UNC holds off Boston College rally to remain perfect at home

Boston College used a 57% shooting half to keep things close against UNC Tuesday night, but the Tar Heels kept their foot on the gas and managed to lead the entire way in their 72-64 win. Carolina has not lost in the Smith Center yet this season.

Armando Bacot was, as he usually is, a force down low that Boston College had trouble containing. His main defender, Quinten Post, ended up fouling out having played just 20 minutes. Bacot led all scorers with 20 points and another double-double with 16 boards. RJ Davis caught fire from long distance, making four of his seven attempts from long distance, on his way to 18 points. Caleb Love turned it on late in the game after Boston College made a furious rally to cut the deficit to one point. Love finished the game with 16 points.

Offensive rebounding and second chance points really saved UNC in this one. Carolina had 14 offensive boards and turned them into 19 second chance points. That certainly helped make up for the fact that they turned the ball over 12 times, giving the Eagles 14 points. UNC was +10 in total rebounds despite the fact that they were just +1 on the defensive end.

The Eagles actually had a better shooting percentage than the Tar Heels in both halves, but UNC was able to hold BC to zero made three-pointers. With Carolina making ten points from long distance, that helped make up the gap of shooting efficiency and Boston College making more free throws. The Tar Heels were just 59% from the charity stripe in the game.

Despite the fact that UNC led wire-to-wire, they could never comfortably pull away. They had an 11-point lead in the second half, but Boston College got as close as one point at 56-55 with under six minutes to go. The Heels turned it on quite a bit from there in order to close things out, but the Eagles pretty much always felt uncomfortably close. They just didn’t have enough to get fully over the hump.

It was another very impressive game for Bacot, who is closing in on the UNC rebounding record currently held by Tyler Hansbrough. Considering that Bacot had already guaranteed himself a double-double before halftime in this one, it seems likely that the record will be his in the next few games.

Next up, UNC hosts NC State on Saturday.