It wasn’t always pretty, at times, but the Tar Heels were able to close out Boston College 72-64 Tuesday night at the Dean Smith Center. After Boston College cut the lead down to one late in the 2nd half, Caleb Love scored five straight points and the Tar Heels were able to put away a pesky Boston College team.
Armando Bacot led UNC with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Bacot was a presence in the paint – netting a double-double in the first half when UNC’s starting back court struggled.
The guard play changed in the second half. RJ Davis drained four three-pointers and scored 18 points. His running mate, Caleb Love, struggled throughout most of the game, but made timely baskets and drew a charge that energized UNC for the final stretch of the game.
“I thought what gave us life was his defensive charge,” Tar Heels’ head coach Hubert Davis said after the win. “That’s what I thought gave us life. You know, one of the things that I’ve said a number of times is Caleb is a basketball player and all of our guys are. And that is you can make an impact in many different areas, not just scoring and shooting. It’s distributing, it’s playing defense, it’s rebounding, it’s team chemistry, energy and effort, and enthusiasm. There’s a number of ways that you can benefit a team and allow us to be the best that we can be.”
In conference play sometimes you don’t play your best basketball, but you will have to grind out a win and that was what the Tar Heels were able to do tonight.
UNC will now have a few days before they get ready to host their rivals from Raleigh, NC State on Saturday in an important game for both schools. NC State has won 7 out of 8 and UNC has won 4 out of its last 5.