Jackson disrupts Dunn in second round

RALEIGH — It’s incredibly hard to guard Kris Dunn.

The top-seeded North Carolina men’s basketball team found that out Saturday when it took on ninth-seeded Providence.

“He’s a pro,” said sophomore wing Justin Jackson after UNC’s 85-66 victory over Dunn and the Friars. “At the end of the day, he’s going to get his.”

And that’s exactly what the 6-foot-4 redshirt junior point guard did. He was responsible for the first bucket of the game after drawing a foul on Providence’s first possession, and he proceeded to score 10 points in his first 7:31 on the court.

Aside from the first free throw, all of Dunn’s points came off jump shots away from the basket.

“Me and Nate guarded Dunn early,” said senior point guard Marcus Paige, who has kept up with Dunn since their days on the AAU circuit back in high school. “And we did a good job of keeping him out of the paint. He only had one paint touch when we were guarding him, but he was able to get into a rhythm outside.

“He’s a streaky shooter, so on days where he’s on, there’s not a lot you can do.”

That certainly seemed to be the case Saturday night. Thankfully, though, for the Tar Heels, Dunn managed to get into foul trouble just as easily and quickly as he was able to score on UNC’s defense.

After picking up his second foul of the game at the 11:07 mark, Dunn strolled to the bench and watched his teammates play for the remainder of the half.

Did that 11-minute stretch off the court faze him? Not really.

Dunn started the second half even more emphatically than the first, stealing the ball from Paige on UNC’s first two possessions and finishing in transition both times to give the Friars a 36-34 lead.

For the second time Saturday, Dunn was paving the way for Providence.

“So we put more size on him,” Paige said.

With Paige — who was supposed to get the most time guarding Dunn — also in foul trouble, Coach Roy Williams decided to adjust the matchup and put Jackson on Dunn.

“Justin wasn’t supposed to guard him,” Paige said, “but once we realized he was hitting outside shots over good defense, we decided to put some length on him.

“I think that bothered him a little bit.”

After Paige subbed out with 13:45 left to play in the second half, Jackson looked to slow down Dunn on most possessions. And for a seven-minute stretch, Dunn didn’t score a single point.

“When the coach is calling, you gotta be ready to step up,” Jackson said. “For me, (Williams) said, ‘Justin, you got Dunn because Marcus is in foul trouble.’ And so I tried to step up and do as good a job as I possibly could.

“I tried to make it as hard as I possibly could for him to catch it, and he still got some. But at the end of the day I just tried to make it as hard as I possibly could on him.”

With players like Dunn — who is projected to be the fifth overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft by nbadraft.net — it’s hard to silence them entirely.

After Dunn scored 29 points in just 26 minutes on the court, the Tar Heels learned first hand how that was the case despite playing solid defense against him for the most part.

“Justin Jackson was really good defensively, really good,” Williams said after the game. “Yet you have to congratulate Kris ...

“He’s an unbelievable performer. I (told him after the game), ‘Don’t let this one game dictate how you feel about what you’ve accomplished.’”

And while Dunn showed the Tar Heels how difficult he was to slow down, at the end of the game, when the clock wound down and the final score showed UNC winning by 19 points, Providence learned it’s incredibly hard for a great player to beat a great team.

@CarlosACollazo

sports@dailytarheel.com