University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Belmont Abbey (exhibition)
Tar Heels Top Crusaders, 112-34
November 8, 2014 | Men's Basketball
by Turner Walston
CHAPEL HILL—Late in the first half of Friday's exhibition game against Belmont Abbey, sophomore forward Kennedy Meeks got out into a passing lane and came up with a steal. The entire Tar Heel bench rose to their feet to see what would happen next. Meeks dribbled alone and elevated for a two-handed dunk, the final two of eight straight Meeks points.
It was a fast-break kind of night for the Tar Heels, who dispatched the Abbey 112-34. Seven minutes into the game, freshman Theo Pinson whipped a behind-the-back pass to Brice Johnson for a dunk. Seconds later, it was freshman Justin Jackson who was finishing a break at the rim. In the second half, Pinson himself soared from the wing for a one-handed jam, and later punctuated an alley-oop from out of bounds. All in all, the Tar Heels dunked the ball 12 times. “Theo gets excited when he dunks it,” Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams said. “But shoot, I did too . . . when I dunk it.”
In the post, Meeks, fellow sophomore Isaiah Hicks and freshman Justin Jackson combined for 44 points on 21-25 shooting. The Tar Heels exploited a size advantage to out-rebound the Abbey 38-21.
Carolina did struggle from three-point range, shooting 3-12, although many of the shots were good looks that just didn't roll in. “We haven't been a great shooting team, that's the reason we've got to be a great rebounding team,” Williams said. The Crusaders, meanwhile, raided the arc for 15 of their 34 total points.
The Abbey showed the Tar Heels multiple defensive looks, including a zone in the first half. Carolina showed good ball movement against that zone, something they'll certainly look to do when the Syracuse Orange visit Chapel Hill in late January. Friday, the Tar Heels were unselfish, handing out 29 assists (including 6 from J.P. Tokoto) on 48 field goals.
Defensively the Tar Heels were out in passing lanes and diving on the floor for the ball, forcing an astonishing 32 turnovers, 19 of them steals. “We have a chance to be much better this year than we were last year,” Williams said. “With J.P. and Justin at 2,3, they're 6'7, 6'8, with their length and athleticism they have, and Marcus (Paige) is as good of a defender as I've ever had as a point guard, so that's pretty strong on the perimeter. And you get the big guys in there, then you have a chance.”
Sophomore point guard Nate Britt scored 10 points off the bench, often teaming with freshman point guard Joel Berry II on Carolina's talented second unit. “I love it, just like I loved playing with Marcus last year,” Britt said. “When you have two point guards out there on the floor, I feel like that's two leaders that always have to know what's going on every single possession on the court. I feel like that just plays to our advantage.”
The outcome was never in doubt, but the game was instructive as Carolina prepares to open the regular season next Friday against North Carolina Central.
“It's keeping us disciplined,” Hicks said after the Tar Heels second exhibition win by more than 50 points. “Even though we're up by that much, we still have to run everything Coach says, not just going out there not playing defense. We still were out there pressuring the ball, even though we were up. We still were out there running, working hard, just staying disciplined, and hopefully these things will carry on to the other games.”
“We just try to execute everything that we work on in practice,” Britt said. “I feel like that's the biggest thing that we take away from games like this.”
Drexler Clark led the Abbey with 14 points, while Markel Pollard added 8. The Crusaders travel to Tallahassee for an exhibition matchup with Florida State on Monday.
