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Off the cuff: The addition of Caleb Love perhaps overshadowed new Tar Heel R.J. Davis but Carolina fans certainly know Davis now as the freshman scored 16 points and went three of four from beyond the arc.

But it was the steady play of senior guard Andrew Platek, particularly after the Heels fell behind 13-0, that got Carolina back in the game. After the Heels had gone 0 for 8 from the floor, Platek nailed a three from the corner to put Carolina on the board more than six minutes into the game.

Four minutes later, he sank another three to draw Carolina within six points. Two minutes later he hit a short runner to draw Carolina within a point.

Freshman 7-footer Walker Kessler had a strong two-minute spurt in the second half that gave Tar Heel fans a glimpse of the future.

From the 12:34 mark to the 10:56 mark, Kessler scored seven points including a pair of dunk follows and a three-point play.

I'm sure Coach Williams truly believes masks make a big difference in the fight against COVID-19. But his holier-than-thou preaching could rub some the wrong way. He made a point at the end of a TV interview to make note that he wore his mask throughout the game, saying that not everybody does that. Gold star.

That's the thing about America I guess. He started his post-game news conference complaining that not all coaches were wearing the mask 100 percent of the time. Not sure if it was UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger who drew his ire but I suspect it was as he touched his mask often and pulled it down quite a bit for swigs from a water bottle.

Late in the first half, Otzelberger yelled instructions to his team with the mask down in between swallows. Horrors.

Carolina basketball has the word Unity on their jerseys. I guess "Obedience" or "Compliance" were too long. Perhaps after retiring, Roy has a future in shaming people into compliance with the state.

Before the cards and letters come in, I wear my mask in public unless I'm outside and more than six feet away from people, and I think everybody should do it as a courtesy if nothing else.

Also, people should try to keep their hands off their mask as that takes away what little bit the mask helps. So, Coach Williams may be right but it comes across as virtue signaling and I'm not sure it's his place to tell another coach what to do, especially through the media. I much preferred the days when Dean Smith told Rick Barnes' players directly what they should do.

Tar Heels 78, UNLV 51
Carolina starts slow but gasses it to win

ASHEVILLE - North Carolina missed its first eight shots and trailed 13-0 early but the Tar Heels got in rhythm to rush past UNLV and went on to win going away, 78-51 in the relocated Maui Classic. (11/30)

UNC coach Roy Williams, who per normal didn't call a timeout early, benched the starting five after the slow start. "I didn't mind the score," Williams said of the early deficit. "I didn't like the way we were playing."

Sitting the starters serves as motivation, he said, but he was impressed that the players kept playing and didn't panic.

Senior Andrew Platek said that the players did panic for a second during the Runnin' Rebels run. "But we knew if we stick to our principles, we'd be alright. Once we got going, we kept the foot on the gas," he said.

A Platek three from the corner and a runner off the glass helped propel the Heels to a 19-6 run that allowed Carolina to catch up at 19-19.

UNC freshman R.J. Davis, who led the Heels with 16 points, drove the baseline to give Carolina the lead at 29-27 with 3:21 left in the first half. That basket started a 23-4 run - at the end of the first half and start of the second - that put the Heels up handily at 50-31.

UNLV, led by Bryce Hamilton's 15 points, never threatened again and Carolina worked the lead up to as much as 33 points with five minutes left.

"I hope and think we learned a lot from tonight," Coach Williams said. "You can't spot people 13 and thihnk you're going to come back and win."

Armando Bacot was one of four Tar Heels in double figures as he scored 12 but he also was bothered by the slow start. "We struggled early to get back on defense and we were missing shots," he said.

Platek, who scored 11 points, suggested that the Carolina big men wore down the smaller Rebels. "This year we can rotate really big guys in and out," he said. "They just couldn't get anything inside."

Senior big man Garrison Brooks scored 14 points, pulled in seven rebounds and picked up three steals. This season when Brooks or Bacot come out, freshmen big guys Day'Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler can step in.

Carolina, 2-0, will play Stanford or Alabama in the second round of the Maui Invitational at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Box Score


UNC's Garrison Brooks scored down low as players look for a rebound that never came.


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