UNC basketball vs. UC Riverside: Jalen Washington gives Tar Heels boost off bench
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina basketball is off to the Bahamas.
The 20th-ranked Tar Heels had some impressive stretches in a 77-52 rout of UC Riverside on Friday night at the Dean E. Smith Center.
The competition gets better next week as UNC (3-0) heads to the Battle 4 Atlantis for Thanksgiving to play three games in three days, with the possibility of playing several high-profile programs, including Arkansas, Michigan and Villanova.
Armando Bacot had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Tar Heels, who started the second half on a 19-0 run. Seth Trimble had 11 points, and Harrison Ingram had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Here are some other observations from UNC’s third game of the season.
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UNC’s defense picks it up, Jalen Washington provides spark
UC Riverside scored 17 points in the final nine minutes of the first half, but UNC’s defense picked it up in the second half as the Highlanders went the first 10 minutes without scoring.
In addition to Bacot’s consistency, sophomore Jalen Washington provided a spark off the bench for the Heels. Washington had 11 points, including two 3-pointers, and five rebounds. Washington, who reached double-digit points once in 20 games as a freshman, was 0-for-7 from 3-point range last season.
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UNC basketball’s Jae’Lyn Withers, Seth Trimble highlight impressive stretch
Louisville transfer Jae’Lyn Withers and sophomore guard Seth Trimble teamed up for UNC’s most impressive play of the night. Midway through the first half, Withers skied for a block that fell into the hands of senior guard RJ Davis, who fired a one-handed pass to Trimble.
After grabbing the ball near the elbow, Trimble jumped off two feet, cocked the ball behind his head and threw it down for a two-handed hammer over a defender. That sequence keyed a 10-point spurt for UNC, which led by 21 points before UC Riverside trimmed its deficit to 37-26 at halftime. Withers finished with three blocks.
Why the Tar Heels wore blue jerseys at the Smith Center
UC Riverside requested to wear white jerseys, so, for only the fourth time in the last 35 years, the Tar Heels wore blue jerseys at home. Hubert Davis was playing when UNC played UConn in a doubleheader at the Smith Center as part of the 1990 ACC/Big East Challenge. The Heels also wore blue against UNCW (2013) and Duke (2020).
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC basketball vs. UC Riverside: Jalen Washington boosts Tar Heels
