North Carolina Closes Out Their Non-Conference Slate With Harvard

On Wednesday night North Carolina who is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference will closeout their non-conference slate with Harvard who is a member of the Ivy League and who’s head coach is Tommy Amaker who played for North Carolina’s rival Duke from 1984-1987.

North Carolina comes into the game with a record of 9-3 while Harvard comes into the game with a record of 6-5.

As for North Carolina’s previous game, they dominated Davidson.

Cameron Johnson scored 17 points, Luke Maye had 11 points and 14 rebounds, and North Carolina beat Davidson 82-60 on Saturday. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

Kenny Williams added 12 points and Garrison Brooks had 11 to help the Tar Heels (9-3) bounce back from their 80-72 loss to No. 16 Kentucky on Dec. 22 — the first time since 2014 that North Carolina had three losses before Christmas. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

"We've seen what it looks like when we gave effort on both ends, and seen what it looks like when we don't, and the result is totally different," Williams said. "We know we can do it, and I think that's what we learned. It's just a matter of us doing it consistently now." “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

Freshman Nassir Little finished with 10 for UNC, which shot 44 percent, had just seven turnovers while pulling away in the final 27 minutes and led by 26 in winning its 10th in a row in the instate series. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

The Tar Heels closed the first half with a 20-4 run keyed by eight points from Johnson, then methodically stretched their lead into the 20s, going up 52-32 on Coby White's free throw with 15:29 remaining. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

Jon Axel Gudmundsson had 15 points and 11 rebounds and Luke Frampton scored 15 points to lead Davidson (9-4). “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

The guard-reliant Wildcats have lost their last three games against Division I schools, all without leading scorer Kellen Grady. They shot a season-worst 30 percent and took a season-high 38 3-pointers, making just 26 percent of them — their second-worst percentage of the year. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

"We did get terrific shots," coach Bob McKillop said. "We just didn't knock them down." “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx


BIG PICTURE
Davidson: The Wildcats continue to miss Grady, who averages a team-best 19.4 points but missed his fourth straight game with an injury. While they led for much of the first half, they simply didn't have enough scorers in his absence to keep up with the nation's fourth-most productive offense, which averages 92.3 points. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

"The key to the game was them speeding us up, and they have the capacity to do that," McKillop said. "They invited us to, sometimes, make the wrong decisions ... Getting sped up is something that they capitalize on very well." “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

North Carolina: The Tar Heels' big run to close the first half left them in no danger of their first losing streak of the season. In their three games after defeats, the Tar Heels are 3-0 with an average margin of victory of 22 points and none of them closer than 16. Their shooting percentage in each of them was in the mid-to-high 40s. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx


HIGHLIGHT REEL
The play of the game came late in the first half when Williams missed a 3 off the back iron. Little came soaring down the lane for the putback slam that had the Smith Center crowd on its feet for the first time. That put the Tar Heels up 29-26 with 3½ minutes before the break. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx


STAT SHEET
White made just one of his seven shots and finished with seven points and seven rebounds. But he also had seven assists — one shy of a season high for the freshman — before he hit that bucket. "It's not just how many points he scores," coach Roy Williams said. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx


WELCOME BACK
It was homecoming for Davidson sophomore Carter Collins, a Chapel Hill native who finished with nine points on 3-of-12 shooting. He was 1 of 6 from 3-point range with three turnovers. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2018/12/29/mens-basketball-tar-heels-down-davidson.aspx

Like North Carolina, Harvard won their previous game but unlike North Carolina Harvard didn’t win by a large margin.

Taking the court at the home of the Atlanta Hawks, Harvard men's basketball triumphed over Mercer, 71-67, on Saturday at State Farm Arena. Harvard improved to 6-5 with the result, while Mercer fell to 5-8.

First-year Noah Kirkwood led the Crimson with 19 points, while junior Chris Lewis and sophomore Danilo Djuricic added 13 and 11, respectively. Additionally, junior Christian Juzang tallied eight points, while dishing a game-high six assists. “according to https://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20181229o0wbx0

Harvard held an early 10-9 lead against the Bears, but quickly built a 10-point advantage, 23-13, after eight points from Kirkwood, who had 17 in the first half, and a triple from classmate Spencer Freedman. Kirkwood kept up the scoring with a jumper near the end of the first half to give Harvard its largest lead, 41-23, and the Crimson left for the locker room at the half leading 41-28. “according to https://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20181229o0wbx0

Lewis scored Harvard's first seven points of the second half, and 11 points total in the period. The Bears managed to cut Harvard's lead to single digits, but Harvard connected on 10 second-half free throws to seal the victory. “according to https://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20181229o0wbx0

Tip-off is set for 7:00pm from the Dean E. Smith Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2 or ESPNU. ,