Bench ignites UNC men's basketball to blowout win over N.C. State

During the UNC men's basketball team's practice this week, former Tar Heel Harrison Ingram paid current players a visit. 

Although he is now suiting up for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, Ingram was a member of last year’s North Carolina squad that clinched the ACC regular season title and earned a berth to the Sweet Sixteen. On this visit, he spoke to his former teammates and the new faces in the locker room about playing with a smile. About competing in practice. About finding joy. 

“At the end of the day, basketball should be played with a lot of emotion, a lot of passion,” graduate guard RJ Davis said. “A lot of times throughout the year, we were missing that a little bit.”

Head coach Hubert Davis echoed Ingram’s sentiment in his pregame speech. And on Wednesday against N.C. State, there were smiles. There was emotion. There was passion. 

In UNC’s 97-73 handling of the Wolfpack on a snowy evening at the Dean E. Smith Center, the emotion materialized the most among players rotating off the bench. The bench contributed 43 points, and in the first half, scored 26 of North Carolina’s 54 — equivalent to what the entire N.C. State team scored before the break. This performance marked a season-high in ACC play. 

With 6:53 to go in the first half, junior guard Seth Trimble caught a pass from RJ Davis on the other side of the lane. Trimble battled through the contact of former Tar Heel Dontrez Styles to the rim. The ball dropped through the netting. And-one. 

Trimble clenched his fists, flexed and roared in the direction of Styles. He stared down the UNC transfer now in Wolfpack red. 

The corresponding free throw put North Carolina ahead 40-17.  

Trimble scored another layup two minutes later and jogged back to defense with a grin. Later, he gestured to the crowd after junior forward Cade Tyson knocked down a 3-pointer, beckoning them to their feet. Trimble gestured for and-ones after made baskets and whistles blew. There was joy.

Trimble has started in 18 games this season. Still, off the bench, he aimed to play aggressively and generate looks in the paint for himself and others. He didn’t want to pass on open shots. He also wanted to be a “defensive menace.” 

“Everybody wants to start,” Trimble said. “I want to start. Ian [Jackson] wants to start. But we’re fine because, first of all, we know we’re not taking the backseat. It’s just an adjustment Coach wants to make, and we deal with it. We put a smile on our face, and we take the court the same way we do when we start.”

First-year guard Ian Jackson has started in 12 games this season but didn't start in Wednesday’s outing. Hubert Davis is still tinkering with his lineup, and against N.C. State, opted to rely on RJ Davis, sophomore guard Elliot Cadeau, graduate forward Jae’Lyn Withers, junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin and first-year forward Drake Powell for more size. 

It’s been a more quiet stretch of play for Jackson over the last month. He hasn’t scored double-digit points in consecutive games since early January. From December to early January, he recorded double figures in eight-straight games. He attributed the slump to simply missing shots. His confidence level didn’t falter. 

But after scoring 23 points against Syracuse on Saturday, Jackson put up 12 against N.C. State. He said he put in more work watching film over the last few weeks to better understand defensive schemes and how he was being guarded. And now, the shots are falling again. 

“We just put out the energy the starters were putting out there,” Jackson said. “They came out with a large effort, and we came in and just upped it a little more.”

It's an energy level Hubert Davis made note of in his post-game comments. That level was either consistent as players rotated off the bench or even better than the starters. Ingram’s message resonated. 

North Carolina’s lead amassed to 30 points at one time — its largest in ACC games this season — as the Tar Heels notched season-highs in conference play in field goal shooting (57.4 percent), rebound margin (40-21) and second-chance points (21).  

It’s a stark difference from an ugly first game against the Wolfpack that saw UNC struggling to prevent them from grabbing offensive rebounds and driving through the lane. North Carolina’s bench only scored eight points in that first meeting between the two teams. The Tar Heels only had six second-chance points and shot 43 percent from the field in January. 

This time, there was more passion. More intensity. More emotion. 

“Everybody was smiling in the locker room after the game,” Hubert Davis said, his face lighting up with a grin. “And that puts a smile on my face.”

@carolinewills03

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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