By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Jeffrey A. Camarati
The North Carolina Tar Heels defeated USC Upstate 80-62 on Saturday in Chapel Hill. UNC improves to 9-1 in the season.
Tar Heels freshman Caleb Wilson scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Tar Heels’ 80-62 win over USC Upstate. Wilson now has four 20-point double-doubles this season, two more than any other freshman. Jonathan Powell added 17 points on 6-9 shooting from the floor, including 3-6 from three-point range.
“I thought he played well on both ends,” Davis said. “He’s a guy who can make shots. He made timely shots, especially from three. He’s also a really physical defender. Very competitive, with just the desire and passion to be part of this team and this program. I’m thrilled that he had a good game.”
Luka Bogavac added 15 points on 3-6 shooting from deep as well, and Henri Veesaar scored 14 points with nine rebounds. Veesar spoke after the game about offensive rebounds and ways to improve for the next game.
“We’re getting a couple of tips, but we didn’t get the ball,” Veesar said. “We got a lot of film. We’re going to have a good film session after this game. We’re going to look at all the clips that we did wrong.”
Carolina played outstanding defense against Upstate. Carolina held the team to 32.4 percent in the first 20 minutes. Carolina’s reserves played well. The Tar Heels had 25 bench points, which is huge for them in the future as a team. Coach Hubert Davis did a good job of going more with his bench.
UNC does need to pick up more energy. They need to be more aggressive and hustle more. Carolina needs to improve its offensive rebounding.
North Carolina’s next game will be against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers on Tuesday night at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill. The game starts at 8 pm ET.
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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