No. 19 UNC men's basketball routs Elizatbeth City State, 83-55, in opening exhibition

In its season-opening exhibition, the North Carolina men’s basketball team defeated in-state opponent Elizabeth City State, 83-55, in the Dean E. Smith Center.  

What happened?

The Tar Heels started the game scoring seven straight points, which helped them take and maintain a lead for the entire first half. Shortly after its opening run, UNC followed it up with an 8-0 spurt that put the team ahead of the Vikings, 17-6. 

The starting backcourt played a substantial role in UNC’s hot start, as sophomore guards Caleb Love and RJ Davis scored or assisted on all the Tar Heels’ first 17 points. 

Elizabeth City State remained persistent despite the Tar Heels’ early-scoring onslaught and trimmed UNC’s lead down to just six points midway through the first half. The Tar Heels responded by going on another 7-0 run in just over two minutes that put them ahead, 29-18. 

Oklahoma graduate transfer Brady Manek led the way during the Tar Heels run, scoring five of the seven points and corralling a rebound.  

The Tar Heels and Vikings went back and forth for the remainder of the first half, and UNC mostly maintained a lead of eight or more points before forcing a few Elizabeth City State errors to take an 11-point lead heading into the halftime break.   

UNC got off to a quick start in the second half, scoring 15-unanswered points and taking a 58-32 lead. UNC kept its foot on the gas pedal and went on a 10-2 run that put the team ahead, 71-42.  

Shortly after taking a 29-point lead, head coach Hubert Davis put first-years Dontrez Styles and D’Marco Dunn — both highly-touted recruits out of high school — in the game with rotation players Anthony Harris, Brady Manek and Justin McKoy. 

The Tar Heels maintained a significant lead with the majority of the starters out late in the game in large part because of Manek’s late-game dominance, hitting several threes and dominating the paint. 

UNC finished strong and claimed an 83-55 win over the Vikings in the exhibition. 

Who stood out?

The UNC big men starred in the Tar Heels victory against ECSU. Marquette transfer and sophomore Dawson Garcia led the way for the UNC frontcourt with 17 points on 55 percent shooting from the field. Garcia also contributed five rebounds and a steal in his 25 minutes of play. 

Junior center Armando Bacot and Manek scored 16 points each and contributed seven and five rebounds, respectively. Manek put his shooting range on full display against the Vikings, hitting two of his five three point attempts.

Bacot continued his dominant paint play from his first two seasons against the Vikings, hitting five of his eight shots from inside the three-point line. Bacot also showed improvement on his outside shot by hitting his lone three-point attempt of the game.   

Sophomore guard RJ Davis also stood out in this game. Davis — widely considered a traditional shooting guard — showed his ability to do more than score by creating shots for his teammates. Davis tallied five assists, with one pin-point assist to Manek in transition and only committed two turnovers.  

When was it decided?

Although the final score wasn’t close, the game was far from over after the first half. The Tar Heels’ 15-0 run in the second half, however, effectively put the game out of reach for the Vikings. 

Any hopes ECSU had of making a second-half comeback were quickly nixed when UNC followed up its 15-0 run with a 10-2 run, which gave the Tar Heels a 71-42 lead with just under nine minutes left in the game. 

Why does it matter?

Beyond giving UNC an exhibition win, this game showed the Tar Heels where they need to improve before regular season play begins on Tuesday.  

In addition, it gave first-years Styles and Dunn playing time. As the Tar Heels get further into the season and start playing ACC opponents, Styles and Dunn likely won’t see the floor as much, so any play time they get is valuable to their early development. 

When do they play next? 

The Tar Heels open regular season play against Loyola Maryland on Tuesday in the Smith Center at 7 p.m.  

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