The No. 9 UNC men’s basketball team defeated Johnson C. Smith, 127-63, in an exhibition game on Sunday afternoon in the Dean E. Smith Center.
Johnson C. Smith attained possession of the ball at the beginning of the first half, before junior guard Seth Trimble caught the defensive rebound and ran the ball up the court. Seconds later, that’s where graduate guard RJ Davis made first contact with the net with a 3-pointer, barely 40 seconds into the first half.
“It was really nice having RJ out there as a head coach. You feel a lot better when you have RJ on the floor. I’m still trying to find a way to bring him back next year,” UNC men’s basketball coach Hubert Davis said. “I don’t know that it’s gonna work, but I’m gonna try."
Around the 16 minute mark, sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau lost control of the ball, but quickly dove onto the court, just past the 3-point line to recover it. He then bounce-passed the ball to junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin, who secured a dunk for the Tar Heels, making the score 14-8.
A brief scoring drought was broken around the 12-minute mark where first-year forward Drake Powell secured a 2 point over the head shot to the net, making the score 17-13. Davis snatched the ball with almost 8 minutes left on the clock, where he assisted Trimble with a dunk. With 5 minutes left in the first half, graduate forward Jae'lyn Withers slips at the basket. Lubin came in with back to back layups, within 60 seconds of each other. Powell followed with a dunk, with Trimble with a layup.
“Last year I felt like maybe I couldn’t do this and that, or maybe I was timid too. But, I’m too good of a player to hold myself back for 3rd year,” Trimble said.
In the last 90 seconds, Junior forward Jalen Washington knocked back a dunk assisted by Cadeau, quickly followed by a layup and another dunk, also assisted by Cadeau at the last second of the first half. This brought the score to 59-34 at the half.
At the start of the second half, Davis tried to do the same feat as in the first half, but came up short and missed the floater. Junior forward Cade Tyson got some action, claiming the first 3-pointer of the second half.
Five minutes in, first-year guard Ian Jackson drove down the court, with a clear view ahead and solidified a one armed dunk on the fast break. This brought the score to 67-36, securing a 30-point lead for the Tar Heels. Cadeau came in with back to back layups. With eight minutes left in the second half, the Tar Heels have 28 fast break points.
