UNC Basketball: Tar Heels roll past No. 4 Gonzaga at home

The Tar Heels rolled past No. 4 Gonzaga on Saturday night, dominating on the offensive end and the glass en-route to the 103-90 victory.

That was an early-season signature win for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

After what was a back-and-forth first 10 minutes of the game, the Tar Heels were able to grab a double digit lead at the 10-minute mark in the first half and never looked back in their rematch of the 2017 national championship game against Gonzaga. The No. 4 Bulldogs really had no answer for UNC’s offense or defense in the first half, falling behind by as much as 18.

Gonzaga played from behind for most of the game as the Tar Heels came out red-hot shooting the basketball. Once UNC got that first-half lead, the Bulldogs were able to get it down to only 8 points a few times in that second half.

Point guard Seventh Woods and wing Cameron Johnson led the charge in the first half, both scoring double-digit points as the Tar Heels took a 53-39 lead.

Woods would finish the game with a career-high 14 points, scoring 11 of them in the first half off the bench. Meanwhile, Johnson would continue his hot shooting in the second half finishing the game with 25 points to lead all scorers including going 6-of-8 from the three-point line.

This was the type of performance that UNC fans were hoping to see more of this year and it couldn’t have come at a better time. They shot 54% from the field and in the first half were up to 60% from the field.

It was just an all-around impressive performance.

Following their two losses in November, the Tar Heels have now opened up December with two-straight wins. More importantly, UNC gets a big win over a top-5 ranked opponent ahead of another tough game in Chicago against Kentucky next week.

Picking up these non-conference wins will certainly help the Tar Heels resume come March.

UNC cleaned up on the glass against the Bulldogs, out-rebounding them 43-22 including 15-6 on the offensive glass. UNC’s bigs went to work early on and the hot shooting from the perimeter carried into the second half.

While UNC’s defense looked sloppy at times in the second half, their offense did enough by scoring 100-plus points to seal it. Oh and fans got biscuits for that special performance.

Starter Luke Maye finished with 20 points, including a big late and-one play that got him to the 1,000-point milestone for his career. Coby White scored 15 in his return and both Garrison Brooks and Kenny Williams finished with 9.

Player of the game

We are going to give this one to Seventh Woods. While Johnson may have had a hot shooting night and led all scorers, the junior point guard Woods was fantastic for UNC.

He finished with 11 of his 14 points in the first half and provided a spark coming in with the second unit. Woods looked in control of the offense while giving White a break at times, something that could prove to be valuable moving forward.

Stat of the game

As mentioned earlier, the Tar Heels dominated the glass in this one and did damage in the second chance points department. UNC outscored the Bulldogs 24-0 in second chance points thanks to that great effort on the glass.

It’s going to be tough beating this UNC team if they can control the glass and capitalize on those second-chance points.

What’s ahead?

The Tar Heels will have another week off before they return to action again. They will take on the Kentucky Wildcats in the CBS Sports Classic at the United Center in Chicago.

The two teams meet for the second time in the CBS Sports Classic with the Wildcats winning a historic game a few years back in Las Vegas.