Off the cuff: Against Georgia Tech, it was good to see consistency from Armando Bacot and it was great to see him hit all nine of his free throws. He had a rough start to the year from the line but he looks confident now.
When you've got a player working that hard inside, and he's not only drawing fouls but hitting his free thows, it's a killer for opponents.
If he stays out of foul trouble and he gets help from his teammates - which he is getting - Carolina can be a tough out in the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
While Carolina could use more outside production from Kerwin Walton, three other guys are draining it from beyond the arc. R.J. Davis hit four threes against the Yellow Jackets while Caleb Love had three and Brady Manek canned a pair.
Carolina appears to be only eight deep right now with Walton, Dawson and McKoy getting good minutes off the bench.
There was at least one downer to the game. It's becoming a trend seeing Carolina limp to the finish line at the end of games. The Heels led by 32 with just over nine minutes to play but were outscored by nine points the rest of the way.
During one stretch, the Heels missed 11 straight shots. Much of that is due to the deep subs, who haven't gotten enough time to get good. Carolina's reserves were outscored 28-11 against GT.
Not only do freshmen Styles and Dunn not get much time, even in blowouts, but when the last few off the bench finally get in games, Coach Davis handcuffs them. He seemingly just want them to run out the clock. The other team's reserves are desperately trying to get in the box score while Carolina players are doing little to score. It's not a surprise the Heels are getting outscored late.
It would be good for morale if Coach Davis would take the handcuffs off and let the deep reserves play. And it would be good for team depth if Styles, Dunn and McKoy gets in games earlier.
McKoy does seem to be earning more time. But, the distribution of playing time is certainly different than it was under Coach Smith, Coach Guthridge and Coach Williams.
Tar Heels 88, Georgia Tech 65 Bacot, Davis pace Heels to rout of GT
UNC's Armando Bacot continued his hot streak while R.J. Davis got hot again as the pair led North Carolina to an 88-65 drubbing of Georgia Tech in Chapel Hill. (1/15)
It had been a week since the Tar Heels played. In their blowout win over Virginia, Bacot scored 29 while Davis was zero of 10 from the field. This time out, Bacot scored 29 again, leaving with more than six minutes to go in the game. Davis erased the ofer memory with his first shot - a three - swishing in. He finished with 21 points.
Davis scored 16 in the first half as the Heels got out to a 16-point lead at the half, 42-26.
Carolina led just 26-21 at the 7:41 mark after a five-point Georgia Tech possession in which UNC's Caleb Love picked up a flagrant foul.
The Tar Heels held the Yellow Jackets to just five more points the rest of the first half. During that stretch, Carolina scored 16 which included a Brady Manek three and two Davis threes.
In the second half, Georgia Tech never got closer than 14 points as the Tar Heels extended the lead throughout much of the half. A Manek three from the right corner put Carolina in total control at 62-28 with 12:28 to go.
Midway through the half, Bacot scored eight points in less than a minute with two old-fashioned three-point plays to give Carolina its biggest lead of the game at 74-42.
"He did a really good job of getting low position and holding," UNC coach Hubert Davis said of Bacot. "His energy, effort and toughness allowed him to get good positioning around the basket."
Coach Davis noted that the Tar Heels were unselfish as they dished out 20 assists. "Our guys gave up good shots to get great shots," Coach Davis said.
The Tar Heels - primarily due to Leaky Black's defense - also held Michael Devoe, one of the top scorers in the league, to just one of five from the floor to go along with no assists and six turnovers.
Joining Bacot and Davis in double figures were Love with 14 and Manek with 11. UNC's Dawson Garcia hauled in 11 rebounds.
North Carolina, now 12-4 and 4-1 in the ACC, plays at Miami Tuesday night. Georgia Tech, led by Jordan Usher's 22 points, falls to 7-9 overall and 1-5 in the league.
