WINSTON-SALEM — It’s halftime at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem and the No. 8 North Carolina men’s basketball team is dominating Wake Forest, 49-21. Defense has been the story of the first half for the Tar Heels, who held the Demon Deacons scoreless for nearly the first seven minutes of game time.
From the opening tip, this half has been all North Carolina. The Tar Heels raced out to an 18-0 lead behind harassing defense. Kenny Williams came up with two early steals, and Coby White has been all over the much shorter Brandon Childress. North Carolina has done an excellent job contesting shots, which was shown by a 3-pointer that Williams blocked.
In the first ten minutes, Wake Forest scored only twice, and UNC led 27-5. UNC’s activity on defense stifled the Demon Deacons, including two charges drawn by Williams.
UNC used those turnovers to generate offense, coming up with 14 points off turnovers in the first half. A hot start from beyond the arc also helped the Tar Heels, as Cameron Johnson knocked down four 3-pointers and Coby White chipped in another two of his own. UNC has made nine of a total 12 3-point attempts.
The Tar Heels have been able to get just about any shot they want on offense thus far, and they’ve been knocking them down. UNC is shooting 74.1 percent in the first half.
Yet it was not a perfect half for the Tar Heels, who had a number of careless turnovers, including an inbound violation and three-second violation against Luke Maye. Those were two of five turnovers Maye posted in the first half.
In the second half, the Tar Heels will look to keep up the defensive pressure, and put this game away.
