North Carolina wins chippy road game at Boston College
It was a little bit of a sluggish start for the North Carolina Tar Heels in Saturday’s 76-66 win over Boston College.
They found themselves down 6 at the 13:49 mark with Boston College holding the early 12-6 lead. But UNC turned it around in what was a physical and chippy road game in the ACC.
As the two teams battled back and forth in the first half, it felt like UNC would just need to be tough enough to hang in there before making their run eventually. And they did just that.
North Carolina took a 3-point lead into the break at 34-31 after Elliot Cadeau found James Okonkwo for an alley-oop dunk. That gave UNC some momentum and the lead for good as they never really looked back.
The second half is where things got chippy. After Cormac Ryan got tangled up with Claudell Harris Jr. and Harrison Ingram getting tied up with Quinten Post, the refs decided to take things into their own hands.
It felt like every little bump or minimal contact anywhere on the court was a foul. At one point, there were 33 fouls called in 28 minutes played as both teams benefitted from it.
North Carolina shot 21 of 26 from the free throw line while Boston College shot 25 of 29.
But in the end, it was the Tar Heels that were able to outlast the refs and take advantage at the end. UNC built the lead up to 74-64 with 1:08 left, getting buckets down the stretch from Davis, Seth Trimble, and Harrison Ingram as well as a few stops on the defensive end.
Davis led the Tar Heels with 16 points while Cormac Ryan had 14. Both Ingram (11 points) and Bacot (10 points) finished in double-digits as well.
Player of the Game
I’m giving this one to Harrison Ingram. Despite a slow start, Ingram made some big plays late and was really good on the boards, finishing with 13 rebounds in the game.
What’s next?
North Carolina has a quick turnaround but they will be at home on Monday night for a showdown with Wake Forest. UNC will put their unbeaten record in the ACC on the line in the game.
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