March Madness: Leaky Black’s lockdown defense stifles Eagles top scorer

Leaky Black continued his stellar defensive play in the UNC basketball program’s March Madness opening-round victory over Marquette.

Another day, another top scorer that Leaky Black completed locked down in their head-to-head matchup.

Heading into their March Madness opening-round matchup against Marquette, the UNC basketball program knew that they had to put an emphasis on defending Justin Lewis.

Lewis, a freshman from Baltimore, Maryland, has put together a tremendous season for the Golden Eagles. Over 31 games played, Lewis averaged a team-high 17.1 points-per-game and has been a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.

However, not every team has a player like Leaky Black at their disposal. As Hubert Davis has done all season, he relied on his senior forward to lockdown Marquette’s best offensive weapon.

And boy, did he do that!

Lewis had, by far, his worst game of the 2021-2022 season in Marquette’s loss to North Carolina. Over his 26 minutes of action, Lewis made just two of his 15 shots for a total of six points.

The majority of his struggles were caused by Black’s defensive presence, as he was unable to get many good open looks at the basket.

As he’s done so many times during his Tar Heel career, Black once again came up clutch defensively. By Black controlling Marquette’s best offensive option put pressure on the Golden Eagles while providing the Tar Heels to capitalize on the offensive end.

Of course, we’ve highlighted the offensive standouts, such as Brady Manek and Caleb Love, but Leaky Black deserves just as much credit for this win. If Black doesn’t take Lewis essentially out of the game as he did, the outcome quite possibly could have looked different.

North Carolina has another big game to prepare for, and it’s certain that Black is getting ready for the next matchup that he is called upon for.

Given our faith in Leaky Black, we believe he has another lockdown defensive in store for Saturday’s second-round battle with Baylor.

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