Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Big second half leads Tar Heels past Charleston

By Zack Pearson

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 09: Caleb Love #2 of the North Carolina Tar Heels moves the ball against the Loyola Greyhounds during their game at the Dean E. Smith Center on November 09, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 09: Caleb Love #2 of the North Carolina Tar Heels moves the ball against the Loyola Greyhounds during their game at the Dean E. Smith Center on November 09, 2021 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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Tuesday night marked the first road game in the Hubert Davis era for the UNC Basketball program and while things were shaky early on, the No. 18 Tar Heels used a big second half to move to 3-0 on the season and postpone any celebrations in Charleston.

Powered by Caleb Love and Aramando Bacot, UNC out-scored College of Charleston 58-41 in the second half en-route to a 94-83 win on the road. And UNC was a big second half away from being upset.

The Cougars jumped out to the early lead, getting momentum from the home crowd on a rare visit from a ranked Blue Blood program. The first bucket of the game was an alley-oop from the Cougars that caught UNC off guard, and from there they built a lead that got up to 11 backed by the play of freshman Reyne Smith and Ben Burnham.

But UNC battled back cutting the lead down to 42-36.

In that second half, UNC led on both Love and Bacot who each scored 20-plus points to lead the comeback. With the first half being a fast-paced game, UNC quickly found out that the Cougars had no answer for Bacot in the paint, and the big man took advantage. Bacot set a new career high with 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as he dominated in the paint, helping UNC earn the comeback win.

As a team, UNC out-rebounded the Cougars 49-36 and limited the possessions on defense while getting second chances on the offensive end.

Davis made the big adjustment in the second half to run their half court offense through Bacot and it paid off. It also helped Love open up his game as well.

The sophomore added 22 points including a few big buckets late to pace the Tar Heels. The point guard has certainly improved early on this season and he looked like the playmaker UNC fans envisioned they were getting when he committed a few years back.

Brady Manek added 17 off the bench while Kerwin Walton dumped in 14 including four three-pointers.

With UNC getting a taste of a loud road atmosphere, it should help them down the line especially in conference play. But now the test gets even tougher as they head to the Hall of Fame Tip-off to take on No. 6 Purdue.

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