UNC Basketball: Grades for Tar Heels’ game against College of Charleston

Grading every UNC basketball player for their performance against College of Charleston

The Tar Heels got off to a bit of a rough start against the College of Charleston on Tuesday night, playing lackluster offense and nearly nonexistent defense in the game’s first 20 minutes. That led to a six-point deficit for Hubert Davis’ squad at the intermission, but halftime adjustments proved to be the difference in the Tar Heels’ first road test of the season.

While Armando Bacot kept the Tar Heels in it during the first half, a team effort in the second half on both ends of the court eventually thwarted any Charleston hopes of storming the court against the Tar Heels as they did back in 2010 when Roy Williams’ team was ranked ninth in the nation.

Armando Bacot

Bacot finished the game with a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds, his second double-double of the season and 20th overall. He added three assists and six blocks, while shooting an outstanding 10-of-12 from the floor — he’s connecting on better than 82 percent of his shots this season.

The only knock on Bacot’s performance against College of Charleston was a trio of turnovers and his first-half futility at the free throw line. He missed five of his nine attempts there, something he’ll certainly want to correct as the season goes on. All in all, it was Bacot that kept North Carolina in the game early, and Charleston had absolutely no answer for him throughout.

A-

Kerwin Walton

Kerwin Walton is picking up right where he left off a season ago. He hit 5-of-8 shots for the night and 4-of-6 from three-point range. He tallied 14 points off the UNC bench to go along with three rebounds, an assist and a steal. He did turn the ball over three times, and got himself into a little bit of foul trouble.

A-

Caleb Love

Caleb Love had his second 22-point game of the season on Tuesday night, though he did struggle shooting the ball from the floor (6-for-14, 0-for-2). He did, however, knock down 10-of-12 attempts at the foul line, including a handful of clutch second-half free throws, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. On the downside, he had a team-leading four turnovers on the night. Even if it wasn’t his most efficient performance, he was still the Tar Heels’ second-most impactful player for the game.

B+

Brady Manek

Brady Manek finally managed to connect on multiple three-point attempts on Tuesday — he was 3-for-8 against Charleston after beginning the season 1-for-7 beyond the arc. He hit half of his 12 shots from the floor, pulled down nine big rebounds and had a pair of steals. Manek hit both of his free throws to improve to 78.6 percent on the young season. He only turned the ball over once, but did get into some serious foul trouble (4).

B+

Leaky Black

Say what you want about Leaky Black; he did what he was asked to do on Tuesday night. He played a stint at the point guard position when the Tar Heels’ starting guards were hampered with foul trouble. He played excellent defense in the game’s second half. He minimized mistakes (two turnovers) while giving UNC four points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Grade him against Jackie Manuel, not Wayne Ellington.

B+

R.J. Davis

Davis struggled to get shots off in this game and wasn’t able to exert his dominance as we saw in the game prior when he scored a career-high 26 points. He also struggled to stay on the court with foul trouble in the first half. He ultimately played just 21 minutes, scoring six points to go along with four assists and two rebounds.

B-

Dawson Garcia

Garcia struggled with shot selection, connecting on just 1-of-5 from the floor while missing both of his ill-advised three-point attempts. He did, on the other hand, drain 5-of-6 free throws, and pull down eight rebounds, but scored just seven points for the second consecutive game. We are yet to see the kind of impact from Garcia that we anticipated coming into the season.

B-

Justin McKoy

McKoy tallied just two rebounds for the game in nine minutes of play. He turned the ball over once, committed a foul and missed his only shot attempt of the game. He didn’t have much of an impact on the game’s final score, either good or bad.

Incomplete

The Tar Heels will take the court next on Saturday afternoon when they face off with the sixth-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament. Check back with Keeping It Heel for complete coverage of that game, and everything on the UNC basketball program.