UNC basketball's 'kill shot' runs have Tar Heels' confidence rising
CHAPEL HILL – Confidence is growing for UNC basketball.
After seeing what the third-ranked Tar Heels did in the second half of their 85-64 win against Wake Forest on Monday at the Smith Center, it’s easy to see why.
RJ Davis was the star for UNC (16-3, 8-0 ACC), finishing with a career-high 36 points – including 23 in the second half – and zero turnovers.
"I think it’s like a zone that every hooper knows," Davis said of his virtuoso performance. "When you’re in that zone, it’s hard to get out of. You can’t hear anything, you just see the ball and the basket. That’s the type of zone I was in (against Wake Forest).
Davis stayed in that zone throughout UNC's ninth win in a row. The rest of the Tar Heels, including Harrison Ingram and Elliot Cadeau, joined the party to turn a close game into a blowout.
“Coming into this year, everybody was doubting us and people are still doubting us,” said Ingram, who finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
“But we’re gonna keep working and keep grinding. I feel like nobody in this country wants to play us right now.”
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'Carolina runs' adding up for Hubert Davis' Tar Heels
For the 13th time in 19 games, UNC had a 10-0 run. The Tar Heels’ second half against Wake Forest (13-6, 5-3) showed how scary the Tar Heels can be when they're pushing the pace and putting together "Carolina runs."
Leading by five with 15 minutes left in the second half, UNC demolished the Demon Deacons with a 13-2 run in the next six minutes to blow the game open and ignite the Smith Center crowd.
According to analytics guru Evan Miyakawa, the Tar Heels are in an elite group when it comes to using a “kill shot” to take down opponents. Miyakawa defines a “kill shot” as "the number of double-digit scoring runs per game — 10 points or more scored in a row without the opposing team scoring."
Arizona and Houston lead the way as the top teams in that metric, but UNC is ninth.
“I just think it’s confidence. In the most humble way possible, we know we’re the better team out there and we’re just confident,” Cadeau, who had 14 points, said of UNC’s ability to string together runs.
“We never start stressing or anything. We just keep our composure and keep playing hard.”
In the second half, UNC outscored Wake Forest 52-30 and limited the Demon Deacons to 26.7% shooting. The Tar Heels had two fast-break points at halftime and finished with 15. They also had a 43-30 rebounding advantage, checking several boxes for head coach Hubert Davis.
“I challenged them at halftime to step it up defensively, and they did. … Because of the defense, and because of rebounding – I think this is the (eighth) straight game we’ve out-rebounded an opponent – it allows us to get out in transition,” Hubert Davis said.
“We’re just really good in transition. All five guys are running, we pitch the ball ahead, we’ve got great spacing, so we can get to the basket. We can spray 3s, when can hit our bigs in the middle of the post. Once we started running, that got us going. But it all started on the defensive end.”
The pace, space and production on both ends helped the Tar Heels turn a three-point deficit in the first minute of the second half into a 21-point win by the time the final buzzer sounded.
No wonder this group is so confident at this point in the season.
“For us, we know at some time in the game, we’re gonna go on a run,” Ingram said. “For the other team it’s how they can handle our run, and most teams can’t really handle our run. … It’s hard to handle.”
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’s RJ Davis, Tar Heels running away from opponents
