By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
UNC Tar Heels men’s basketball team dominated Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 76-56, in the second round of the ACC Conference Tournament.
UNC was shooting lights out from the perimeter. UNC made 13 of 28 three-pointers. Most of their threes were catch-and-shoot attempts.
Jae’lyn Withers was the catalyst for the Tar Heels. He finished the game with a career-high 21 points. Withers does a great job stretching the floor.
Notre Dame’s defense gave Withers too many open looks—no contested shots. Withers was in the zone from the start of the game.
Carolina played outstanding defense. It shared the ball effectively and scored many points in the paint. The Tar Heels had 19 assists on 28 field goals.
Ven-Allen Lubin dominated the paint. He added 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting with 10 rebounds. The Star Heels front court has come alive. The frontcourt has been a major weakness for most of the season.
However, it has been a different story during their winning streak, and this has to be the new Carolina team going forward. If more than one player can perform like this, they could win the ACC tournament.
When RJ Davis plays excellently, the team does great. If his supporting cast steps up, it will be more challenging for anyone to beat this Carolina team. Davis added 13 points, and Elliot Cadeau added 10 points.
The star Hesls have much more success when they jump early with big leads than when they make a comeback in the second half after playing poorly in the first half. This team must make defining runs and keep their foot on the gas when blowing out teams.
The Tar Heels will play No. 4 seed Wake Forest on Thursday.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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