After a shaky start to the season, North Carolina have been rolling as of late. The Tar Heels are winners of four straight after that disheartening lost to the Duke Blue Devils. Head coach Roy Williams has his team playing the right kind of basketball at the best time in the season. With only two games left in the NCAA regular season, UNC can soon out-right clinch the ACC regular season title. A win in one of their next two games against Virginia or Duke and they will have clinched the regular season ACC championship title. Even though Carolina have clinched the #1 seed in the ACC tournament, their work is yet to be finished.
8 North Carolina vs 7 Louisville recap
It seemed that the biggest story from this game was Louisville coach Rick Pitino claims of a fan shouting at him after the game. But actually North Carolina showed their dominance against a tough opponent. Justin Jackson was lights out scoring 21 points and Kennedy Meeks added 14 points with 10 rebounds. #7 ranked Lousville has been playing strong as of late. They had won six of their last seven games before this lost to UNC. And sophomore guard Donovan Mitchell played well scoring 21 points and shooting over 50% from the field. But UNC’s usually dominance on the glass really assisted in this win. Not to be overlooked was the free throw discrepancy. Carolina shot 29 total free throws while Louisville shot only 13. That aggressive nature helped get Deng Adel in foul trouble early on. Louisville did play well in the first half but North Carolina caught on to their defense and finished the game well.
8 North Carolina vs Pittsburgh recap
After a good win against #7 Louisville, the North Carolina Tar Heels sets their sight on the ACC regular season title. In this game, they got great contributions from Justin Jackson and Kennedy Meeks, again. But Joel Berry II rebounded from a somewhat tough game and played brilliant against Pittsburgh. Berry finished with 19 points but more importantly controlled the game from start to end. Jackson had 23 points while pouring in 5 threes plus added 6 rebounds. Not to be outdone is Kennedy Meeks after his 2nd straight double-double putting up 18 points and 10 rebounds. Pitt seniors Michael Young and Jamel Artis did led the team with 17 points each in their final game at their home arena. It was a tough loss for Pittsburgh as they were dominated in every major statistical category of the game.
Up Next: 8 North Carolina vs 18 Virginia
Another tough game here on the schedule for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Virginia are always a tough team defensively but have been struggling as of late. The Virginia Cavaliers have lost four of their last six games in the ACC. In the last UNC vs UVA matchup, it wasn’t even a close contest. Virginia will look for retribution after the 65-41 pummeling they faced at the hands of North Carolina. Justin Jackson put up his almost seemingly usual 20 points during the contest. But if Virginia wants to win this game they’ll have to find away to win the battle of the front court. Last game, Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks hurt them combining for 23 points and 15 rebounds. Players like London Perrantes and Isaiah Wilkins will need good showings against this powerhouse that is North Carolina.
