UNC led by as many as 15 in the second half before they went ice cold from the field and Wake Forest cut it to one, but clutch free throws late sealed the 87-84 win for Carolina as they bounced back from their loss on the road last weekend.
The Tar Heels were led by Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson with 25 and 22 points, respectively. Caleb did the majority of his damage in the first half while Veesaar picked up some of the slack in the second half. Wilson finished with 12 rebounds for another double-double.
Veesaar was just short of the mark with nine boards. Jaydon Young was great off the bench with 12 points including three three-pointers. Seth Trimble joined them in double figures with 10 points including many of the free throws in the last seconds of the game once things turned Hack-a-Heel.
Carolina shot 53% from the field for the game but were out-shot by the Demon Deacons in the second half. Wake Forest shot 53% from the field and made six three-pointers in the second half as they stormed their way back from a 49-38 halftime deficit. Nate Calmese and Juke Harris each finished with 28 points each to lead the Deacs.
Second chance points were massively in the Tar Heels’ favor, besting Wake 21-11. Turnovers were nearly even with Carolina turning it over 14 times and Wake turning it over 13, and Wake Forest scored 17 points off those giveaways. The Tar Heels have not been a proficient free throw shooting team this year and they got to the line 30 times in this one. They made 20 of their free throws, and they needed pretty much every one of them.
UNC travels to the west coast to take on Stanford next time out. The game is scheduled for 9 pm ET on Wednesday.
