UNC Basketball: Tar Heels open Bahamas tour with win

The UNC Basketball program opened up its preseason trip to the Bahamas with a win on Friday night

We are still just a few months away from the start of the 2018-19 college basketball season but we got an early look at the North Carolina Tar Heels. Well, sort of.

The Tar Heels opened up their Bahamas tour on Friday afternoon with a 112-91 win over the Bahamas All-Stars in downtown Nassau. The game wasn’t broadcasted live but both Go Heels and Inside Carolina were in attendance to check out the Tar Heels and will be for Saturday’s game as well.

These exhibition games will be played by FIBA rules, including four 10 minute quarters and a longer three-point line.

UNC controlled the tempo early on with their starting lineup of Seventh Woods, Kenny Williams, Brandon Robinson, Luke Maye and Sterling Manley. Head coach Roy Williams decided to deploy a more traditional lineup including the center Manely who is expected to take the next step of development in his sophomore season.

The Tar Heels jumped out to an early lead and never really looked back in the game. The senior Williams got off to a hot start, scoring 8 of the Tar Heels first 18 points right away:

UNC would eventually put the foot on the gas in the second quarter and would lead 64-46 at the break. The second half was much of the same story.

The Tar Heels dominated the second half en-route to the victory and went up 90-71 at the end of three quarters. After the Bahamas All-Stars cut the lead down to eight in the third quarter, UNC went on a 8-0 run to extend the lead back out to double-digits.

Junior point guard Seventh Woods put the finishing touches on the win in the fourth quarter when he soared through the lane and flushed it home over a defender. You can watch the dunk by clicking here.

Freshman Coby White and sophomore Garrison Brooks led the way scoring 18 points each and Manley grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds in the win. Nassir Little, Seventh Woods and Andrew Platek all scored 11 points in the win.

The Tar Heels will return to action on Saturday in the Bahamas before wrapping up the trip and heading home.