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North Carolina was headed for another loss to fellow blue-blood Kansas, down after a shaky half marked by turnovers and stagnant offense.
Charging the second half with rousing energy and edge changed everything, both for Friday night’s game and in validating Hubert Davis’ roster overhaul after the Tar Heels narrowly missed last year’s NCAA Tournament.
By the end, the 25th-ranked Tar Heels had rolled to an 87-74 victory against the 19th-ranked Jayhawks behind contributions from a star freshman, a transfer portal big man and a returning senior who took on the toughest defensive assignment against Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson.
Trailing by 10 in the first half and 37-29 at halftime, North Carolina made 18-of-23 shots out of the break and shot 24-of-36 (66.7%) in the second half en route to an almost unimaginable 58 second-half points against Bill Self’s Jayhawks.
“It validates (Davis’) thoughts and the vision he had,” said Seth Trimble, who had 13 of his 17 points after the break while leading the defensive effort after Peterson. “It takes some early stress off him to get a big win like that. And it gives not only him, but the whole team a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.”
Changing course
To that point, this was the kind of game that had gotten away from the Tar Heels all too often lately. UNC had lost eight of nine against AP Top 25 teams last year, including one at Kansas, where the Jayhawks blew a 20-point lead but held on at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
It was quite a change to get an opening week win against Kansas, where fans participated in a whiteout, largely sparked by a social media post by star Caleb Wilson. It was UNC’s first win against Kansas since November 2002, when Matt Doherty coached UNC against Jayhawks coach Roy Williams – before Williams returned to his alma mater to take over the Tar Heels the following season.
The Jayhawks had won five straight meetings in the series between programs with a combined 10 NCAA titles along with the interwoven history of names like Williams, Dean Smith and Larry Brown having deep ties to both schools. That run includes the 2022 national championship game in Davis’ first year, the 2012 NCAA Elite Eight and the 2008 Final Four, which Kansas famously led 40-12.
“I wanted this new team, this new group, to have evidence of what it’s like to play in a game like this in the Smith Center and come up in a big way,” Davis said. “I just wanted them to get a taste of what it’s like to be here.”
Excellent effort
The versatile 6-foot-10 Wilson, who joined Peterson in giving this game a pair of potential one-and-done NBA freshmen, finished with 24 points, seven rebounds, four rebounds and four steals in a strong start-to-finish showing. That included showing a soft touch on several fading turnarounds as well as maintaining his exuberant energy, from diving to the floor to marking the final seconds of this one by signaling the crowd for noise.
“I want to impress my coach, I want to impress the world,” Wilson said. “I will certainly let the world know who I am.”
Seven-foot Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona, dunked home a feed from Kyan Evans and then dunked a missed 3 from Wilson to start UNC’s second-half surge, finishing with 20 points in a clear edge against KU big man Flory Bidunga (eight points).
And there was Trimble, the 6-3 fourth-year returner who went from non-factor in the first half to catalyst as UNC took control of the tempo in the second half. That included following Veesaar’s fast start with back-to-back push-the-tempo scores that had Self first waving his hands in frustration and then burning a quick timeout just under two minutes in.
But Self pointed to Trimble’s defensive effort on Peterson, who had 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting. And Davis noted that Trimble quit after the team adjusted its defensive scheme to stop switching, leaving perimeter players largely alone.
“He covered Darryn in a way that, to me, was amazing,” Self said. “Caleb was probably the best player in the game. But you can make a case for Henri and Seth as well.
“The way (Trimble) guarded Darryn and played on top of it all, even though Darryn got 14 shots, it was a situation that he probably had to come off 20 or 22” to win.
Following this, Davis arrived at his postgame press conference in athletic warm-up gear instead of his traditional sideline look of sports coat and slacks. He had to consider that the players had drenched him with a celebratory flush of water in the dressing room.
“I won’t remember the score, but I will remember them jumping around the locker room,” Davis said. “I will remember the smiles on their faces.”
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