You never know what you’re going to get with North Carolina this year. The Tar Heels may not be quite a roller coaster, but when you watch them there’s probably a fair chance that, whatever one thought they knew about them, some of it will appear to have been completely wrong.
In its previous three games, Carolina delivered a flat-out dud 21-point loss at home against Louisville, an uninspiring win at the Dean Smith Center against Notre Dame where it shot 39.7%, and then a hard-earned road victory at Miami (Fla.) where it shot 55%, but also allowed the Hurricanes to make just under 50% of their shots.
The Tar Heels were back up Monday night. Way up. In a game that on paper should’ve been a terrific matchup of contrasting teams, North Carolina drilled Virginia Tech 103-82 with a lights out shooting performance.
UNC out-Tech’d Virginia Tech, draining 16 three-pointers, three more than the Hokies. (Do we need any more evidence than this game that the three-point line, as it’s currently situated in the sport at its highest level, is way too easy?) After starting 1-for-11 from deep, the Heels drained 14 of their next 18, a success rate that any team would take at the free throw line for goodness sakes.
Freshman Coby White (27 points) led the brigade with 27 points (five three-pointers), another frosh Nassir Little scored 23, and senior Luke Maye scored 14 with four triples. Even Little hit two triples, or one-third of the way to his total of six entering the game.
North Carolina is a young team, but it’s not like we’re talking Kentucky here; there are three seniors who play heavy roles, three freshmen doing the same, and then a group of sophomores and juniors largely filling around them. The Tar Heels’ body of work is obviously a top 15 team; there’s still room to develop the consistency to be a legit top-10 squad and on the short list for Final Four contenders. At this point, though, maybe this is just what UNC is, a team that can post impressive wins over Gonzaga, Virginia Tech and on the road at North Carolina State, yet get drilled by Michigan and also lose to Louisville and Texas.
Side Dishes:
- Iowa State teased for a while, but you didn’t really think Kansas would lose two straight in the Big 12, did you? The Jayhawks trailed much of the way but came through late, as they so often do, for an 80-76 win at Allen Fieldhouse, as Dedric Lawson finished with 29 points, 15 rebounds, and hit a huge dagger three-pointer with 22 seconds left. If KU has one won game like this, it seems they’ve won a hundred. Lawson’s double-double was his 13th, tying him with Murray State’s Ja Morant for second in NCAA Division I in that category, behind only UNC Wilmington’s Devontae Cacok (14).
- Michigan State hosted up-and-coming Maryland in what was thought to be a Big Ten showdown, but the Spartans showed just what experienced teams at home used to games like this should do in them against a younger team. MSU controlled the Terrapins 69-55, with Kenny Goins (14 points, 12 rebounds) delivering inside, five Spartans scoring in double figures and Maryland shooting just 34.4%. It’s looking more and more at the moment like State is the favorite in the Big Ten.
- Also in the conference of land grant universities, a real uh-oh for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers lost 76-69 at Rutgers and are now 3-5 in league. Nebraska gave up a five-point halftime lead and the Scarlet Knights finished the game on a 9-2 run. Freshmen Montez Mathis (20 points, nine rebounds) and Myles Johnson (14 points, 11 boards) outplayed the experienced Huskers up front.
- Western Kentucky went on a late 12-0 run, coming back after trailing most of the second half to tip Marshall 66-59 and giving the Thundering Herd their first Conference USA loss. Charles Bassey was dominant inside in the late going with 17 points and 17 rebounds and Josh Anderson tallied 25. Terrific game, this had the feel of a real heavyweight battle and we could easily see these two again in the C-USA tourney final, just like a year ago.
- Creighton outlasted Georgetown in a 91-87 shootout, also known as just another night in the new Big East. The teams called a truce on defense, combining for 25 made three-pointers. A salute to the Bluejays sporting some Tony Barone era-like light blue uniforms for the game,
- Lipscomb and Liberty continued a drag race for first in the Atlantic Sun, as both moved to 6-0 on Monday. The go-go Bisons dumped Kennesaw State 86-57 with Garrison Mathews scoring 25, while the pack line Flames stifled North Alabama 72-47, holding UNA to 32.1% shooting and 3-for-21 from three-point range. Liberty is having an outstanding season.
- Texas Southern gained the upper hand in the late going of a tight game to defeat Jackson State 75-65 in a battle of Tigers. John Jones is the son of TSU coach Johnny Jones, and he scored 21 and hit 5 of 6 from long range. The Tigers still are two games off the pace in the SWAC as Prairie View A&M improved to 5-0 in the league with an 83-66 win over Grambling State.
- The two Brooklyn schools separated by less than a mile faced off for the first time this season with St. Francis (N.Y.) winning at LIU 79-70. Sophomore guard Jalen Jordan has become one of the top players in the Northeast Conference for the Terriers, and he scored 20 as his team took a 50-31 halftime lead and then hung on. St. Francis is having a nice season, now up to 12 wins overall, most in the NEC.
- Radford is 6-0 in the Big South after an impressive 72-59 win on the road at upstart Longwood, dominating the second half after leading by two at the half.
- The lone two undefeateds in the MEAC stayed that way. North Carolina A&T topped Coppin State 80-71 with Ronald Jackson scoring a career-best 23. Finishing at almost the same time, Norfolk State won at South Carolina State 74-69. The Spartans are now 6-0 in conference, one-half game up on A&T.
- The game between American and Boston University in the Patriot League was postponed due to anticipated weather and its impact on travel. The game was rescheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday) night and is now part of a women’s/men’s doubleheader between the two schools, with the men’s game leading at 5 p.m.
Today’s Menu:
- The night starts with Auburn at South Carolina (6:30 p.m. Eastern, SEC Network). It’s outside vs. inside, with the bombs-away Tigers against the inside-first Gamecocks, who saw their surprising conference start hit a wall with a decisive loss at LSU this past weekend.
- Michigan has a nice bounce-back opportunity hosting Minnesota (7 p.m., Big Ten Network), which was a bit shaky last week but gets essentially a free shot on the road here.
- The night’s only top 25 pairing has Mississippi State at Kentucky (7 p.m., ESPN). The Wildcats are at home; we’ll see if the Bulldogs’ defensive pressure can affect UK, and if MSU can hold up inside vs. Reid Travis and P.J. Washington.
- Texas Tech is sliding and its offensive struggles don’t figure to improve a lot at Kansas State (6 p.m., ESPN2). First one to 55 wins this one.
- Butler continues to put up occasional three-point bombing outbursts, something Villanova is very familiar with from the last couple years. This one is at Hinkle Fieldhouse, scene of some recent dandies between the two. (7 p.m., FS1)
- The best game of the night in the Mid-American Conference is Toledo at Kent State, with the Jaelan and Jaylin Show. Jaelan Sanford and the Rockets are on the road against high-scoring Jaylin Walker’s Golden Flashes.
- Duke goes to Pittsburgh, where freshmen host The Freshmen (9 p.m., ESPN). Pitt has a quietly superb group of frosh; of course, the Blue Devils’ have a superb group of future NBA first-round picks.
- Alabama just missed out on knock off Tennessee on Saturday; now the Crimson Tide host Mississippi (9 p.m., ESPNU), and Bama could really use this after having lost three of four.
- UNLV is quietly lurking just half a game behind Nevada in the Mountain West standings; the Runnin’ Rebels host New Mexico (10 p.m., CBSSN). Tied with Vegas at 4-1 in the MWC is Fresno State, which hosts San Diego State (11 p.m., ESPNU).
Do enjoy a super Tuesday.
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
