No. 1 Tar Heels hold on to beat Gardner-Webb down the stretch

CHAPEL HILL, NC — The No. 1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team defeated Gardner-Webb 72-66 on Tuesday night.

UNC was led by grad transfer Pete Nance, who finished the contest with 18 points, five rebounds, and three blocks. Nance played an integral role in the first half for the Tar Heels, scoring 16 of their 26 first-half points as Carolina struggled to buy buckets in the half-court set.

The Tar Heels started out slow, shooting just 2-for-8 from the field in the first five minutes of the game. Following a timeout, Nance began to heat up, knocking down two threes out of the break. The Northwestern transfer had the highest +/- on the floor tonight as he finished +18.

Despite Nance’s dominance, Carolina struggled to score in the half-court set as UNC shot just 9-for-31 from the field in the first half. The Bulldogs ended the half on a 10-2 run as they trailed the Tar Heels by just four heading into halftime.

The UNC tandem of Caleb Love and Armando Bacot came out of the halftime break and went on a 7-0 run between themselves. Love would go on to score eight of the Tar Heels’ 12 points during their next stretch, giving UNC their biggest lead of the night up 16.

Love would finish the game with 20 points, five rebounds, and four assists after scoring just three points in the first half.

Gardner-Webb refused to back down as the Bulldogs would go on a 10-2 run in three minutes, cutting their deficit from 16 to five with less than four minutes to go in regulation. Gardner-Webb was led during this run by Anthony Selden, who scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half.

Despite the late rally from the Bulldogs, it proved to not be enough as UNC’s defense restricted them from scoring key buckets in the last three minutes. A jumper from junior guard RJ Davis iced the game with less than a minute to go, lifting the Tar Heels to a 3-0 record to start the season.

UNC head coach Hubert Davis was not pleased with his team’s effort following the game despite the win. “I told them at halftime, it’s very difficult to do the exact opposite of what the coaches asked you to do. That seems to me to be harder than what you’ve been asked to do. If I could hold practice tonight or tomorrow — trust me, I would.”

The Tar Heels look to bounce back from this lackluster win on Sunday when they host James Madison at Noon in the Dean E. Smith Center on ACC Network.