Heavy underdog Elon erased a 16-point first-half deficit to take a two-point lead late but fifth-year senior RJ Davis and sophomore Elliot Cadeau led the Tar Heels on a 21-5 run to give North Carolina a 90-76 win in Chapel Hill. (11/4)
In the season opener, Davis tied the scored at 71 with a long floater and then drilled the three from the right corner to put Carolina up 74-71. The Heels never trailed again as Cadeau helped extended the lead with a three, a steal, a free throw and and a driving layup.
Davis scored 10 of his game-high 24 points in the last seven minutes of the game.
“He stepped up,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said of Davis. “He’s been in so many situations where he’s been needed to step up.”
Davis had started the game cold and ended seven of 19 from the floor but he sank all seven of his free throws and added seven assists and seven rebounds.
There were stretches where the Tar Heels played well and other stretches where they didn’t and it started at the start. The Heels hit six of their first 10 shots but then missed nine of their next 10 shots as Elon took a 19-17 lead at the second TV timeout. The Heels got hot again during a 16-5 run that gave Carolina a 42-16 lead with five minutes left in the first half.
The Tar Heels led 51-39 at the break, with Seth Trimble scoring 12 of his 15 points and Jae’lyn Withers scoring all 10 of his points.
The lead held between eight and 12 points most of the second half until Elon went on a 14-2 run, led by a pair of threes from Nick Dorn, which gave the Phoenix a 71-69 lead with 6:48 to play.
That’s when Davis, who was on the bench during the Elon outburst, and Cadeau took over. “It was good for us to see how we’d react,” Coach Davis said. “I’m proud of how they responded. But we’ve got to work to get better.”
Coach Davis said his team missed some layups and wasn’t making the easy play. In addition, defensively, he wanted to hold Elon to under 40 percent shooting and the Phoenix hit 42 percent and he wanted to outrebound the opponent by 10 or more and the Heels only outrebounded the visitors by three.
Cadeau added, “Our shot selection wasn’t the best and we didn’t take care of the ball very well I learned that we’re not as good as we should be.”
Carolina, 1-0, got double figures from four starters – Davis, Cadeau, Trimble and Withers – and eight points from the fifth starter – Jalen Washington. TJ Simpkins came off the bench to lead Elon with 18 points.
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