Second-Half Offensive Explosion Leads Tar Heels Past UNI, 91-69

Wednesday, November 22

Paradise Island, Bahamas

Noon

North Carolina

4-0,0-0ACC

Northern Iowa

1-3,0-0MVC

UNI

North Carolina

Cormac Ryan's three early-second half three-pointers sparked the Tar Heels to the win.

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

Second-Half Offensive Explosion Leads Tar Heels Past UNI, 91-69

November 22, 2023 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS—No. 14 North Carolina blitzed Northern Iowa with a 34-6 run to start the second half and beat the Panthers, 91-69, on Wednesday afternoon in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena at the Atlantis resort.

In the second half, UNC hit 9 of 13 three-point attempts and outscored UNI, 56-28. Cormac Ryan hit three three-pointers in the first four minutes coming out of halftime to spark an offensive explosion for Carolina and finished with a season-high 15 points.

The Tar Heels overcame a six-point halftime deficit and put things away quickly by starting the half shooting 11 for 17 (64.7 percent) and 8 for 9 from three-point range (88.9 percent after going 3 for 13 in the first half).

Six Carolina players scored in double figures.

Junior Harrison Ingram played his best game as a Tar Heel, posting game highs with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double at UNC. Freshman Elliot Cadeau (a season-high 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting in 23 minutes off the bench) and graduate student Jae'Lyn Withers (a UNC-high 11 points while shooting 4 of 5) also played their best games at Carolina.

RJ Davis scored 13 points and Armando Bacot had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Northern Iowa shot 60 percent from the floor in the first half but took more than 10 minutes before connecting on its second bucket of the second half as the game slipped away from the Panthers.

Beginning a stretch that will see them play six of eight games away from Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels advanced to the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal to play Villanova, which beat Texas Tech, on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

Carolina improved to 4-0 with the victory in its first game away from home this season, while the Panthers fell to 1-3.

Carolina fell behind, 10-2, to start the game before a 7-0 run cut it to 10-9. The game was close throughout most of the first half before UNI held the Tar Heels without a field goal for over five minutes of game time and grabbed the lead at the break. UNC forced 10 first-half turnovers but were out-rebounded and dominated in the paint, 18-10, as Bacot had just three field goal attempts before halftime.

Bacot eventually finished with 10 points and eight rebounds after a more balanced second half offensive attack. It was his 103rd career double-figure scoring effort as a Tar Heel.

How It Happened
First Half
• The Panthers shot a blistering 60.0 percent from the floor as a team (15 for 25) in the first 20 minutes while holding the Tar Heels to 33.3 percent (9 for 27).
• UNC hit just 3 of 13 three-pointers in the first half.
• Starters Davis, Ryan and Ingram combined to shoot 3 for 17 (including 2 for 10 from behind the arc) in the first half.
• Carolina went without a field goal for more than 5:00 of game time as UNI clamped down on defense and took a 41-35 lead into the break.

Second Half
•Ryan hit three three-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half to spark the Tar Heel offense to an 8-0 run and a 51-42 lead.
• UNC's nine three-pointers in the second half vs. UNI (9 of 13 for 69.2 percent) were more than it had hit in any full game this season prior to today (seven vs. Radford).

Postgame Tidbits & Notes
• Seth Trimble made his third career start and first this season (he started against Notre Dame and at Virginia as a freshman in 2022-23).
• Withers scored 11 points, his high as a Tar Heel after transferring from Louisville. He connected on 4 of 5 field goal attempts and grabbed four rebounds.
• Bacot scored 10 points on Wednesday and has 1,877 in his career, good for 10th-most in UNC history. Brad Daugherty is ninth with 1,912.
• Davis hit 3 of 7 three-point attempts and led UNC with four assists. He has made multiple three-pointers in 49 career games and has led the Tar Heels in assists 45 times.
• Carolina is 3-1 all-time against the Panthers and has won the last three meetings.
• Carolina is 4-2 all-time in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Up Next
UNC will return to action on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. against Villanova on ESPN in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Paradise Island.

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