The Capital Sports Report

ASHEVILLE – Over the last few years, North Carolina has lost to Texas by three points or fewer six times. Make that seven. The Tar Heels got down by 14 in the first half and fought back to take a late lead but a step back jumper at the buzzer gave the Longhorns a 69-67 win in the finals of the Maui Invitational Tournament. (12/2) With the score tied at 67 following a pair of free throws by UNC’s Leaky Black, Texas’ Matt Coleman dribbled out the last 25 seconds and hit the jumper over Carolina freshman R.J. Davis for […]

ASHEVILLE – North Carolina turned the ball over 24 times but made a couple of big plays late to get by Stanford 67-63 to advance to the finals of the Maui Invitational Tournament. (12/1) The Tar Heels clamped down defensively late as Stanford managed to hit just one of its last nine shots. The biggest defensive play of the game proved to be one by UNC freshman Day’Ron Sharpe with the score tied at 60-60. Just after the under four minute official timeout, Sharpe lined up along the baseline to guard the inbounds pass. He timed his jump and tipped […]

ASHEVILLE – North Carolina missed its first eight shots and trailed 13-0 early but the Tar Heels got in rhythm to rush past UNLV and went on to win going away, 78-51 in the relocated Maui Classic. (11/30) UNC coach Roy Williams, who per normal didn’t call a timeout early, benched the starting five after the slow start. “I didn’t mind the score,” Williams said of the early deficit. “I didn’t like the way we were playing.” Sitting the starters serves as motivation, he said, but he was impressed that the players kept playing and didn’t panic. Senior Andrew Platek […]

For the second time in two years the UNC basketball team has eight new players, most who will contribute significant minutes. We all know that didn’t work out too well last year as Coach Roy Williams suffered through his first losing season. Could that happen again during the 2020-2021 season? Anything could happen but Carolina will be a much better team this year. Gone are one-and-done Cole Anthony, who had an up-and-down season, graduating senior Brandon Robinson, who missed nine games a year ago, sophomore Jeremiah Francis, who transferred out of the program, senior Brandon Huffman, who transferred, and one-year […]

With no fans and all the COVID-19 protocols, it didn’t look like a season opener at the Smith Center but with so many new faces it would have looked strange anyway. North Carolina, with eight new players, recovered from a lull in the second half to break open a close game, 79-60 over the College of Charleston. (11/25) Coming off his first losing season as a coach, the Tar Heels’ Roy Williams started two freshmen in the backcourt – Caleb Love, who led Carolina scoring with 17 points, and R.J. Davis, who added 11. The Tar Heels squandered a 14-point […]

Class of 2021 defensive lineman Keeshawn Silver posted on social media that he “will be playing both sports” at North Carolina, a reference to lining up for UNC football and also suiting up for Tar Heel basketball. Click here for more.

Danny Talbott, perhaps the best high school football player in Rocky Mount history, died early Sunday morning according to multiple social media accounts. Talbott, 75, has been suffering from cancer for several years. In 2018, Nash General Hospital dedicated a cancer center in his name. Talbott had been treated for multiple myeloma, a cancer of a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. He had a stem cell transplant in 2011 at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center that showed great promise. Talbott led the Rocky Mount Blackbirds to state titles in baseball, basketball and football during his […]

Clifton Barnes, the owner of CapitalSportsNC.com, has won a national award for writing for a series of articles on the website. CapitalSportsNC.com has now won awards four years in a row. The series of articles revolves around former University of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith won an Award of Excellence from the DC area-based Communications Concepts through its 2016 Awards for Publication Excellence competition. John De Lellis of Communications Concepts says competition was intense as there were more than 1,600 entries with seven winners in the Writing Series category. Barnes was the only winner in the category from North […]

He could have chosen George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John Adams or Benjamin Franklin. That’s what other kids were doing. But this 9-year-old from Cary, NC chose a North Carolina-product who was a star quarterback for the Washington Redskins in the 1960s and 1970s as his historic figure. Read more. Source:: Redskins