CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— North Carolina went on a 22-0 run to overcome a 14-point, second-half deficit and beat Florida State, 78-70, on Saturday afternoon in the Smith Center in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for each team.
The Tar Heel blitz turned a 56-48 deficit into a 70-56 lead in a span of under five minutes of game action.
RJ Davis scored 27 points to lead all scorers, his fourth consecutive game with 20+. He has 107 points in the last four contests, averaging 26.8 points in that span. Armando Bacot posted his UNC-record 72nd double-double, finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Harrison Ingram joined Davis and Bacot in double figures with 11 points despite shooting 3 for 11 from the floor and missing all four of his three-point tries. Seth Trimble hit all three of his shots and scored nine points in 14 minutes. He has 25 points in the last games (an average of 8.3 per game).
Carolina improved to 7-1 with the victory, 1-0 in the ACC. FSU fell to 4-3, 0-1. The Tar Heels have won four of the last five meetings against FSU and improved to 24-4 against the Seminoles in Chapel Hill.
FSU closed the first half on an 8-0 run to lead, 35-29, at halftime. In the first few minutes of the second half, the Seminoles built their largest lead at 45-31 with 17:25 remaining in the game.
The Tar Heels used a full-court press in the second half to swing momentum in their favor and tie the score at 56-all with 7:41 to go. They won despite shooting just 5 for 22 from three-point range as a team (22.7 percent) and committing a season-high 18 turnovers.
“I was just proud of the guys, their effort and for them not to panic and stay within what we try to do on the offensive end,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “Our press, that’s the first time we’ve ever done it after making baskets. I said, ‘Guys, you like this you and want to keep doing this?’ They said let’s keep doing it. That’s exactly what I wanted to see, was some life and that press got us going.”
“North Carolina did a great job of sorting out our weaknesses, and they took advantage of our weaknesses like great teams do,” said longtime Seminole coach Leonard Hamilton. “My hat goes off to them. They upped the pressure and created some indecision on our part, and we didn’t do a very good job handling it and there lies a loss to a very good team.”
The crowd noise in the Smith Center upped the Tar Heels’ defensive intensity and aided the 22-0 run, reminding fans of UNC’s epic, 21-point, second-half comeback against FSU on January 27, 1993.
“We have the best fans in the world,” said Cormac Ryan, who dotted the box score with eight points, six rebounds and two steals. “Carolina is an unbelievable place to play a game. They showed out, and I think that really helped us. It helped us when we had to go on a run and kind of make our stand.”
How It Happened
First Half
• Both teams shot poorly from the floor throughout much of the first half with Carolina at 36.7 percent and FSU at 39.4.
• Davis led the Tar Heels with 11 first-half points and Bacot had six with nine rebounds. The rest of the Tar Heel team combined for 12 points on 5 for 17 shooting.
• Carolina was 2 for 11 from three-point range in the first half (18.2 percent) while FSU was 7 for 14 (50.0 percent).
Second Half
• In the early minutes of the second half, the Seminoles built a 14-point lead at 45-31.
• The Tar Heels missed 7 of their first 11 shots in the second half as FSU amassed its lead.
Postgame Tidbits & Notes
• UNC is 54-16 all-time against Florida State, including 44-15 since FSU joined the ACC in the 1991-92 season.
• The Tar Heels are 24-4 against the Seminoles in Chapel Hill, including 21-4 in the Smith Center.
• Carolina has won four of the last five meetings in the series.
• Seth Trimble played one of his better games of the season with nine points in 24 minutes before leaving with an injury in the final five minutes. He took a shot from an FSU elbow to his right hip and did not return to the game.
• Elliot Cadeau had three assists and a turnover with three rebounds. He has 24 assists and two turnovers in the last four games.
• Bacot has 105 career double-digit scoring games.
• With 13 boards against FSU, Bacot has 80 career double-digit rebounding games. He’s led the Tar Heels on the boards 104 times in his career.
• Bacot’s double-double was the 72nd of his career, extending his own school record and ranking third in ACC history behind Tim Duncan of Wake Forest (87) and Ralph Sampson of Virginia (84).
• Bacot has 1,939 career points, good for ninth in UNC history. Antawn Jamison is eighth with 1,974.
• Davis had five assists and has led the Tar Heels in assists 45 times.
• He has led UNC in scoring 24 times.
• Carolina is 241-68 all-time in the Smith Center in ACC play.
• Carolina improved to 63-8 in ACC home openers and 57-14 in ACC openers. UNC opened ACC play in the Smith Center for the first time in four seasons.
Up Next
Carolina will return to action on Tuesday night against defending NCAA champion Connecticut in New York City in the Jimmy V Classic. The Tar Heels’ next home game will be on Dec. 29 against Charleston Southern.
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