UNC Basketball: Black and the Tar Heels hold off Florida State

Leaky Black and the UNC basketball program were able to hold off a late-surging Florida State team to capture its third victory in a row.

Florida State tried to make it two straight games in which they were able to overcome a double-digit margin.

However, the UNC basketball program had other plans.

After taking an 18-point lead into the half, North Carolina had to fight off the Seminoles, who cut the lead to as little as four points, to earn a much-needed victory in their final regular season road contest.

The game started out great for Hubert Davis’ team, as they caught fire from beyond the arc. Over the first 20 minutes of play, North Carolina knocked down 11 three-pointers, as the duo of Caleb Love and RJ Davis outscored the entire Seminoles team in the first half.

As we saw a few days ago, Florida State wasn’t willing to just fold. On their senior night, the Seminoles made a strong push to get back into the game, which was aided by a rather rough offensive half for North Carolina.

Down the stretch, with the lead down to just four, Leaky Black made a play that made it feel as if the game was firmly in-hand.

This emphatic dunk gave the Tar Heels a much-needed energy boost, one that propelled them to an 11-point victory.

Overall, Black was the star of the game for the UNC basketball program. Not only did he perform at a high level defensively (as usual), but was fantastic on the offensive side of the ball as well. He made six of his eight shot attempts (including 3-4 from deep) en route to an 18-point, 9-rebound performance.

RJ Davis had a game-high 19 points, while fellow backcourt mate Caleb Love chipped in 16 points of his own. Even though he was just 3-10 from the floor, Pete Nance finished with 15 points, including a couple of key free throws down the stretch.

North Carolina did all this with Armando Bacot, their leading scorer, scoring just a single point (which came with under 30 seconds left to play). If you were to tell us that they won by double-digits with Bacot being limited (especially due to foul trouble), it’s likely that not many people would believe it.

However, the Tar Heels survived and advanced, as they now will turn their attention to Saturday’s senior night matchup with rival Duke to close out the regular season.

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