Lucas: Wake Forest Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina blew open what had been a tight game with an explosive second half, beating Wake Forest 85-64 at the Smith Center.

2. The rest of this might just be "pick your favorite RJ stat." Davis finished with a career high 36, and by the end of the night, the Smith Center crowd was chanting his name.

3. Davis put up a career-high 36 points and was dominant through the decisive stretch of the game. He finished 14-of-23 from the floor and four-for-eight from three, plus had a couple of assists and zero turnovers. He also completely changed the tempo of the game in the second half (along with Elliot Cadeau) after Wake had seemed content to slow the pace in the first 20 minutes. Carolina had a 15-1 edge in fast break points.

4. He sank two straight three-pointers to expand what had been a tight game, which gives him 16 straight games with multiple three-pointers, breaking the mark set by Justin Jackson. He has 51 three-pointers in those 16 games.

5. Davis now has 12 20+ point games this year in 19 outings. He has six games with 25 or more.

6. The Tar Heels as a team have now won seven straight double-figure ACC games for the first time since the 1992-93 team won 10 straight such games. The nine straight overall double-figure wins are the most since the 2008-09 team won 13 in a row. As you might recall, the 1993 and 2009 seasons both ended pretty well. The Heels have held every ACC opponent this year below 70 points.

7. The first half was not a good offensive display. The Tar Heels went 0-for-8 from three, with several of those being open looks. They also had just one assist on 13 field goals, and even with the 17 missed field goals, Carolina recovered just two offensive boards. Davis' 13 first half points were one of the only positive offensive parts of the first half--along with four free throws from Jae'Lyn Withers, who was active--but he had to take 11 shots to get them. And with all of that, Carolina was down just one at the break.

8. Hubert Davis wanted his team to get Wake Forest center Efton Reid in foul trouble to force Wake to use their post depth. Davis' drive to the basket with seconds remaining in the first half picked up Reid's second foul. Davis then also drew Reid's third early in the second half, forcing him to the bench as the Heels made the decisive run.

9. Harrison Ingram has significantly improved his rebounding and is starting to snag some boards that previously would have gone to Armando Bacot. He entered the game with 46 rebounds in his last four games and had four double digit rebounding games in his last five outings. He finished this one with another double-double, getting 14 rebounds to go with 10 points.

10. Carolina has now won nine straight against Wake at the Smith Center.

11. Testament to the way Hubert Davis prepares his teams: the Heels are now 10-2 in regular season Saturday/Monday turnarounds during his tenure.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Elliot Cadeau

Harrison Ingram

Jae'Lyn Withers

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