Quick Hitters – UNC vs. Wake Forest

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Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 93-83 home win over Wake Forest on Tuesday night.

Condensed Game:

Highlights:

  • Congratulations to the seniors, whose final home game will always be remembered as a win. On this night six players were honored – Brandon Robinson, Christian Keeling, Justin Pierce, Shea Rush, Caleb Ellis, and Robbie O’Han. Since that equates to six players, Caleb Ellis was the odd-man-out who didn’t get to actually start the game.
  • It’s no coincidence that the current three-game winning streak coincides with Cole Anthony having his first three games of the season in which he shot 50 percent-plus from the field.
  • Carolina’s leading rebounder tonight was…Leaky Black. Black grabbed eight rebounds.
  • Armando Bacot went through shootaround but it was ultimately decided that he wouldn’t play.
  • The Tar Heels committed a season-low seven turnovers tonight, including only one in the second half.
  • The 35 first half points broke Carolina’s streak of scoring 40-plus points in four straight halves. But they then exploded for an absurd 58 points in the second 20 minutes. As part of the ridiculous second half, Carolina was shooting over 70 percent with 6:00 still to go. For the game, they wound up shooting 50.8 percent (31-for-61).
  • Christian Keeling did not continue his hot shooting in the first half, but scored eight straight for the Heels during a three-minute stretch midway through the second half. He did not hit double-digits but has scored nine or more points in nine straight games.
  • An underappreciated aspect of this Carolina team is their ability to draw charges. Tonight they drew four – two from Justin Pierce and one each from Christian Keeling and Cole Anthony.
  • Cole Anthony’s efficiency continues to skyrocket. In the past two games he has tallied 14 assists and just three turnovers. In those same games he has scored 25 and 28 points respectively. In the past three games he has connected on 12 of his 20 three-point attempts. His floor management grows every game. Really would love to see how the team would have fared if Cole hadn’t been injured.
  • Garrison Brooks continues to astound. He had three and-one opportunities in the first half (connecting on two of them). He has five straight games of scoring 20-plus points and three straight games of 25-plus points. In that five game stretch, Brooks is shooting 63 percent from the field. Brooks and Anthony combined for 53 of Carolina’s 93 points tonight. Also to Brooks’ credit, he picked up his second foul with 6:53 left in the first half, continued to play through the rest of the first half plus nearly all of the second half and yet never picked up his third foul.

  • Speaking of fouls, Wake typically makes a living at the free throw line, however Carolina outpaced the Demon Deacons tonight. In fact, in the second half, the Heels were in the bonus for the final 9:30 while Wake never reached the bonus.
  • Carolina had an aberrational strong three-point shooting performance against Syracuse, going 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) from deep. The fear tonight was that the three-point shooting would regress to the mean or, worse, resemble Carolina’s 1-for-16 performance from the first time they played Wake. To the contrary, it got better. Tonight they shot 10-for-17 from deep, good for an astounding 58.8 percent. Anthony and Robinson did the majority of the work in this category, contributing four and five made threes respectively.
  • Cole Anthony had some spectacular plays this evening. A flip pass over his head to Brooks for a lay-up plus the foul with just over 5:00 to go in the first half was a standout. Another stellar play was an absurd reverse lay-up about seven minutes into the second half. Here are both plays:
  • The first half featured several mini-runs. When the Carolina regulars came in for the first time, they reeled off 12 straight. Wake responded with an immediate 7-0 run and another 7-0 just a bit later.
  • The entirety of the game felt like one of those where the Heels were in control the whole time, but Wake was right there with them. Every punch Carolina landed, Wake had an answer. But in the end Carolina made the plays (and free throws) they needed in order to hold on. Have these Heels turned the corner? Do they now know how to close out an opponent?
  • Oh these Tar Heels! They are doing just enough here at the end of the conference portion of the season to give you a glimmer of hope for a run in the conference tournament. First, though, we turn our attention to Duke on Saturday.
  • Brandon Robinson Senior Night speech:
  • Shea Rush Senior Night Speech:

Roy Williams postgame press conference:

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is a road game against Duke on Saturday, March 7. Tip is at 6:00pm ET on ESPN.

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