RALEIGH — Hubert Davis didn’t want UNC to double-team DJ Burns Jr.
But after the first half on Wednesday, something needed to change. N.C. State was running its offense through its big man, who had converted three of his four “bully ball” looks — all against UNC graduate center Armando Bacot.
With each post-up opportunity, PNC Arena’s volume crescendoed, teetering on the brink of eruption.
“It was tough,” Bacot said. “Coming into an environment like this, every time he gets the ball, [the fans] are going crazy and I’m like, ‘Oh Lord.’”
Davis said he views guarding Burns as a “dilemma”, but after UNC began doubling the center, it’s safe to say he found his solution. The adjustment slowed Burns in the second half, effectively freezing an already cold N.C. State offense. In UNC’s gritty 67-54 win, the Wolfpack’s top three scorers in DJ Horne, Jayden Taylor and Burns were held to 23 combined points on 8-31 shooting.
"I told them after the game that they're not playing good defense,” Davis said of his team. “They're playing elite defense.”
It wasn’t always like that.
North Carolina had a shaky nonconference stretch that saw it surrender an average of almost 90 points in shootouts with Tennessee, UConn and Kentucky.
Granted, those are all top-6 teams in the country. But what about 83 points to unranked Villanova, or even a season-opening 70 points to Radford at home?