CHAPEL HILL - For the first four minutes of Wednesday’s Tobacco Road tilt between North Carolina and NC State, the two teams traded blows, playing to a 6-6 standstill. It mirrored their first matchup in Raleigh, which resulted in a 63-61 win for the Tar Heels.
But the similarities between the contests stopped there, as UNC flexed its muscles with a 22-4 first half run that ballooned to a 31-9 spurt en route to a 97-73 victory.
Over eight minutes of gametime, the Tar Heels shot 12-for-18 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from three, tallied 12 second-chance points, and outrebounded the Wolfpack 10-5.
It was a welcome sight for a North Carolina team that has struggled putting together lengthy scoring runs this season, and it started on the defensive end.
After two free throws from RJ Davis extended the Tar Heels’ lead to 10-6, they broke out in a full court press, an increasingly familiar defensive look for UNC after a trip to the charity stripe.
For NC State, its next two possessions were squandered by the full court pressure, as the Tar Heels forced two turnovers, a bad inbounds pass that found the hands of Davis and a traveling violation by Markus Hill. The Wolfpack was unable to cross halfcourt on either possession, appearing unnerved by Carolina’s defensive approach.
The consecutive turnovers produced back-to-back baskets for the Tar Heels, as Seth Trimble tapped home a Davis miss and Jalen Washington followed with a layup of his own.
“We felt that they wanted no part of our pressure. We found success early in our full court press, our half court pressure,” said Trimble. “Everything on the defensive end we found success in and we saw that they wanted no part of it so we just kept going off of it the whole first half and it worked out well.”
In total, the Tar Heels’ full court press led directly to three of NC State’s first half turnovers, which were turned into six points. Its impact culminated with 7:55 remaining in the half as a Trimble steal, thanks to another baseline corner trap leading to an Elliot Cadeau lay-in.
The mad push by the Heels brought the Smith Center crowd to its feet and forced Kevin Keatts to take his second timeout of the half.
For UNC’s second all-time leading scorer, full court pressure was the perfect way for the Tar Heels to leave its mark early on and use its athleticism to its advantage.
“I like it because I think it gets us going a little bit, gets our blood flowing, but at the same time we were able to get stops. We’re such an athletic team,” said Davis. “I think we need to rely on that a little bit more just given how small we are, so kind of play like a little bit more grittier team, trapping full court, playing full court. I enjoyed it.”
NC State did not convert a field goal attempt that directly resulted from UNC’s defensive pressure. Its lone points came in the form of two Trey Parker free throws that stemmed from a two-on-one opportunity following the press break.
"I like it because you're speeding guys up, [and] they're not comfortable with it,” said Davis. "You're pressuring them to make quick decisions.”
Even when the Tar Heels were not turning their full court pressure into live-ball turnovers, they were forcing NC State into rushed shots, which more times than not resulted in misses.
The Wolfpack shot just 35.7 percent from the floor in the first half, converting just 10 field goal attempts while committing nine turnovers.
“I think it does three things. One, the energy level picks up. Two, it creates turnovers. Three, it speeds a team up,” said UNC Coach Hubert Davis. “I think we created maybe three or four turnovers off that press, but that doesn’t account for the time they took a quick shot and we were able to get a rebound and be able to go.”
North Carolina has reverted to the full court press in small doses this season and after its appearance in Saturday’s win over Syracuse, it became the catalyst for a 28-point halftime lead over NC State.
