UNC Leaves Season Opener With Screws To Tighten

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — No. 9 North Carolina left the Smith Center on Monday with a 90-76 opening win against Elon — and, along with it, a host of items to work on.

The Phoenix put UNC on upset alert in the second half with a 14-0 run to go up by two points with 6:48 remaining in the game. UNC missed seven consecutive shots in that frame, while Elon made five of its seven. Moments of stagnation on offense and lapses on defense allowed the Phoenix to creep back into the game, forcing North Carolina to buckle down late.

"It'll be a rough film session, but it'll be really good to learn from it," Seth Trimble said.

Even with the 14-point win, it didn't ever feel like North Carolina fully put its foot down. After an Ian Jackson 3-pointer put the Tar Heels ahead 42-26 in the first half — giving UNC its largest lead of the game — it took just three for Elon to cut the lead to five. In that stretch, the Phoenix outscored UNC 13-2.

Trimble said "a little bit of everything" led to Elon making a second-half run to take the lead, and he identified areas that UNC needed to clean up.

"It was kind of a careless second half," Trimble said. "It was maybe a little bit of a selfish second half from everybody. There were one-mores that could have been made, missed layups. I keep talking about the missed layups because the missed layups led Elon out in transition to get whatever they wanted."

North Carolina found ways to course correct at times. The Tar Heels would experience explosive flurries to grow their lead, like a 9-0 run kick-started by Drake Powell's activity in the first half or RJ Davis' late-game spurt that closed the game. But other times, it couldn't execute against the Phoenix defense.

UNC made just 32 of its 80 shot attempts (40%) in Monday's win. The Tar Heels made nine of its 21 layup attempts, and they also missed dunks on back-to-back plays in the first half. The team played stretches where it made just one out of ten shots, two out of 15 shots and one out of 13 shots.

Elon employed a 2-3 zone that bothered the Tar Heels offensively. And with the 7-foot-4 Matthew Van Komen in the middle, they sometimes found it difficult to get good looks at the rim. Elon's zone proved even more effective in the second half with the Tar Heels shooting 5-14 from three during the period.

"They were active in the zone a lot," RJ Davis said. "I think we didn't do a good job of moving the ball. I think a couple of possessions, we became stagnant. We just passed the ball back and forth. I think once we got into J-Wash screening at the top, and then having either Elliot (Cadeau) or Drake in the middle, we were able to get some offense flowing. So I think their 2-3 zone kind of messed us up a little bit, but we were able to execute towards the end."

Defensively, UNC struggled to close out Elon's 3-point shooters. The Phoenix shot 13-29 from outside and made five of its 12 long-range attempts in the second half, including a corner three from Nick Dorn that tied the game at 69. Elon shot 50% from the field in the second half as well.

When North Carolina lost its lead late in the game, Hubert Davis urged the team to find ways to respond and regain control. Davis said he was glad the team played in a close game early in the season, and he feels the team has plenty to learn from after the home victory.

"We've talked in practice about how we're going to react, how we're going to respond," Davis said. "From a defensive standpoint, we have to be sound and disciplined. We've got to get stops. We got to finish the defensive possession with rebounding, and then on the offensive end, got to take care of the basketball. We got to get shots and get the shots to the guys that can make shots.

"There's a lot to learn from and to be encouraged about how we've responded in those situations."

A top-10 game looms on UNC's schedule, as it will travel to face No. 1 Kansas on Friday at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks won their season opener on Monday with an 87-57 home victory against Howard.

And as they head to the midwest, the Tar Heels will seek to leave Monday's miscues behind.

"I give us some grace," Trimble said. "We're a young team, this is our first real game together. So I'm not gonna say it's okay, but I'll give a little bit of grace for ourselves."