UNC came out and from start to finish beat Evansville like a drum. There were some instances of sloppiness here and there but the Heels played hard on both ends of the floor and came out with their most dominant performance of the season to win 97-48.
How dominant was this game for UNC? The starting five plus Reggie Bullock shot 26-44 from the floor or 59%. Bullock was 4-7 from three while John Henson and Tyler Zeller both recorded double-doubles. Harrison Barnes scored 17 points to lead UNC. Kendall Marshall and Dexter Strickland had fairly quiet games. Marshall only had six assists but scored seven points hitting a three and getting a nice drive to the basket for a layup. Strickland had three steals, two of which led to dunks for him on his way to nine points and four assists.
On the defensive end UNC was very good helped in part by Evansville deciding they would make no attempt to collect an offensive rebound. Still, holding a team 25% is solid work on defense. Also of note is the fact UNC came out of the locker room for the 2nd half with a 30 point lead and promptly ran off ten straight points to effectively end the game. The lead eventually hit 50 and UNC was able to pull the starters with around eight minutes left in the game.
The only concern coming of this game is the health of P.J. Hairston who left the game in the 2nd half after rolling his ankle. Hairston went to the locker room then returned to the bench but was held out the rest of the game. Roy Williams called it a moderate sprain in the postgame press conference but it still too early to tell. The good news is UNC is at a point in the season where they probably can live without Hairston, especially since UNC has a full week off after Saturday’s game with Long Beach St.
