By Adam Lucas
1. Hot-shooting Notre Dame was just too much for Carolina, dropping the Tar Heels to 2-1 in the ACC. The Irish did just enough from the arc and the free throw line to hold on for a 78-73 victory.
2. Carolina has been a much better second half team defensively for a large part of this season. But they suffered the same struggles in the final 20 against the Irish that they did in the first half, and Mike Brey’s team connected on six of 12 three-point shots in the final half. The Irish hit 13 of 31 three-point shots in the game (one of their trifectas, a key late shot by Nate Laszewski–who has tortured Carolina in South Bend and hit six of his seven three-point attempts–should have been a two but was credited as a three and never reviewed); they attempted more three-point shots than two-point shots. And when you’re shooting the way they did, you might as well keep jacking them up. Carolina has worked a great deal on keeping opponents out of the paint defensively, and it was a major point of emphasis on the scouting report to stop Notre Dame’s drive-and-pitch. They just struggled to stop it on Wednesday night.
3. Stellar performance by Armando Bacot to keep Carolina in the game in the first half. With the Tar Heels struggling from the perimeter (1-9 from three in the first 20 minutes), Bacot needed just 18 minutes of playing time to post a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double. That meant that by halftime he already had his 10th double-double in 14 games this season. That enabled Carolina to be down only four points and in striking distance at the break after a half in which Notre Dame made six more three-point shots than the Tar Heels. The Irish did a better job defensively against the big man in the second half and he finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds.
4. Impressive toughness by RJ Davis in a game in which he almost never sat down. The sophomore guard finished with 19 points and still had the legs to connect on two clutch late three-pointers with under two minutes to play. Davis also had five assists on a day on which the Tar Heels only had ten as a team, and he played 39 minutes.
5. Caleb Love played with much more energy in the second half, including a key defensive play when he dove to save a loose ball near midcourt–a play that ignited a big Carolina run. But Love tried to do too much with 90 seconds left when the ball never left his hands for too many dribbles, then he hoisted a contested two-point shot. Love finished with 15 points and made three of his five three-point shots, but he also committed four turnovers and had zero assists in 33 minutes. Carolina had 14 turnovers in the game, too many against a deliberate Irish team that coughed it up just seven times. Honestly, it’s pretty amazing that Notre Dame made five more three-point shots and Carolina turned it over seven more times, and the Tar Heels still had a chance in the final minute.
6. After Carolina took a 67-66 lead with 3:27 left, the final possessions went like this: Davis missed a shot and Carolina thought Bacot was fouled going for the offensive rebound. Love committed a turnover. Davis hit the three. Love missed the tough shot, and Leaky Black missed a layup. Black’s basket would’ve cut the deficit to two points but rolled off the rim. He’s undoubtedly going to catch heat for the miss–and he will tell you he should’ve made it–but that wasn’t the only problem in the final two minutes.
7. Carolina’s freshmen had a freshman type of game. Both D’Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles–as you would expect against a veteran Fighting Irish squad–had their struggles. Neither particularly looked in the flow of the game (and both were part of the overall UNC defensive struggles) and went a combined 0-for-3 from the field with one rebound and one turnover in 11 minutes. The Notre Dame bench outscored Carolina’s 14-5 on a day when the Tar Heels were depth-shy due to the absence of Dawson Garcia (concussion), Kerwin Walton, Justin McKoy (both in Covid protocols) and Puff Johnson.
8. Carolina caught a good break during this stretch of three straight road games by traveling to Boston College and Notre Dame when almost zero students were present. Irish head coach Mike Brey had to boisterously wave his arms on the sideline to try and get the crowd involved during the second half when his team opened a double-digit lead.
9. Wednesday night marked just the fourth time in program history that the Tar Heels have opened ACC play with three straight road games. The last time it happened was the 1983-84 season, when Carolina defeated NCSU, Maryland and Wake Forest on the road in Michael Jordan’s final season in Chapel Hill. That was also the only time in program history that the Tar Heels won three straight road ACC games to start conference play. In other words, it’s not easy to win three straight on the road in the league.
10. Good to see Tar Heel fan favorite Coby White at the game. White is averaging 10.8 points and 2.4 assists per game for the Chicago Bulls, who have won eight games in a row. Chicago is approximately a 90-minute drive from South Bend and the Bulls play at home on Friday night.