UNC men's basketball holds on against Davidson behind late free throws

With 4:35 left in its win over Davidson on Wednesday, after two free throws from Stilman White, the North Carolina men's basketball team held a 76-64 lead. The Smith Center crowd was not quiet but content with a 12-point lead with under five minutes to go, and the UNC bench seemed to be feeling the same way. 

But the Wildcats made a tough 7-0 run to cut the lead to 76-71. Right before the under-four media timeout, Davidson secured a loose ball and possession. As both teams walked back to their benches, the crowd stirred. The Wildcats weren't going to go quietly. 

After the timeout, Davidson’s Peyton Aldridge missed a 3-pointer. Justin Jackson came back down the court for the Tar Heels and missed one himself. Then a blown assignment on defense allowed Will Magarity an easy dunk. The North Carolina lead was down to three. 

Nate Britt drove, wildly, but his pass found its way to Kennedy Meeks. The senior handled the pass and was fouled, with two big free throw shots coming. Meeks, who earlier in the season described his free throw shooting as Ben Wallace-like, nailed them both. 

As Davidson brought the ball up the court, Coach Roy Williams broke down into his trademark defensive stance, imploring his team to get a stop. A few feet behind him, Theo Pinson bent over into the same stance, willing the Tar Heels to hang onto that five-point lead. 

Only the last few minutes played out so dramatically. After a slow start for UNC that saw the Wildcats go up 10-3, Williams went to a new lineup. In trotted White, Luke Maye and the Tar Heels' three first-years in place of the starting lineup. Senior Isaiah Hicks was thankful that while his starting unit came out flat, the odd combination of reserves clicked. 

“I was like, 'Thank God,'” Hicks said. “'At least some people are ready to play.' The way we started was horrible. We can’t start off like that.”

North Carolina settled in, taking a 42-32 lead into halftime. But Davidson just wouldn’t go away, thanks to 30 points from the Wildcats' star guard Jack Gibbs. The highlight for Gibbs was a wild 3-pointer that banged off the backboard and in, a sign of some of his good fortune Wednesday night. 

“I would have loved to have kidded Jack about that three that he banked in in the first half at the end of the shot clock,” Williams said. “But every other shot he took I thought was going in. I thought that one was not, and it did.”

Up five points with 1:26 to go in the second half, the Smith Center crowd roared for their Tar Heels to make a defensive stop. They got it when Davidson’s Aldridge turned the ball over. On the ensuing offensive position, Britt missed a three, but Hicks snagged the offensive board and earned two more free throws. 

He hit both, and the Tar Heels ended up 27-of-34 from the free-throw line to earn the victory. 

“When the game is tight, you want to draw those fouls because we are capable of hitting free throws,” Meeks said. “I think it showed tonight, and that’s definitely a positive for us.”

The strong free-throw shooting down the stretch — or at least strong enough to ice the victory — was a positive for the Tar Heels on Wednesday. The team also survived its first test without star point guard Joel Berry, who sat out with a left ankle sprain. Guards Britt (0-for-8 from the field) and Seventh Woods (four points in 11 minutes) failed to step up, but Jackson did in a big way with 27 points. That might be it for the positives from this win, though. 

“It’s been fun watching this basketball team at certain times this year,” Williams said. “But it was not fun tonight. It was as frustrating as I can ever remember to be honest with you, but we won.”

After the game, Meeks said the biggest lesson from Wednesday was that the Tar Heels needed to be more prepared. His teammate, Jackson, gave a more drastic answer.

"We gotta figure out what motivates us and figure out if we want to get back to that point that we were last year," he said. "Because we’re not gonna be able to make it to that point if we play like we play tonight."

There isn't much time for soul searching. A good Tennessee team awaits Sunday — a quick turnaround to see if North Carolina takes some of lessons it learned Wednesday to heart. 

@bauman_john

sports@dailytarheel.com