North Carolina improved its NCAA Tournament hopes by not only avoiding a bad loss but by winning big, 92-73 at home against Miami for the fifth straight victory in a row. (3/1)
A 12-2 Carolina run late in the first half gave the Heels a comfortable 46-31 halftime lead. Then, Ven-Allen Lubin opened it up for good by scoring 10 of the team’s first 12 points of the second half to give the Heels a commanding 58-37 advantage five minutes into the second half.
For the second game in a row, six Tar Heels scored in double figures with Lubin leading the way with a season-high 19 points. Drake Powell, who was in the startin lineup, was next with 16 points while RJ Davis added 13. Jae’lyn Withers, who manned the most minutes for Carolina with 33, scored 11 points and hauled in 10 rebounds. Freshman Ian Jackson managed 11 points in just 13 minutes while Seth Trimble added 10.
During the game-changing run at the end of the first half, Trimble tossed back-to-back threes while Davis drained one. The Tar Heels ended up hitting 10 of 18 threes for better than 55 percent from beyond the arc.
“We shot the ball really well today,” Coach Hubert Davis said admitting that it doesn’t always work out that way. “It was an efficient win but defensively I felt we could have done better.”
Behind 25 points from Matt Cleveland and 20 from Brandon Johnson, Miami cut the margin to 14 on several occasions but could get no closer as the Hurricanes fell to 6-23 overall and 2-16 in the ACC.
Carolina outrebounded Miami 38-26 and outscored the Hurricanes in the paint 46-28.
“There’s a week left (in the regular season) and I feel like we’re improving,” Coach Davis said. “To sustain that we have to play with energy, effort and attention to detail. We can’t have four or five minute lapses.”
There may have been a couple of lapses that lasted a couple of minutes but, at least offensively, the Tar Heels are playing the best they have all season, which could help their at-large NCAA selection chances.
The Tar Heels, who play Virginia Tech Tuesday, improve to 19-11 and 12-6 in the ACC.