The Capital Sports Report

In a back-and-forth game of runs, North Carolina took a lead with three minutes to go and hung on by hitting eight free throws in a row to defeat Syracuse 81-75. (1/12) It was the third win in a row for the Tar Heels, who played some of their best basketball of the year as they went on long runs and survived outstanding Syracuse shooting. There was a stretch where Carolina missed 10 straight shots and the Orange took a five-point lead at 56-51 with 11 minutes left. But UNC freshman R.J. Davis started a 9-0 run with a side-step […]

It was senior Andrew Platek’s turn to play late-game hero for North Carolina as he drove the right baseline and scored over two defenders with three seconds left to give the Tar Heels a come-from-behind 67-65 victory at Miami. (1/5) The Hurricanes, who missed nine of their last 10 shots, tied the score at 65 on a teardrop turnaround jumper by Isaiah Wong with 16 seconds left following the Tar Heels 20th turnover of the game. The Tar Heels, not calling a timeout, pushed the ball upcourt. Leaky Black, who had hit all four three-point attempts and had a career-high […]

North Carolina’s Leaky Black banked in a running jumper with nine seconds left and the Tar Heels held on to defeat Notre Dame 66-65 in Chapel Hill for their first ACC victory of the season. (1/2) “Leaky stunk it up on the next to the last possession,” UNC coach Roy Williams said referring to Black allowing his man to get by for a go-ahead layup for Notre Dame. “I told him in the huddle, ‘you just made a bad play. Now go make a great one.’” After Black’s bucket, the Irish got a shot off that was short and the […]

North Carolina, which led most of the game, went cold at the end while Georgia Tech was busy hitting six of its last seven shots to top the Tar Heels 72-67 in Atlanta. (12/30) The Tar Heels led by 11 during the first half, six at the half and eight with less than seven minutes to play. But the Yellow Jackets hit four straight shots, including three triples, to tie the score with just over four minutes to go. With 3:25 to go, Jose Alvarado, who scored 20 for Georgia Tech, hit the Jackets’ fifth shot in a row to […]

N.C. State, behind freshman Shakeel Moore off the bench, struck early against North Carolina building up a big lead that the Tar Heels could never overcome as the Pack held off the Heels 79-76. (12/22) Moore, who had his biggest offensive outburst of the season with 17 points, hit five of six shots in the first half for 13 of those points as the Wolfpack built a 17-point cushion. “Their sense of urgency early in the game was better than ours,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “When we got close, we took two or three bad shots in a row.” […]

Once again North Carolina fell down early by doubled digits and trailed at the half but came from behind to win – this time winning 75-63 against fellow Blue Blood Kentucky, who have five players foul out. (12/19) Armando Bacot, who led UNC with 14 points including 10 coming on second-chance points, used salty language to say that the big guys were not going to be pushed around this season. “We’re not going to be punked this year if guys think they can push us around,” he added. Four Kentucky big men tried to push the Heels around and they […]

North Carolina fell behind by 11 in the first half, came back to go up by 16 and wound up topping N.C. Central just 73-67 in a game added after Elon canceled due to COVID-19. (12/12) Early on, the visiting Eagles were flying high with drives to the hoop on offense and packing it in down low on defense, daring the Heels to shoot from the outside. With Carolina not hitting from outside, Central raced out to that 11-point lead. The Heels were able to get back in it and actually take a 30-28 halftime behind 15 points by big […]

After getting down by 16 in the first half, North Carolina rallied to take a one-point lead in the second half but couldn’t overcome Iowa’s three-pointers and their own turnovers as the Hawkeyes beat the Tar Heels 93-80 in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. (12/8) Iowa drilled 17 three-pointers while Carolina turned the ball over 18 times. There was a 33-point difference between the two teams from beyond the arc as the Heels hit six. And there was a 14-point difference in points after turnovers as Iowa scored 23 points off turnovers while Carolina had just nine. For the third time […]

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