UNC Basketball: Bacot leads second half comeback

The UNC basketball program battled its way to a victory on Friday night, powered by a strong second half performance from their senior big man.

Armando Bacot was essentially a non-factor in the first half of play against the College of Charleston.

In fact, the senior big man had just one point and one rebound to his name after 20 minutes of play, as the UNC basketball program trailed by seven heading into the locker room.

Fortunately, the Cougars couldn’t contain Bacot over the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Behind 27 second-half points from the preseason All-American, the Tar Heels battled back to defeat Charleston 102-86 at the Dean Smith Center on Friday night.

Bacot wasn’t the only notable Tar Heel in this one, as Hubert Davis’ squad had four players in double-figures as well as six players scoring more than seven points.

Junior guard Caleb Love was just one rebound shy of a double-double, as his career-best 9 boards to go along with 25 points helped the Tar Heels in a major way.

Leaky Black was simply fantastic in this one, as he scored 15 points while making all six of his shot attempts. He also was your typical Leaky Black on the defensive end, as he helped slow down a Cougars team that connected on over 52 percent of their shot attempts in the first half.

After not scoring in his Tar Heel debut a few nights ago, Tyler Nickel provided some much-needed production off the bench. The freshman scored eight points while doing most of his damage from the free throw line (five of six from the charity strike).

Of course, there are still things to figure out, as the Tar Heels once again were out-rebounded. They still must also find ways to get Pete Nance more comfortable and part of the offense.

The good news is, the UNC basketball program picked up another competitive non-conference victory. Games like these are beneficial for the Tar Heels, as they’ll gain some very valuable experience that will certainly help them down the road.