By Adam Lucas
1. After a second half that was much improved, Carolina won a game very similar to last year’s contest against College of Charleston, 102-86.
2. After registering a one-point, one-rebound first half, Armando Bacot was a different player in the final 20 minutes. He finished with 28 points and six rebounds. Hubert Davis opened the second half by going straight to Bacot in the post. That seemed to get him on track, and he was a dominant force in the second half. Carolina outscored Charleston 59-36 in the second half and shot 19-for-21 from two-point range.
3. Carolina shot nearly 70 percent in the second half, as they did almost everything better than they did in the first half. Carolina handed out eight assists on 17 field goals in the second half, as the offense looked more in sync than at any point this season.
4. Some big contributions from the bench on Friday night. That was headlined by some game-changing defense from Seth Trimble, who was part of a key sequence midway through the second half when he drew an offensive foul and frustrated Charleston’s Jaylon Scott. As notable as Trimble’s defense was Tyler Nickel’s offense; the freshman is almost always looking to put up points and has a knack for scoring that you’d expect from the state of Virginia’s all-time leading scorer. That bench input was needed, because the Cougars’ bench put up 53 of their points.
5. Charleston’s Dalton Bolon got hot in the first half, scoring 12 points and celebrating by putting an imaginary pistol in his holster. Unfortunately for him, that also attracted the attention of the Tar Heel defense. With Leaky Black switched on to Bolon at the five minute mark of the first half, he scored four points the remainder of the game. Black also provided an offensive spark, hitting a pair of three-pointers and going six-for-six from the field on his way to 15 points.
6. A scorching close to the first half for the Cougars left the Heels down seven points at halftime. Charleston made 17 of its final 24 field goal attempts, a nearly 71 percent clip. They also dominated points in the paint in that half, holding a 24-16 advantage. That was partially due to Armando Bacot and Pete Nance going a combined 1-for-4 from the field, as the Tar Heels struggled to get anything going in the interior.
7. That was part of a first half in which the visitors took ten more field goal attempts than Carolina, put up a whopping 50 points, and Carolina shot 50% from the field but trailed by seven. You aren’t going to see that very often.
9. The game marked the first example of a rule change this year. Instead of the first example of flopping being a warning, the first instance is a technical foul this season. Charleston was hit with one in the first half, which allowed the Tar Heels to tie the score.
10. At halftime, the program honored Lennie Rosenbluth, who passed away this summer. Most of Rosenbluth’s family was on hand, plus 1957 national champion fellow starters Tom Kearns and Joe Quigg. Also in the crowd: women’s soccer legend Mia Hamm.
11. The Tar Heels again played without Puff Johnson, who is working his way back from a knee injury.
12. A second straight big-time Smith Center crowd against a non-marquee opponent. The crowd was consistently loud and into the game, led by a rowdy student section that arrived early and was impactful. They were rewarded by Bacot slamming home the biscuit shot with 25 seconds remaining to put Carolina over the century mark.