Tar Heels Outlasts Tenacious Wake Forest Team

CHAPEL HILL, NC – The University of North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team hosted the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons on January 20th, 2020. UNC defeated the Demon Deacons by a score of 80-73 in an exciting contest that saw several lead changes. Both teams came out with a purpose, trading baskets to notch the score at 9-9 with 12:13 remaining in the first half.

Wake Forest then seized the advantage, scoring seven in a row to go up 16-9 with 10:19 remaining in the first half. During this run, Wake Forest’s two leading scorers were junior guard Daivien Williamson and junior forward Isaiah Mucius contributed five of Wake Forest’s seven points.
After surrendering seven straight points, UNC began an 11-4 run of their own to tie the game once again at a score of 20-20 with 5:24 remaining in the first half.

The teams continued trading baskets, eventually bringing the score to 28-28 with 1:29 remaining in the first half. Wake Forest proceeded to score five unanswered points before a Caleb Love three-pointer locked the score in at 33-31 Wake Forest going into the half-time break.

Carolina came out hot to start the second half, going on a 14-2 scoring run to begin the period and go up 45-35 with 14:50 remaining in the second half. This hot-start would continue until the final buzzer as Carolina managed to convert 54.8% of their field-goal attempts during the period, their most efficient half of the season.

Carolina cut down on their turnovers in the second half after surrendering nine in the first half, the Tar Heels managed to only record three in the second half. The Tar Heels were generating quite a few turnovers throughout the game, however, forcing Wake Forest into 20 of them and scoring 24 points off of these opportunities. This is Carolina’s third straight game with more assists than turnovers, with the previous contests being vs. Syracuse and Florida State respectively.

After falling by 10 points early in the second half, Wake Forest came to life due to a pair of consecutive threes by junior forward Isaiah Mucius. He notched a third three-pointer after a layup from Caleb Love to cut the Tar Heel lead to three at a score of 47-44 with 13:00 minutes left in the second half.

As Wake Forest threatened Carolina’s lead, the Tar Heels put their foot on the accelerator and tried to put the Demon Deacons away, but Wake Forest would not be deterred, getting a few stops and relying on their hot hand scorer in Mucius. Wake Forest managed to tie the game at 53-53 with 10:12 remaining, the closest the Demon Deacons would come in the second half.

UNC reacted to the tie by going on a 16-6 scoring run mainly bolstered along by the contributions of Caleb Love and Armando Bacot. The Tar Heels went up 69-59 with only 4:45 seconds remaining.

This was the final straw for Wake Forest, who never managed to get back within six points of the Tar Heels and fell just short in a 73-80 loss.
Williamson and Mucius gave Carolina trouble defensively all evening long, combining for 54 of Wake Forest’s 73 points. Both players notched a career-high scoring performance, with Williamson contributing 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting and Mucius adding in another 27 points while hitting 7-of-12 shots from three-point range.

UNC was led offensively by the trio of freshman guard Caleb Love, sophomore forward Armando Bacot, and reigning ACC freshman of the week, R.J. Davis. This group contributed 51 of UNC’s 80 points.
Love had a season-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field with four rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals.

Bacot caught fire in the second half, scoring 14 points and shooting 6-of-7 from the field during this stretch. He finished the game with 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting as well as six rebounds and two steals.

R.J. Davis also started to heat up down the stretch and finished the game with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting after scoring nine points in the second half. Additionally, he contributed two rebounds, two steals, and one block.
Fellow guard Leaky Black, although struggling to score, took the reins on the play-making front, recording eight assists to lead the team in this category. His 8:1 assist to turnover ratio was a career-best for him and the best by any Tar Heel this season. He added eight points, two steals, and six rebounds during the contest as well.

North Carolina (9-5, 4-3 ACC) return to action Saturday, January 23rd to host the North Carolina State Wolfpack (6-4, 2-3 ACC) at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.