CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina showed off a new wrinkle with starting forward Pete Nance sidelined with a sore back against Notre Dame on Saturday. The Tar Heels looked big while playing small in their 81-64 win over the Fighting Irish in the Dean E. Smith Center.
Freshman guard Seth Trimble replaced Nance in the lineup and the Heels started the way they closed out strong in their win over Wake Forest. UNC coach Hubert Davis was comfortable enough with essentially playing a four-guard lineup that he had his players switching every pick on defense.
“What I was thinking was what could start us off in the best position defensively in terms of matching up with them,” Davis said. “Seth is a gifted defender. He played extremely well in the Wake Forest game, and we felt like we wanted to start the game like that.”
Carolina (11-5, 3-2 ACC) played as about a complete first half as it has this season in jumping out to a 41-28 lead while holding the Irish to 38% shooting from the field and outrebounding them by nine.
Notre Dame (8-8, 0-5) leads the ACC in taking about 45% of all its shot attempts from 3-point range. Carolina held the Irish to just seven made 3s on 18 attempts, which accounted for just 30% of their shots on Saturday.
“One of the things with Notre Dame where they are so good at is when they get teams into rotations off of drive and kick, they’re brilliant at it,” Davis said. “And so because of our 1-on-1 defense, we weren’t in a lot of rotations and for a team that shoots a lot of 3s, they only took 18. It was because of our individual defense and how good it was.”
The Irish couldn’t easily find a mismatch to exploit with the Heels having an extra guard or small forward on the floor. Even when Nance is healthy enough to return — Davis said he was steadily improving and the hope was that he would be able to practice on Sunday — this will be a lineup Carolina continues to use because of its success with it.
“It has been really helpful I think, like today it allowed us to switch a lot,” UNC forward Armando Bacot said. “Seth does a really good job of being able to guard bigger guys because he’s so low to the ground and got strong legs, so it kind of gives us more flexibility defensively. And on the offensive end, I think it helps us push the ball even faster.”
UNC guard Caleb Love put to rest his shooting slump from the opening basket when Bacot passed out of a double team to find him open in the left corner for a 3-pointer. Love scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half shooting 5 for 8 from the field.
He’d shot just 6 for 24 from the field the past two games and had made just three of his last 15 3-pointers going back to the win over Michigan.
“The past two games have been rough before this one,” Love said. “So I’ve been keeping my confidence high, trusting my work. Everything’s going to work out and so I try not to worry about the misses and the makes because I put too much work into it, so I’m never worried about me making or missing a shot.”
Bacot again showed he’s handling double teams better, logging four assists to go with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
It’s a good sign for Carolina heading into Tuesday’s game at Virginia, knowing the Cavaliers doubles have been a continual headache for Bacot.
Carolina had jumped out to leads before, but what was new against Notre Dame was the way it handled having a big lead. The Heels have typically allowed teams to hang around and stay within striking distance. They afforded the Irish no such window.
Notre Dame scored on a five-point possession when J.J. Starling had a basket and Trimble was called for an off-ball foul that gave the ball right back to the Irish. When Cormac Ryan made a 3-pointer that cut the lead down to 61-54, it was the first — and only — time the Irish were within 10 points in the second half.
The Heels responded with a 14-5 run to claim a 75-59 lead and were never challenged again. That spurt included a skirmish after Puff Johnson, who came off the bench to score 11 points, dunked after catching a long outlet pass from Trimble with Ryan scrambling from behind to try and contest the shot.
Both Ryan and Johnson fell to the ground in front of photographers on the baseline. Ryan whiffed his right foot in Johnson’s face, nearly making contact. Love got in Ryan’s face in defense of Johnson and and was shoved by Notre Dame’s Dom Campbell.
Ryan was given a flagrant 2 foul and ejected, while both Love and Campbell received technical fouls.
“I don’t like technical fouls, but I love our team standing up for each other,” Davis said. “And Caleb standing up for Puff, I support that. I encourage that every day.”
