Lucas: NC State Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. That's one of the best days you'll ever have at the Dean E. Smith Center. Carolina beats NC State, 100-80, everybody gets biscuits, Michael Jordan was there, and Roy Williams was honored. What a dadgum day.

2. Perhaps in honor of Williams--"It always looks better when the ball goes in the basket"--the Tar Heels decided to absolutely scorch the nets. Carolina shot 54.8 percent from the field, 55.6 percent from the three-point line, and the game was never, ever in doubt after the opening minutes.

3. Six different Tar Heels hit a three-pointer, led by Brady Manek with five of them and Caleb Love with four. Love led the way with 21 points, Armando Bacot had 18, and Manek and RJ Davis had 17 apiece.

4. The Carolina offense also shared the ball beautifully, as personified by Manek late in the first half. Already having put up 14 points, Manek could have been excused for hunting his own shot. Instead, he found Armando Bacot with a beautiful pass for a dunk and a 28-point lead. Many of those passes came in transition, as Carolina played in transition more effectively than they have all season. The Tar Heels notched 23 fast break points.

5. Bacot, by the way, had his 11th double-double in the past 12 games and looked much more like himself. He finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds and after some recent shooting struggles, hit five of his 10 field goal attempts. He also passed 1,000 career points, making him the 79th Tar Heel to reach the milestone.

6. It was mostly a day for offense, but Carolina's defense on Dereon Seabron should also be noted. The Wolfpack standout is one of the top scorers in the league, but the Leaky Black-led Carolina defense limited him to 1-for-6 from the field. State knew it would probably need big days from all three of the squad's primary scorers to have a chance--they got it from only two, as Terquavion Smith had 34 points and Jericole Hellems added 23.

7. Good day for the Carolina bench, which provided exactly the spark Hubert Davis needs. Puff Johnson scored eight and Kerwin Walton had five points, and Johnson also added six rebounds in his 18 minutes. Johnson's energy was a big part of Carolina stretching the lead in the first half. The Tar Heel bench outscored the NC State reserves, 22-9.

8. You got a glimpse of what's going to help Dontrez Styles earn more minutes as his career progresses. As soon as he entered the game in the second half, he immediately hit the offensive glass and converted a putback. His athleticism--which he showed off again when he created the space for a jumper with four minutes left--is going to help him make plays for the Tar Heels.

9. Don't discount the pressure of the biscuit free throw. With 37.9 seconds at the line and Carolina sitting on 99 points, it was Jackson Watkins who swished it to send the sellout crowd into hysterics.

10. Roy Williams now has a banner in the Smith Center rafters, a fitting recognition for one of the best to ever do it. The halftime ceremony, featuring a video narrated by Marcus Paige and an introduction by Jones Angell, hit all the right notes. If you missed the video, or just want to relive it, it's here. The pregame video, narrated by Williams, is here.

11. Oh, and by the way, Carolina also honored the 40th anniversary of the 1982 championship team. Whatever you paid for a ticket, you got your money's worth on Saturday. The Tar Heels are now 15-6 overall, 7-3 in the league and firmly in the chase among the ACC leaders. Quite a change from how things felt a week ago. There's no place like home, and three straight home games may have reversed the momentum of the season. Now it has to carry over on the road at Louisville on Tuesday night (the game was rescheduled from the originally announced Monday).

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

Puff Johnson

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Dontrez Styles

Kerwin Walton

Jackson Watkins

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