What promised to be a high-scoring affair turned out to be nothing of the sort.
A UNC defense that ranked second-to-last in the ACC stifled SMU on Tuesday in its 82-67 win in the Dean Smith Center. The Tar Heels held the Mustangs, who averaged 85.4 points per game before Tuesday, to just 33% from the field.
The stunning defensive effort from the Tar Heels gave them their first double-digit win in ACC play this season. And was a promising sign for a UNC basketball team desperate for a dominant victory.
The Tar Heels backcourt came out firing. Elliot Cadeau and RJ Davis combined to score the first six points of the game. But UNC soon went stagnant on the offensive end. SMU tied the game with a 6-0 run of its own, and North Carolina went nearly four minutes without a field goal.
But UNC's defense allowed the Tar Heels to balloon its lead in the first half.
They held SMU, who came into the game as the ACC's top scoring offense, to just 24 points in the opening 20 minutes. North Carolina turned the Mustangs over six times and held them to just 19% from behind the arc. SMU converted on just one of its final nine field goal attempts in the half.
The intensity on the defensive end was something that UNC had not showed all season, allowing it to enter the break up 15.
The second half was more of the same for the Tar Heels. As SMU finally began to find some rhythm on offense, UNC remained relentless on the other end. The lead swelled to 25. UNC kept a double-digit advantage throughout the final frame.
For the first time all season, UNC showed it could play a full 40 minutes against a Power Four opponent. And its defense anchored the effort.
The Tar Heels will look to extend its winning streak to three on Saturday as they travel down I-40 to take on NC State.