CHAPEL HILL, N.C. –– It was as if a wave of relief settled over the Smith Center yesterday afternoon as North Carolina narrowly avoided their third consecutive one-possession loss.
The Tar Heels secured a hard-fought overtime victory over Boston College – winning the game 102-96.
UNC was on the brink of a bewildering loss, but was able to hold it together and improve to 13-8 on the season and 6-3 in the ACC. North Carolina also improved to 18-1 against the Eagles.
“The ACC is a tough league to play in so we just wanna give everyone our best shot,” freshman Drake Powell said when asked about the presumed relief in winning the game. “It’s not really an exhale, but I’d say just a keep-going attitude.”
The contest was won on the offense with the team having five double-digit scorers. RJ Davis scored 22 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. Ian Jackson and Jalen Washington scored 19 and 18 – respectively. After returning from injury and struggling to regain his rhythm, Seth Trimble scored his second career double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds – a career-high on the boards. Sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau posted 13 points.
The team shot 55.6 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from the 3-point line and 78.8 percent from the charity stripe.
Despite all of this, the game still looked bleak as the Heels were primed to lose – trailing by four with 26 seconds to go. Trimble drew a foul and iced two free throws to reduce the deficit and just five seconds later buried a jumper with 13 seconds remaining, forcing overtime.
The overtime period was all North Carolina, as they outscored the Eagles 13-7 – sealing the tumultuous and much-needed win.
While the Tar Heels delivered key defensive stops to survive, the game was just too close for comfort. It should have never gotten to this point.
“We don’t want to keep finding ourselves in these positions, the rest of the schedule ain’t gone be no cakewalk,” said Washington. “We’ve really gotta be dialed in on every single discipline and detail, do the things the coaches are asking of us, follow the game plan and give 110 percent effort every game.”
The Eagles entered the contest 1-7 in the league and averaged 69.4 points per game, the second-worst in the ACC. Yesterday told a different narrative, however, as they shot 54.4 percent from the field and drained 14 3-point shots, challenging the Tar Heels who are ranked second in points per game.
Lackluster defense cannot be taken lightly, especially as the Tar Heels face the third and fourth-ranked scoring offenses on the road at Pittsburgh and Duke next week.
While the fight of this team is commendable down the stretch, their intensity must be present for a full forty and that starts with more pressure and extremity on the defensive end.
“This group has always found it,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said in regard to where his team’s sense of defensive urgency comes from. “I think they have found it when they have needed it. And it’s needed at the jump ball, and that’s something that’s just going to have to change.”
The Tar Heels finished with just a single block, which is unacceptable in this era of college basketball and it came from one of the team’s shortest players in Cadeau. UNC’s big man took accountability for his lack of defensive intensity on the floor.
“From my perspective, just like drawing a line in the sand, I need to give better effort,” Washington said. “I feel like I was getting whooped out there, so I just gotta be able to be better. Ain’t no excuse. I’m one of the veterans on this team and I gotta do better defensively.”
UNC will begin its two-game road slate on Jan. 28 at Pittsburgh at 9 p.m. and will travel back to North Carolina to face Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 1.
“We’re resilient, it don’t matter how many games we lose in a row, it don’t matter what’s going on, we’re always gonna be resilient and keep fighting. We always find a way.”
Resilient Tar Heels Get Much-Needed Win Over Boston College, But Must Improve Defensively as Tough Road Games Loom