to the basket, drew defenders, and found a cutting Manek unguarded at the rim for the go-ahead layup.
Great to see Armando Bacot back in the land of double-double-ville after falling shy in the rebound category against Duke. Bacot finished with 24 points and 10 boards, and would have likely had more were it not for second half foul trouble. Kudos to the rest of the Tar Heels for keeping contact with Clemson while burning enough time off the clock to be able to bring Bacot back in. Bacot now has 18 double-doubles this season and is five shy of tying Brice Johnson’s UNC single-season record of 23.

Forgive me, I’ve gone way too long without mentioning RJ Davis and his stellar play. Davis shot an efficient 6-11 (3-4 from three), scoring 16 points, grabbing three rebounds and most importantly dishing out six assists with zero turnovers. What a phenomenal floor game. Is it time to start considering the fact that Davis could develop into a lead guard who has a knack for both scoring and assisting? If so, Carolina could be in for a treat in the final games of the season.
The most important stretch of the game was the final 10 minutes of the first half. Following a PJ Hall three-pointer at 9:54, Clemson led 19-8 (the only double-digit lead of the game). From there Carolina reeled off a 22-6 run to end the half up by five and put themselves in great position to win with a strong second half. Yes, Clemson eventually closed the gap after halftime and the teams played tug-of-war with the lead, but UNC’s resilience to fight back in the first half is precisely what positioned them to be able to snatch away the victory.
The key now though: Don’t get behind by as much in the first half. UNC needs to get off to a good start and play from ahead, which I get, is easier said than done. Carolina is going to have to find a way to generate better beginning-of-game opportunities for themselves.
If you go back and watch the broadcast of the game you’ll notice you can hear a woman’s voice cheering on the Tar Heels throughout the game. This happens because a woman clad in Carolina gear is right behind where the broadcast crew is commentating and their mics are picking up her voice. Hearing this woman supporting Carolina while visually witnessing a sea of Clemson colors was an odd, but hilarious, juxtaposition. What you might not know is that the woman in question was none other than Leaky Black’s mom!
Speaking of, Leaky Black had another strong performance, particularly in the second half. He played his usual disruptive defense and dropped in all 11 of his points in the second half, including a run of six straight for the Tar Heels at the start of the second half. Black also hit another three, which he has now done in five of the last six games.
There was a beautiful play between Armando Bacot and RJ Davis in the latter part of the first half. Bacot had the ball on the baseline and was doubled. Looking for an outlet, he found a cutting RJ Davis coming through the lane. The players covering Bacot left him to pick up Davis, who then shipped the ball right back to Bacot for an easy dunk.
One thing I haven’t quite figured out yet about Coach Davis is his substitution pattern. Perhaps it’s on a game-by-game basis, but whereas Puff Johnson has been the first off the bench the past couple games, Justin McKoy was the sixth man tonight. Also curiously, Dontrez Styles got 4:21 of playing time in the first half and D’Marco Dunn played on the final possession of that half. Meanwhile, Puff Johnson didn’t see the court until the final possession of the game.
Carolina has the rest of the week off before hosting Florida State on Saturday. It’s an opportunity for the Tar Heels to keep gaining momentum and to re-start a home winning streak.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is a home game against Florida State on Saturday, February 12. Tip is at 2:00pm ET on ESPN.

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