National Basketball Association
North Carolina 76, North Carolina Central 60
When: 8:00 PM ET, Friday, November 14, 2014
Where: Dean E. Smith Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Officials:
# Tim Nestor, # Jeff Nichols, # Raymond Styons
Attendance:
17338
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 6 North Carolina 76, North Carolina Central 60: Brice Johnson scored 12 points as the host Tar Heels won comfortably despite an off night from Marcus Paige.
Kennedy Meeks scored 10 points with nine rebounds and J.P. Tokoto added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists for sixth-ranked North Carolina (1-0), which saw Paige – a preseason All-America honoree – score just eight points on 2-of-8 shooting. The Tar Heels went 2-for-11 from 3-point range.
Anthony McDonald scored 16 points to lead the Eagles (0-1). North Carolina Central shot just 32.1 percent from the field and was outrebounded 49-30.
Johnson and Meeks each scored four points during a game-opening 11-0 surge for the Tar Heels, and Paige’s only basket of the first half – a 3-pointer – pushed the lead to 18-4 midway through the opening half. McDonald scored seven points in a four-minute span as the Eagles pulled within 22-16 with 3:43 left before intermission.
The Tar Heels led 28-19 at halftime, and three-point plays from Justin Jackson and Isaiah Hicks in the opening two minutes of the second half helped extend North Carolina’s advantage to 36-20. Paige converted a three-point play with 8:34 remaining to push the lead to 60-45.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The victory gave North Carolina head coach Roy Williams 1,000 combined wins as a head coach and assistant coach. … Paige, who averaged 17.5 points in 2013-14, failed to score in double figures only five times in 34 games last season. … The Tar Heels have won 10 season openers in a row overall and 13 straight at home.
Top Game Performances
| North Carolina Central |
|
North Carolina |
|
Anthony McDonald 16 |
Scoring |
Brice Johnson 12 |
|
Nimrod Hilliard 4 |
Assists |
Theo Pinson 4 |
|
Karamo Jawara 8 |
Rebounds |
Kennedy Meeks 9 |
|
Karamo Jawara 9 |
Free Throws Made |
Brice Johnson 4 |
|
Jamal Ferguson 2 |
Steals |
Theo Pinson 2 |
|
Jamal Ferguson 1 |
Blocks |
Justin Jackson 2 |
Team Stats Summary
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