You’ve read the recap of Friday night’s North Carolina victory against Gardner-Webb. Now, let’s go inside the numbers.

  • Carolina forward Armando Bacot recorded a double-double, as we mentioned in the main piece, going 6-for-9 from the floor and notching 12 points and 11 boards. Roy Williams was not pleased, though, as was evidenced by his response to this:

REPORTER:  Roy, what did you like with Bacot’s play tonight?

WILLIAMS:  His line (recites line). I thought he should have had 100. You can’t completely turn the ball over five or six times, or lose it and sometimes get it back … He’s a big dude. He’s gonna be a really good player. He’s gotta have more attention to detail. We work all the time on not bringing the ball down and not dribbling. He had three turnovers, (and) I thought he had 33 … then, he goes up and makes a number of blocks that nobody else on the team could make. I do like the 6-for-9, but I thought he could do a lot more … Guys, if y’all thought he played well, then go ahead and feel that way. I don’t think he played worth a darn. I’ll be honest with you.

Yikes.

  • Gardner-Webb still needs a third (or even second, really) scoring option, though some players took some steps in this game. Guard Nate Johnson is just 9-for-29 on the season (3-for-14 from three), though he did have 11 points in the contest. “We’ve got Nate Johnson, (who) was 1-for-7 (from three), (and) he was a 40 percent three-point shooter last year,” said Craft. “He’s just struggling. I think it’s more, for him, it’s just (the) simple ability to make shots.” Freshman Kareem Reid showed some flashes of the his being a highly-regarded recruit, scoring eight points in 16 minutes of play, while senior guard Justin Jenkins continued to make the most of his increased role, scoring 11 points in 13 minutes.
  • On that same note, it took Jose Perez much of the first half to get on the board, and the star sophomore finished with just 12 points. Teams are doubling (and occasionally tripling) Perez from about 25 feet all the way in to the basket, which means the offense will need to move to him more often to get the ball. Further, Perez has tallied three traveling violations in two games while trying to back down players into the paint, and there is an obvious need to either set screens for him or be free for spray passes to the perimeter or dives to the basket on the pick-and-roll.
  • Carolina finished with a somewhat respectable three-point tally (6-for-18), but this somewhat obscures the first-half struggles the team endured. The Tar Heels made just 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. No three, though, proved larger than the Cole Anthony triple that seemed to be the death knell for Gardner-Webb after it had cut the margin to four with a little over eight minutes remaining.
  • Hustle stats:
    • Points in the paint:  North Carolina 36, Gardner-Webb 28
    • Points off turnovers:  North Carolina 16, Gardner-Webb 10
    • Second-chance points:  North Carolina 14, Gardner-Webb 5
    • Fast-break points:  North Carolina 22, Gardner-Webb 3
    • Bench points:  Gardner-Webb 21, North Carolina 20

NORTH CAROLINA 77, GARDNER-WEBB 61

GARDNER-WEBB (0-3, 0-0 BIG SOUTH): Dufeal 0-1 2-2 2, Cornwall 2-9 0-0 6, Jamison 4-11 1-2 9, Perez 5-12 2-4 12, Johnson 5-13 0-0 11, Reid 2-3 4-5 8, Jenkins 2-5 5-5 11, Turner 1-1 0-0 2, Terry 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 14-18 61.

NORTH CAROLINA (3-0, 0-0 ACC): Bacot 6-9 0-0 12, Brooks 1-3 4-4 6, Black 1-6 0-0 2, Anthony 7-17 11-13 28, Keeling 4-9 0-0 9, Pierce 3-6 2-6 8, Platek 3-6 2-4 9, Huffman 0-0 0-0 0, Rush 1-1 0-0 3, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, O’Han 0-0 0-0 0, McAdoo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 19-25 77.

Halftime — North Carolina 30-27. 3-Point Goals—Gardner-Webb 5-23 (Dufeal 0-1, Cornwall 2-6, Jamison 0-1, Perez 0-3, Johnson 1-7, Jenkins 2-4, Terry 0-1), North Carolina 6-18 (Black 0-1, Anthony 3-7, Keeling 1-4, Pierce 0-1, Platek 1-4, Rush 1-1). Fouled Out — NA. Rebounds — North Carolina 44 (Bacot 11), Gardner-Webb 23 (Perez/Johnson 5). Assists —North Carolina 19 (Black 6), Gardner-Webb 10 (Perez 5). Total Fouls — Gardner-Webb 18, North Carolina 17. Technical — None. A —20,374.