CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Pete Nance shouldn’t be compared to Brady Manek. But after No. 1 North Carolina’s tougher-than-expected 72-66 win over Gardner-Webb, the graduate transfer from Northwestern proved, just like Manek did last season, why he was a coveted addition to the lineup.
Nance, who finished with 18 points before fouling out, gives the Heels another scorer capable of carrying the offense. He scored 14 of the team’s first 18 points Tuesday en route to 16 first-half points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field. He had just eight field goal attempts in their first two games and a total of 13 points.
Nance shot 45 percent from 3-point range last season, but had missed his first three attempts in Carolina’s first two games. He connected on his first three shots from behind the arc against the Bulldogs.
It was a good time for Nance’s breakout game, because the rest of the Heels combined to shoot just 4-for-24 in the first half. UNC’s 29 percent shooting was its season-low for a half.
Much like Carolina’s win over College of Charleston last week, the second half started off much differently. The combination of Caleb Love, Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis combined to make seven of their first 10 shots from the field and helped the Heels get enough of a cushion to close out for the win.
Here’s what we learned from Carolina’s victory:
Showing some depth?
Carolina jumped out to a 16-point lead in the second half at 47-31 and enjoyed a double-digit lead for most of it. But the Heels didn’t put the Bulldogs away.
And when Nance fouled out with 3:38 left, it tested the theory of the depth coach Hubert Davis wants to develop.
Justin McKoy, who did not play in UNC’s first two games, entered for Nance. And Davis later used freshman guard Seth Trimble to match up with Gardner-Webb’s smaller lineup.
The Bulldogs cut the lead to 61-56 and twice had the ball with a chance to make it a one-possession game. But R.J. Davis drew a charge and forced Julien Soumaoro to miss a layup and UNC never let the lead dip below seven points the remainder of the game.
Love figuring it out
Love played through another lackluster first half before erupting in the second. Unlike Friday’s game against Charleston, it wasn’t because he was being tentative.
Love seemed to be struggling with when to aggressively hunt for his shot and when he needed to be a facilitator. He leaned toward setting up others a little too much in the first half, and he had just three points on 1-for-5 shooting.
He did both better in the second half. He made his first four baskets en route to scoring 17 of his team-high 20.
Rebounding, finally
Carolina was outrebounded in consecutive games to non-conference opponents for the first time since 2014 as both UNC Wilmington (35-32) and College of Charleston (37-32) won the battle of the boards.
They rectified those numbers against Gardner-Webb, leading 40-38, thanks to an unlikely source.
R.J. Davis led the team with 10 rebounds. It was the second time in his career he had double-digit rebounds. The first came in last season’s national title loss to Kansas when he had a career-high 12 rebounds.
