UNC Basketball: Tar Heels fall on the road at Notre Dame

Road games are no easy task in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the UNC basketball program found that out on Wednesday night in South Bend.

Playing in their third-straight ACC road game, UNC’s defense struggled throughout the night guarding the three-pointer, falling 78-73 to fall to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

While UNC grabbed an early lead and went to the paint, Notre Dame stuck to their game plan and it paid off.  Notre Dame went on a 12-2 run midway through the first half with Armando Bacot on the bench to jump out to a 29-19 led by a few three-pointers. UNC got a little too relaxed on defense especially on the perimeter, leaving a few Fighting Irish players open.

And Notre Dame, backed by freshman Blake Wesley, took full advantage with that run to grab the lead.

While UNC ran their offense through the post with Bacot, the Fighting Irish did the opposite and used the three-point line as their weapon. Notre Dame went 7 of 19 from the three-point line in the first half to grab the 39-35 lead. UNC meanwhile, went 1 of 9 from the three-point line in the first half but did shoot 48 percent from the field to stay in it.

The Tar Heels did hold Notre Dame without a field goal for the final 3:36 of the first half but were only able to score four points of their own in that stretch.

In the second half, the Fighting Irish came out firing again. Despite UNC keeping it within four for the first few minutes, the Fighting Irish built up a 13-point lead backed by two-straight three-pointers as they were burning the Tar Heels on switches all night.

UNC did go on a bit of a run in the middle of the second half to cut the lead again to four at 51-55 but then as Notre Dame did all night, they found the three-point shot. Back-to-back threes extended the lead again back out to 10 at the 8:48 mark.

But even with Notre Dame shooting well, this was a game about runs.

The Tar Heels went on a late 9-0 run to cut the lead down to 66-65 with over 4 minutes to go in the game. UNC even grabbed the lead on a Bacot bucket in the paint but it was short-lived. Nate Laszewski drained back-to-back threes to give the Fighting Irish a 72-67 lead. R.J. Davis drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to two.

However, that’s as close as the Tar Heels got. Notre Dame closed this one out by making six free throws in the final 44 seconds including Prentiss Hubb going 2 for 3 from the line on a three-point foul in a two-point game.

In the end, Notre Dame’s three-point shooting was too much despite the Tar Heels dominating in the paint as UNC falls to 2-1 in conference play. Bacot finished the game with 21 points and 17 rebounds, recording his 10th double-double. Davis added 19 points while Caleb Love had 15.

UNC returns to action on Saturday hosting Virginia in the Dean Dome.

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