UNC Basketball grinds out opening night victory against UNCW

It wasn’t the performance they expected offensively, but it was enough for the UNC basketball program to secure an opening-night victory.

Game one is officially in the books, as the UNC basketball program defeated UNC Wilmington in its 2022-2023 regular season opener.

Now, it wasn’t the dominant performance that Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels expected, especially on the offensive side of the floor.

The Seahawks came out right away and showed they weren’t going to simply fold to the No. 1 ranked team in the country. They made five of their first nine shots, taking an early lead in Chapel Hill.

However, the Tar Heels’ defense would respond, as they forced the Seahawks to make just 12 of their final 49 shot attempts (24% from the floor). Although they made 18 of their 24 free throw attempts, UNCW struggled to find an offensive rhythm after their hot start.

For North Carolina, the Seahawks’ full-court pressure seemed to get to them quite a bit. The Tar Heels had just four total assists in the game and did not score a fast break point until over 30 minutes into the contest.

As shocking as the fast break struggles were, the rebounding (especially offensive) was a concerning area for Davis and the UNC basketball program.

UNCW dominated the offensive glass, out-rebounding the Tar Heels 16-7 in that area. They outrebounded North Carolina 37-32, something that doesn’t typically happen to the Tar Heels, especially on their home floor.

The majority of the offense came from the starting unit, as three Tar Heels scored in double-figures. Junior guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love led all scorers with 17 points apiece, while senior big man Armando Bacot finished the night with 16 points to go along with 9 rebounds.

For the newcomers, Pete Nance scored six points, while freshman Seth Trimble provided four of the Tar Heels’ six total bench points. In total, 9 different players saw action, as Davis went four-deep into his bench.

Although the UNC basketball program would’ve loved to have put up a decisive victory in this one, they’ll take the win and look to learn from it. Give credit to UNCW, they gave the Tar Heels everything they had and provided some looks (especially defensively) that should help Davis and his staff make adjustments prior to taking the floor on Friday night.

The Tar Heels will have a few days to put in some work before they host the College of Charleston in their second game of the 2022-2023 season on Friday night. The tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7:00 PM EST.

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