1. Carolina breezed past Winston-Salem State in exhibition play, winning 95-53 on Wednesday night. Carolina put four players in double figures–Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar, Seth Trimble and Jarin Stevenson.
2. Caleb Wilson again was terrific, posting a double-double (that doesn’t count) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 9-for-13 from the field, hit all five of his free throws, and even had a couple assists. The freshman is going to be fun to watch this year.
3. The first half wasn’t very artistic, but the second half was much better as Carolina’s superior size and raw talent began to have an impact. The Heels hit just 3-for-12 from three in the first half but warmed up in the second half and finished 12-for-32 from the arc, with some misses coming late. Jarin Stevenson made two of his three attempts and Jaydon Young hit three of six.
4. As you would expect with a sizable height advantage, the Tar Heels dominated the paint. The Heels had a 36-16 advantage in points in the paint and held a 49-31 rebounding edge.
5. Carolina again played without Luka Bogavac, who was on the bench in street clothes. Bogavac, of course, would also be an asset to Carolina’s perimeter shooting.
6. The first half basically came down to the Tar Heels having Wilson and Winston-Salem State not having him. The freshman scored 17 points, had six rebounds and blocked two shots in 13 first half minutes.
7. Two of those points came on a vicious dunk on a Ram. He had some very entertaining comments on the mechanics of dunking on opponents in his Carolina Insider podcast interview, which is worth a watch if you didn’t catch it the first time around.
8. Remember the glory days of John Henson making life impossible for the opposing inbounder? This year’s team has a chance to be similarly pesky. Henri Veesaar tipped a couple attempted inbounds passes, and Wilson and Jarin Stevenson (and Zayden High, for that matter) also have the length to make life difficult. That will play a role in some close game down the line.
9. Hubert Davis spent substantial time at a couple of practices since BYU emphasizing taking better care of the ball. Although the Rams obviously aren’t as talented as BYU, the Heels did commit fewer careless turnovers. They finished with eight for the game.
10. Tar Heel attention now turns to the regular season opener on Monday night at 7 p.m. against Central Arkansas. There’s no time to just ease into the season–Kansas comes to Chapel Hill next Friday night, Nov. 7.
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