College basketball has an awkwardly structured schedule with early featured games, Thanksgiving tournaments, early November then...uh...exams and Christmas.
It’s herky jerky but even so you get a few good ones, like, say, UNC and Tennessee.
Rick Barnes is building a solid Tennessee program. His team is young but showed a lot of heart against the Tar Heels.
Tennessee controlled the first half but UNC came back in the second and basically shut the young Vols down.
At one point Tennessee missed 14 of its last 16 shots but was just two points down with :33 to go. Forced to foul, UT lost the game on the line as the Heels hit six free throws to put the game away.
The takeaway is UNC’s defense down the stretch. That was impressive.
If there was a concern for UNC it was maybe bench scoring: other than 10 points and eight rebounds, the Heels got minimal help from the bench. Brandon Robinson had one point. That was it.
Boston College beat the Blue Devils again, only this time it was the Central Connecticut Blue Devils and we’re curious: isn’t there some copyright issue?
It was relatively close in the first half but BC pulled away in the second, winning 84-65.
It’s probably not a great sign that in this one the starters had to pull heavy minutes.
Jim Christian shook up his starting lineup a bit, putting Johncarlos Reyes in for Nik Popovic. Ky Bowman led the way with 14 points and seven boards.
Good news for Tech - Josh Okogie is back! After an injury and a suspension, Okogie returned and scored 15. He’s still wearing some protection for his finger but still, great news for Tech. If Ben Lammert can get some rest and get over his issues the season might not be lost. He had just six points, eight rebounds and just one block.
On the bright side, Raleigh native Moses Wright shot 8-9 and also had seven rebounds and three steals.
On Monday, two games: Wake hosts Cliff Ellis’s Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and Florida State looks to bounce back from the Oklahoma State loss with Charleston Southern. Both South Carolina teams are struggling but Cliff Ellis usually know what he’s doing so we expect Wake at least to get some resistance.
- Joel Berry II: “Does Carolina have toughness?”
- How UNC developed, and maintained, the toughness that carried Tar Heels to victory at Tennessee
- UNC thrives late, escapes Tennessee with a 78-73 victory
- Ky Bowman's 14 points, 7 rebounds lead BC to 84-65 win
- 5 things to know ahead of Wake Forest-Coastal Carolina
- Deacons Notes: Wake Forest men's basketball team hunts for ‘turkeys’
- Georgia Tech snaps 3-game skid with 79-53 win over FAMU
- Bowman's 14 points, 7 rebounds lead BC to 84-65 win
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