Oh, the opportunity was most definitely there. This was North Carolina’s first game since coach Roy Williams moved alone in second place on the NCAA Tournament wins list with 66…. “Tear the door down”.
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Providence: Dunn made 10 of 16 shots… With the Tar Heels leading 21-14, Providence rattled off eight straight points, including four from Bentil, to grab a 22-21 edge with 8:51 to play in the half.
The Friars were in the game until the middle of the second quarter.
Ben Bentil scored 19 before fouling out. Dunn sat the final 11:07 of the first half with two fouls, Paige the final 6:05. At the same time, opponents shoot 35.4 percent from behind the arc against the Tar Heels.
UNC (30-6) had its hands full with the Friars and appeared to be in a struggle to the end when a Dunn dunk tied the score at 41 with 15:31 remaining.
Carolina scored nine unanswered points in three minutes, with four players connecting for scores, showing off the team’s depth. Manyang, a 7-foot junior, averages 2.5 points and 1.4 blocks in 8.0 minutes for the Sooners. Forward Nigel Hayes, an All-Big Ten first-team honoree, has the ability to match North Carolina’s tenacity in the post. The Friars could never catch up after the onslaught. “I think we’ve played our best basketball of the entire season these last couple weeks”. “We didn’t make shots”. Thomas Bryant and Max Bielfeldt will have to be at their best and out of foul trouble. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article. You want to win so bad for them.
The Panthers racked up 18 hits from seven different players between the two games. You either play him or you play me.
The Tar Heels plated three runs in the first inning to gain a 3-0 lead.
Kris Dunn led Providence with 29 points.
“Both of us felt like it was our time to take over”, Johnson said.
Johnson said the Tar Heels thrived after they were challenged in the first half.
“They just made good plays”, he said. The size, it wasn’t a problem for us, it was the toughness. Overall, Indiana according to kenpom.com has an effective field-goal rate – which more heavily weighs 3-pointers – of 58.9 percent, which ranks second nationally.
That door Cooley spoke of in the pregame?
A 42-24 rebound margin for Carolina probably sealed the Friars’ fate, although the margin did grow considerably after Bentil fouled out. For the Friars to have had a real chance to win, their effort would have had to have been near ideal.
Yeah, UNC’s talent notwithstanding, the Tar Heels earned a reputation for not having the grit to go the distance. And if nation’s 7th-best offense can get past Wisconsin – they’ll get a crack at avenging Crossroads Classic or ACC Tournament losses against either IN or North Carolina. As a No. 1 seed, Carolina is 52-10, and UNC owns 114 all-time NCAA victories – second behind Kentucky’s 121.
March Madness may be missing Monmouth, but at least they have the Providence and North Carolina student bands.
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One-and-done players have become all the rage in college basketball. North Carolina has a 29-game winning streak in NCAA Tournament games played in the state of North Carolina….
