Off the cuff: The shooting and the defense improved drastically in the second half against Wake Forest. The Tar Heels shot 44 percent in the first half but 60 percent in the second half. "Defensive tenacity and just playing more aggressively translated to success on the offensive end," said Seth Trimble, who played nearly all of the last fourth of the game. Carolina may have gotten a break from a medical emergency in the stands where a woman had to be carted to the hospital. The Heels led 61-60 at that point with 11:15 to go but Wake Forest was on fire prior to that point. Wake cooled off. Much of that was due to the aggressive defense to which Trimble referred. With Pete Nance out injured, the Tar Heels seemed to spend most of the first half looking for the right combination on the court. Justin McKoy got 17 minutes of playing time, coming up with a couple of big rebounds and blocked shots. Most of the last 10 minutes, however, the same five were on the court: Bacot, Black, Davis, Love and Trimble. That's obviously a much smaller lineup than when Nance is available but the three-guard offense worked. As a side note, R.J. Davis scored his 1,000th point as a Tar Heel. |
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