Quick Hitters - North Carolina vs. Appalachian State

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 70-50 home win over Appalachian State on Tuesday night.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Dec 22, 2021 2:18 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 70-50 home win over Appalachian State on Tuesday night.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

Following the shellacking Carolina endured at the hands of Kentucky on Saturday, Tar Heel nation was curious to see how the young men would respond on Tuesday night. Sure they would be upset about the previous performance, but would they try too hard and end up pressing? Would their minds be on the impending Christmas break? UNC showed up and took care of business in a workmanlike fashion. Perhaps most importantly, after being carved up on Saturday, the Heels held Appalachian State to 31.3% shooting including just 26.5% in the second half.
Armando Bacot is on a roll. The junior recorded his eighth double-double (16 pts, 10 reb) of the season. Through 12 games, Bacot is ahead of Brice Johnson’s 2015-16 pace, during which Johnson set the Carolina single-season record for number of double-doubles. Johnson had six double-doubles in the first 12 games of that season.

Brady Manek joined Bacot, recording a double-double (11 pts, 11 reb) of his own; the first of his UNC career. This marks the second time in the last three games that a duo has logged double-doubles. Against Furman it was Garcia partnering with Bacot.
It was a night of two halves for Kerwin Walton. The sophomore didn’t see the court in the first 20 minutes. And he didn’t play for the first 4:21 of the second half either. But then he checked in after the first media timeout of the second half…and never came back out. Several minutes later he made two three-pointers within 47 seconds of each other, having previously not made one since November 20. Walton also recorded a season-high four rebounds and looked infinitely more confident and comfortable than in recent appearances. Hopefully, this performance will jumpstart him heading into ACC play.
UNC grabbed 11 first half offensive rebounds. That total is more than they achieved in the entire game in six of the first 11 contests.
One game after posting their lowest assist percentage of the season (39.1%), Carolina was back up close to that magical 60% mark (58.6%), assisting on 17 of 29 made baskets.
This was an up-and-down game for Caleb Love who had some brilliant plays and some other moments he’d probably like to erase from his memory heading into ACC play. Let’s start with the not-so-good. Love was responsible for six turnovers and picked up his third and fourth fouls just four minutes into the second half. On the plus side, the sophomore guard finished with 11 points on 50% shooting and had five assists, several of which were beautiful passes or drop-offs. Better days are ahead for Love.

Bacot also had several nice assists. He continues to do a nice job of keeping his eyes up for kick-out opportunities to open three-point shooters. He had one such pass to RJ Davis for the first basket of the game and had another later in the first half in which he reverse-pivoted to hit Leaky Black in the corner.
Carolina finished with 15 turnovers. As previously mentioned, Love was responsible for six. Manek contributed four. No other Tar Heel had more than two giveaways. If you cut Love and Manek’s numbers down to two, UNC finishes with nine turnovers and you feel a lot different about the final tally in that stat category. Each. Possession. Matters. Maybe not against Appalachian State, but there are 19 regular season games left and each one is against an ACC opponent.
One of the bugaboos against Kentucky was shooting just 1-13 from deep. Carolina tied that number of makes on the first possession of the game and hit each of their first three attempts. The Heels finished the game 7-16 from beyond the arc, back in the percentage range that they’ve been making throughout the season.
This three-point variance is why Carolina’s defensive intensity is so important. The three-pointer will eventually fail you when you rely heavily on it, but defense shows up every game and is not reliant on a ball going through a cylinder. It’s just a matter of the will to do it. Defense is repeatable game after game after game.
UNC did, in the second half, what good teams should do: they didn’t let Appalachian State hang around. The Heels built on an eight-point halftime lead and expanded that gap up to 21 halfway through the second 20 minutes. From there, the lead never dipped below 19 (which was a welcome sign to a certain group of people) and ballooned to as large as 25.
For the first time all season, no Tar Heel reached 20 points. Bacot was the closest with 16, followed by Davis who had 15.
Also for the first time this season, Brady Manek led Carolina in plus/minus with a +23. Perhaps the more shocking number was Anthony Harris’ +21. Shocking because Harris previously had a season high of +5 and had been in the minus column in seven of the 10 games in which he played.
All 11 Tar Heels that played recorded at least one rebound, while eight had multiple rebounds.
Carolina had a really nice stretch leading to what should have been the under-8:00 media timeout of the first half, but Appalachian State couldn’t hold on during a Tar Heel onslaught and had to take a timeout of their own. The Mountaineers had just scored two buckets to cut the lead to three (16-19) and had a three to tie the game, but it missed. Leaky Black grabbed a big rebound to start the run and got the ball to Love, who penetrated and, after spinning, found Manek cutting on the same side of the lane for a reverse layup. Then after an App State layup, Manek tapped out a missed Love three, who eventually got the ball back and buried the shot he had just missed. Following a Bacot steal and outlet to Love, Davis wound up with the ball outside the arc. He pump-faked and buried a mid-range shot. After a missed Mountaineer shot, Love found Bacot all alone under the basket for an easy dunk. First double-digit lead of the game. 9-2 run. Four baskets, four different Tar Heels scored.

It’s officially go time. Sure, the Tar Heels have one ACC game (and win!) under their belt, but from here on out it’s all ACC, all the time. 10 games at home, nine on the road in a down conference year. No more mental lapses. No more Tennessees or Kentuckys. No more lack of effort. Let’s come ready to play, game in and game out, continuing to build and grow together as a unit. If Carolina can do that, there’s no telling what could happen in March.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Hubert Davis - Postgame Appalachian State

Players postgame press conference

RJ Davis

Brady Manek

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is a home game against Virginia Tech on Wednesday, December 29. Tip is at 7:00pm ET on ESPN2.

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