1. Carolina did what it needed to do in moving to 4-0 with a 97-53 win over North Carolina Central.
2. Will there be a game this year when you don’t read about Caleb Wilson in this space? It appears unlikely. The freshman had a great game in the first half, as he put up 17 points and nine rebounds while making six of his seven shots. That was in just 19 minutes. Wilson eventually finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds in 29 minutes. The last UNC freshman with consecutive double-doubles was Day’Ron Sharpe.
3. Luka Bogavac again led the Tar Heels in plus-minus with +39 in his 25 minutes. He simply makes heady plays and plays like a mature player…which he is. He helps even when he’s not scoring, although he also added 13 points on Friday.
4. Carolina’s superior size played a role defensively. The Tar Heels blocked seven of Central’s 32 shot attempts in the first half and finished with 14 blocks of 62 attempts. Henri Veesaar led the way with five of them, and Wilson added four.
5. Those blocks were part of a solid defensive effort that saw Carolina limit the visitors to just 24.2 percent shooting from the field. The Heels also were whistled for just 13 fouls, so not only were they contesting shots, they were doing it without fouling.
6. Great start for Kyan Evans, who assisted on Carolina’s first four baskets of the game and did it in a variety of ways, including finding three-point shooters, beating the defense with a hit-ahead pass, and perhaps the most high efficiency way for any Tar Heel to get an assist–throwing it to Wilson near the rim. Evans, who was +34 and finished with seven assists but could have had several more, has done a good job of adapting to the way Hubert Davis has asked him to run the team and has become a player the Heels need on the floor. Of course, in the life of a point guard it’s never perfect. Hubert Davis was frustrated with Carolina’s execution after calling a timeout on the final possession of the first half.
7. One of the wrinkles the game afforded Davis the opportunity to explore was Evans playing together in the backcourt with Derek Dixon for a long stretch in the second half. Having the two ball-handlers on the court worked well, and it helped that Dixon also knocked down a few shots. The freshman finished with nine points on 3-of-5 three-point shooting.
8. Carolina had ten turnovers in the first half. A couple looked like there was some uncalled contact (no one is complaining about uncalled contact after Tuesday’s foul-fest) but a couple others were examples of not being strong enough with the ball. But the Heels then cleaned up their play significantly in the second half and did not commit a turnover in the final 20 minutes.
9. The final eight minutes were an opportunity for the UNC deeper reserves to get some minutes. Zayden High scored 11 points and also snagged two rebounds in his 13 minutes. There were also some encouraging signs from Jonathan Powell, who wasn’t part of that final five on the court but scored nine points and had four rebounds in 19 minutes. Powell’s +21 was by far the best number for any UNC reserve.
10. How about a little love for John Holbrook? It’s awesome to see lifelong Tar Heels (Holbrook grew up in Hickory as a big UNC fan) get a chance to live out their dream. Holbrook hustled for an offensive rebound and swished a free throw late in the game. Evan Smithalso had a bucket and made a free throw.
11. Nice moment right before tip-off, as Hubert Davis joined with NCCU coach LeVelle Moton at midcourt to present a signed Carolina jersey and basketball to three year old Onyx Williams, who has been adopted by the Eagles as he battles cancer. Moton and other Central coaches were wearing “All In With Onyx” shirts.
12. Carolina now has 2,399 wins as a program. The next Tar Heel win will make them the third program in college basketball to boast 2,400 wins (Kansas and Kentucky are the others).
13. The Tar Heels are back at home on Tuesday against Navy at 7 p.m. That will mark the conclusion of the five-game season-opening homestand. This is the first time since the 1918-19 season that Carolina has opened the season with five straight home games. The opponents that season were a little different–they included the Durham YMCA and Guilford.
