Carolina made a lot of threes, and got a lot of the ones they missed back.
Starting early on against Virginia Tech, North Carolina showed a willingness to keep letting the ball fly from three. The Tar Heels shot 30 three-pointers in total, knocking down 14.
Making nearly 50% from three is a pretty good reason to keep shooting them. Another one was that the Tar Heels were completely dominant on the boards, and could seemingly get their own misses back at will. UNC grabbed 19 offensive rebounds, and nearly doubled up the Hokies on the glass. Those two major factors allowed the Tar Heels to come away with a 91-72 home win against Virginia Tech.
The Hokies started out as the hot team from three, knocking down a couple early. After falling behind by as many as six, Carolina quickly came back, took a lead of their own, and never looked back. By around the midway point in the first half, UNC were up 10, and the lead only slipped below double digits once after that.
Justin Jackson led all scorers with 26 points. He knocked in five of the Tar Heels’ 14 threes. Meanwhile, Joel Berry also hit five threes. Funnily enough, Berry went 0-4 from two and finished with 15 points. Kennedy Meeks put up another double-double, which is becoming a very regular occurrence. He went for 15 points and 14 rebounds in 21 minutes.
One slight negative to come out of the game was an injury to Theo Pinson. After rolling his ankle in the first half, Pinson did not play the remainder of the game. However by all accounts, that seems to be more of a precautionary move for someone who is still not far removed from a serious injury.
Shooting 30 threes in a game is a bit of an unusual way for a Roy Williams team to play. However when you get nearly as many offensive rebounds as Virginia Tech had total rebounds, you might as well. Shooting that many threes might not be sustainable in every UNC game, but it worked tonight.
In victory, North Carolina extended their winning streak to seven games. Since losing at Georgia Tech, the Tar Heels have looked excellent. In the next couple weeks, Carolina’s schedule is about to get even more difficult. At least right now, UNC is playing some of their best basketball and look ready for the challenge.
