UNC Basketball: Tar Heels rout Elon to move to 2-0

The Tar Heels routed Elon on Friday night to win their second-straight road game and open the 2018-19 season at 2-0.

The North Carolina Tar Heels showed off their depth and strength early and often in Friday’s game on the road at Elon.

In the first half, 11 Tar Heels saw action in the game and all but one scored points as UNC jumped on Elon early to take a 63-45 lead at the break. The Tar Heels dominated on the offensive glass early on and continued that trend into the second half.

The Tar Heels had 20 more field goal attempts in that first half due to 15 rebounds on the offensive glass. UNC was able to get second chances and had 1.61 more points per possession than Elon did in that half.

But while UNC was scoring on offense, their defense struggled a bit in that first half.

Elon was able to put up 45 in the first half due to shooting 57 percent from the field and getting to the line 15 times. If it wasn’t for the Tar Heels offense stepping it up, they could have found themselves in a closer game on the road at halftime.

UNC went into the break with three players in double-digits in points led by Cam Johnson’s 16 points while freshmen Coby White had 11 and Nassir Little had 10.

In the second half, UNC’s defense was a lot better. The Tar Heels outscored Elon 53-2 in that second half as they clamped down on the defensive end and where very effective on the offensive end.

Little added 11 more points in that second half to finish with 21 total and had a big breakaway dunk that was pretty impressive for the first of his career.

The freshman really turned it on in that second half and looked damn good. Little got it done on the offensive end finishing 9-of-13 from the field and came off the bench for the second-straight game. He became the first UNC freshman to score 20+ points since Justin Jackson did it in March of 2015 against Virginia. He’s also the first to do it before January since Brandan Wright in 2006.

The Tar Heels fired on all cylinders in that second half, really elevating their game on both ends of the floor.

They had four players finish in double-digits, with Little and Johnson scoring 21 each while White had 14 and Sterling Manley had 11. Manley also grabbed 8 rebounds coming off the bench.

With UNC’s depth and talent, it will give starters the chance to get a much needed rest and they likely won’t lose much production. So far, Kenny Williams has struggled scoring just 1 point in his first 2 games. We have to imagine that will change and when it does, UNC will be even scarier on the offensive end.

Player of the game?

This one is an easy one. For the first time in Little’s career, he has earned the Keeping It Heel Player of the Game with his 21 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.

Coming off the bench, Little has played at a high level and may force head coach Roy Williams to insert him into the starting lineup. He put on a clinic in Friday’s game, dominating when he had the basketball and it wasn’t even close.

The only knock on his game Friday was going 1-of-3 from the free throw line.

Stat of the game?

All 15 UNC players that saw action in this game scored a point. That included 10 players scoring at least 4 points in this game.

Blue Steel got some extended time in this one with it getting out of hand in the second half. K.J Smith finished with 5 points, Caleb Ellis had 2 and Shea Rush had 1 point.

The 116 points are the most by a UNC team coached by Roy Williams, topping the 113 they scored against Wake Forest in 2003.

What’s next?

The Tar Heels will return to the Dean Dome on Monday night to host Stanford in their home opener.  Stanford will enter the game 2-0 fresh off wins over Seattle and UNC-Wilmington.

UNC won the last meeting between these two teams last year 96-72 on November 20th ahead of the PK80 Invitational.