Welcome back, Henri Veesaar!
Veesaar's return to action was as good as UNC fans could hope, as the junior big man guided North Carolina to a road victory over Syracuse on Saturday afternoon.
Although he was forced to miss two games due to injury/illness, the 7-footer didn't miss a beat. He led the way with 19 points on 9 of 13 shooting, putting together an efficient 26 minutes of action in his first game back.
Another strong Zayden High performance
With Veesaar returning, High found himself back in a reserve role. However, he did play a significant amount of minutes (just under 20), and had another strong performance, finishing with 9 points to go along with 11 rebounds.
High would foul out late in the game, but his effort on both ends of the floor provided a huge spark for the Tar Heels. You can't teach effort, which is something High always brings to the table regardless of how many minutes he's playing.
Make. Your. Free. Throws!
North Carolina was... not good once again from the free-throw line.
Out of 28 attempts at the charity stripe, UNC knocked down only 15 of those attempts, as that simply can not continue if they want to make a deep run come March. These misses are more frustrating given who they were coming from, as Seth Trimble (who accounted for four misses at the line, two of which were courtesy of a technical foul), Luka Bogavac (four misses) and Jarin Stevenson (three misses) are some of the Tar Heels best free-throw shooters.
Maybe Sunday should be a free-throw practice day for the Tar Heels...
What's next
North Carolina has a very quick turnaround ahead, as Louisville rolls into town for a very highly anticipated top-25 clash. The UNC basketball program will honor RJ Davis at halftime, placing his No. 4 jersey in the rafters alongside the other former Tar Heels who have earned the incredible honor.