WINSTON-SALEM — The No. 8 North Carolina men’s basketball team bounced back from a loss against No. 4 Virginia Monday night with a 95-57 win over Wake Forest at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem.
The Tar Heels were led by Cameron Johnson, who finished with 27 points on 10-13 shooting.
What happened?
Entering the game, the Tar Heels (20-5, 10-2 ACC) were clearly the better team than Wake Forest (9-15, 2-10 ACC) on paper. Early in the first half, UNC showed just why that was the case. North Carolina raced out to an 18-0 lead, establishing a gap that Wake Forest would never come close to closing.
UNC did it with defense early on, coming up with 14 points off turnovers in the first half. The Tar Heels’ defensive activity was clear in two charges drawn by Kenny Williams, and closely contesting most of the Demon Deacons’ shots. UNC didn’t let Wake Forest score for over six minutes. When Wake Forest did, it was too little, too late as North Carolina ended the half up an insurmountable, 49-21.
On offense, the Tar Heels spread the love. In the first half, eight of the nine Tar Heels who took the floor scored, including Andrew Platek who got on the scoreboard with a nice baseline drive. Seventh Woods had some solid minutes for North Carolina. He finished the half with 7 points on 3of 3 shooting and zero turnovers in four minutes.
Who stood out?
Johnson was the leading man for North Carolina. The sharpshooter ranks second in the ACC in 3-point percentage, and he kept up his prodigious clip today. Johnson ended with 27 points, making 7 of 10 of his 3-pointers.
The rest of the UNC offense was a balanced attack. Nine players finished with five or more points and 13 total Tar Heels got on the scoreboard.
