The Tar Heels have finished the first half of the College Basketball Season with a 12-1 record, including 2-3 major wins over Powerhouse Teams like Kentucky, Kansas, and Ohio State. The lone loss came to a top 10 Michigan State team that was able to expose the Tar Heels’ lack of experience. Now, let’s look at the Tar Heels’ non-conference games.
The month of November was a great month for the Heels; they went 6-1, with a 40-point win over Central Arkansas, then a Huge win over Kansas, which was top 10 at the time; they have since fallen to 17. This was the final game until recently that was without star Senior guard Seth Tremble, who suffered a broken Forearm in a team lift the next day. They beat Radford by 15 before blowing the doors off of NC Central, winning by 40. They narrowly outlasted Navy in a 12-point win before making the trip to Florida to play in a Feast Week classic. They would go 1-1 in this classic with a 15-point win over St Bonaventure. They would lose handily to the Michigan State Spartans 74-58. I personally believe that with Seth Tremble, this game would have been closer, but you have to play with the players you have.
The Month of December was a great way to finish the year, going undefeated and playing the majority without Seth Tremble. They started the year with a 3-point win at Kentucky, which was the first and only true road game of the season up to this point. In this game, we learned how truly blessed we were to have a guy like Derrick Dixon coming off our bench. He had 5 huge points to end the game, then Caleb Wilson would seal the win with some free throws. We would then play at home against Georgetown and win by 20, then go against USC Upstate, where we would win by 18, then play ETSU, where we would win by 19, then go on the road making the short trip to Atlanta Georgia to play in the CBS sports Tip Off where we would win by 1 having a huge outing by Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar, and the return of Seth Tremble who looked like he didn’t miss a beat putting up 16 points. Then the Heels would return home, where they would beat the doors off of East Carolina, winning 99-51, with lots of back-of-the-bench guys getting in, including a 3-point make by Elijah Davis, son of Hubert Davis.
All in all, this team has had a great season so far, having a 12-1 start which is the best start since the 2016-17 season. We did hoist the trophy that season. The Heels are 12th in the AP poll, and as of December 23rd, 15th in the NET. Let’s hope that the Heels can continue to win big as we enter Conference play in January.
