ANNAPOLIS, MD. — The North Carolina men’s basketball team looked lethargic for a majority of the first half in Friday’s season opener against Temple.
But behind a career performance by junior forward Kennedy Meeks, the top-ranked Tar Heels cruised to a 91-67 victory over the Owls in the Veterans Classic at Alumni Hall, located at the U.S. Naval Academy.
UNC trailed by as many as five points during the first five minutes of the contest and struggled to get into an offensive rhythm even after seizing the lead.
The Tar Heels manufactured a six-point advantage late in the first half before the Owls stormed back to tie the game at 34. But then North Carolina’s offense finally came to life.
With just over two minutes remaining in the first half, junior forward Isaiah Hicks made a layup. Junior guard Nate Britt made a 3-pointer on the next possession, and the Tar Heels used a 13-2 run to take a 47-36 lead into halftime.
Meeks, who scored a career-best 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting, then tallied nine points in the first five minutes of the second period to hand UNC a 58-45 lead.
Temple trimmed the Tar Heels’ lead to nine points with just under 10 minutes left in the game, but North Carolina went on an 11-0 run en route to sealing a 24-point win.
Quotable
“The whole thing before the beginning of the game was just to get the ball down low and get it as low as possible. That’s what we did. That was for all of the bigs. It just so happened some of my shots were going through, but the entire game, (we were) just trying to get the ball in the paint.” — Meeks on his performance.
