Carolina men’s basketball’s season of uncertainly continued along with celebrating a big boost that hopefully will help the hoop Heels down the road.
Those Tar Heels won their sixth game over unranked opponents against four losses to the No. 2, No. 7, No. 10 and No. 21 teams in the country and, in the process, lost their own place in the polls.
The Smith Center was not full at tip-off against La Salle but suddenly seemed packed to the rafters when UNC’s famous new football coach was introduced at halftime. It was almost like the Super Bowl show where they import fans to surround the superstar on stage during the extended break.
Bill Belichick was hardly entertaining and seemed to revert to his notorious sphinx-like self after waving to the crowd wearing a Carolina blue sports coat over what an Alexander Julian argyle-style tie. He carefully mentioned the names of Dean Smith (Center) and Roy Williams (Court) and even underscored his age (72) when recalling Frank McGuire from his toddling times in Chapel Hill with his assistant-coach father in the 1950s.
In fact, high school quarterback Bryce Baker from Kernersville said more and got even bigger cheers when he joined Belichick on the court after the prep star recommitted to the Tar Heels despite being offered a reported $10 million by Michigan and Penn State. Baker will compete with returning starter Jacolby Criswell and likely other QBs Belichick plucks from the transfer portal.
All this is certainly massive news around campus and the sports nation, hiring the oldest college head coach in the country after he spent nearly a half-century in the National Football League. When his own $50 million agreement was released, along with millions more for his staff and NIL money, the natural reaction was, “What about basketball?”
Plagued by a publicized undersized front court, and the loss of another big 5-star recruit in the NIL sweepstakes, alumni and fans are wondering how Bubba Cunningham’s declaration that “we’re all in on football and basketball” will eventually help a program whose 6-4 team faces its two most important games so far this week.
After the impressive 93-67 win over mid-major La Salle, the Tar Heels go back to the major leagues against undefeated and No. 9 Florida on Tuesday night in Charlotte and No. 21 UCLA at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Carolina has to win at least one of those games — or resume ACC play on New Year’s Day without a so-called “quality win” that the NCAA tournament committee counts (even though Cunningham is the current selection boss and must exit the room when his school is being discussed).
Blowing out the Explorers of the Atlantic 10 Conference was notable in preparation for the crucial two-game step. Aside from missing seven free throws, the Tar Heels reached 90 points for the 25th time under Hubert Davis behind guard Cade Tyson, who came off the bench to score a carer high of 23 that included five 3-pointers, 5 rebounds and 2 steals in the 21 minutes Davis has been looking for.
Tyson hit consecutive long balls from both corners and later got one that fell through after bounding high off the back rim. He finally looked like one of UNC’s most sought-after transfer during the off-season, hoping to replace Cormac Ryan as the Tar Heels’ best wing shooter. He looked comfortable with the extended minutes but still has to do it against Power 4 foes.
Cade Tyson came into Saturday’s game having scored only 24 points on the season. He nearly matched it with his 23-point outburst vs. La Salle. (Photo credit: Todd Melet/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
The Tar Heels sprung a press on La Salle at the beginning of both halves and managed to speed up the game. They broke it open early with a 20-2 run and continued to extend their lead to 31 points on Drake Powell’s lone 3-pointer and Tyson’s fifth and then to 32 points on Jae’lyn Withers’ three-ball deep into the second half.
All 11 scholarship players saw action and scored. R.J. Davis had his best shooting game in a while, hitting 4 of 11 shots, including 2 of 6 from the arc, adding 5 assists. Coach Davis again started his four-guard lineup around the 6-foot-8 Ven-Allen Lubin, who had 10 points and 5 rebounds, and rotated transfer Ty Claude and freshman James Brown along with regulars Withers and Jalen Washington to combine for 19 points and 10 rebounds by the bigs.
The Heels owned the boards (47-36), the paint (50-20) and scored a season high 49 points off the bench while shooting 54 percent from the floor, including 72 percent from two-point range. They scored at least 90 points for the fifth time this season, maintaining their ACC-leading offense.
But to emphasize the size disadvantage up front, perimeter freshmen Powell and Ian Jackson, as well as starting guards Seth Trimble and Elliot Cadeau, fought to get 24 of the team’s 47 rebounds. Cadeau had a team-high 7 assists as the Heels tallied 22 total assists against only 11 turnovers. Jackson played 24 minutes off the bench and had a team high 30-plus while on the court — a very good sign.
Clearly, Belichick was the star from a different sport who promised his team would “work hard to represent the university” before handing the microphone back to Jones Angell and stepping aside as Baker waved and said hello to the crowd. The four-star recruit from East Forsyth High School and top player in the state passed for more than 3,500 yards and 40 touchdowns this past season and rushed for 303 yards and 6 touchdowns on 72 carries.
Reviews on the historic hire have been coming in from former coaches like John Gruden who said, “The ACC is not loaded with high caliber teams, I think he could knock it out of the park.” Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was more measured, saying his long-time buddy will have “a great challenge.”
Bryce Baker joins Bill Belichick on the Roy Williams Court after being introduced on Saturday to fans at the men’s basketball game. Baker signed his official commitment to play for UNC after delaying the formal step once Mack Brown was fired.
Not everyone, of course, was yelling for the Hoodie. La Salle is in Philadelphia, where Belichick’s six Super Bowl wins as a head coach with the Patriots — plus suspensions and fines his franchise received from the NFL across 21 years — made him one of the most envied and mistrusted coaches around the league. One Explorer fan walked up the stairs while the halftime hooting was ending and yelled, “Congratulations, you got yourself a cheater!”
Belichick is used to those slights and has always maintained that winning is his first, last and foremost priority. He hopes to make the football Tar Heels good enough to join basketball, field hockey and women’s soccer as repeated ACC and national champions.
The alumni and fan base would be happy to start with their first ACC title since 1980 — while football’s revenue helps keeps all the other sports operating in high gear.
Featured photo credit: Todd Melet/Chapel Hill Media Group.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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