The Tar Heels welcomed the fans to Fort Meyers, FL with a 15-point win over St. Bonaventure. North Carolina started the game hot with 15 points in the first four minutes before letting the Bonnies go on a 19-11 run to end the first half, cutting a 10-point lead to just two.
The Tar Heels responded with their third 50-point second half of the season as they put St. Bonaventure away to improve to 6-0 to start the season (the 6-0 start is the best start for UNC since the 2016-17 season where they started
7-0 and won the National Championship).
Without further ado, here are three takeaways from North Carolina’s latest win.
Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar’s double-doubles had a huge impact
For the second time this season Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson both had double-doubles in the same game. This is Veesaar’s, who had a career-high with 24 points while grabbing 13 boards, third of the season, while Wilson, who had 20 points and 12 boards, recorded his fourth straight.
The two bigs accounted for over 60% of the teams rebounds further proving that the adage “size doesn’t matter” isn’t true.
UNC topped their average in free throw percentage
The Tar Heels entered the game shooting 71% from the free throw line for the season. Well, North Carolina must have felt charitable due to the holiday as they hit 78% from the line (a number that would’ve been higher if not for a 1-4 finish) outscoring the Bonnies by 16 from the charity stripe with Caleb Wilson finishing a perfect 10-10.
Derek Dixon takes advantage of his opportunity
Derek Dixon got some extended playing time after Kyan Evans picked up his fourth foul right around the 13-minute mark of the second half. The freshman played admirably in his place finishing the game with five points and two assists in 16 minutes of play. Hopefully this will lead to Coach Davis trusting his bench a little more as the Tar Heels were outscored 18-11 in bench points.
