Friedlander: UNC cruises in NCAA opener -- and leaves plenty of room to grow

CHARLOTTE, NC – The goal in the NCAA Tournament, at least for those teams with designs on going deep into March and perhaps even April, is to get a little better each round.

To that end, North Carolina did exactly what it needed to do in its opening game Thursday.

The top-seeded Tar Heels didn’t just win, cruising to a 90-62 victory against No. 16 Wagner at Spectrum Center. They set the bar low enough so that there’s plenty of room for improvement when they return to the court Saturday for their 2nd round NCAA West Region date with 9th-seeded Michigan State. (Now that sports betting in North Carolina is legal, fans can place wagers on North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. The Heels should open as a betting favorite at ESPN BET. A line had not been set at the time of publication.)

Hubert Davis’ regular season ACC champions were never threatened by the Seahawks, who had only 7 available players for the game.

But it wasn’t a crisp performance.

It took the better part of 30 minutes for UNC to finally put its undermanned opponent away and sail past the 24.5-point spread.

“Attention to detail is definitely No. 1,” star guard RJ Davis said when asked what he and his teammates need to improve on most. “I feel like we slacked off in that area a little bit.

“On the defensive end, a couple of times in the 1st half, there was miscommunication or no communication that led to open 3s or getting the 50-50 balls. We’re usually on top of that.”

It was clear that the Tar Heels weren’t as locked in as usual, especially after making it look easy by scoring the game’s first 6 points. All from close range.

Twice in the first half they missed dunks, 1 each by Armando Bacot and Jae’Lyn Withers. They also committed 6 turnovers and didn’t have a single fast-break point in the opening 20 minutes.

But before you get worked up about the lack of execution, especially coming on the heels of a loss to NC State in the ACC Tournament championship game last Saturday, relax.

The only resemblance between the UNC team that played Thursday and the one that will face Michigan State on the same court 48 hours later will be the white uniforms trimmed in Alexander Julian argyle it will be wearing.

That’s not to say the Tar Heels can’t or won’t lose on Saturday.

Michigan State, despite its unusually low seed, is a tournament-tested program whose coach Tom Izzo has been to multiple Final Fours and raised a national championship banner. The Spartans are fully capable of pulling off an upset.

Because of that, they’ll have UNC’s full attention. Which is something Wagner didn’t always have.

There were, however, several positives upon which the Tar Heels can build.

The most encouraging was the play of Withers. While everyone else on the court was sleepwalking their way through the opening 20 minutes, the 6-9 Louisville transfer was intent on providing a wakeup call.

He had 10 of his UNC-high 16 points and 5 of his 10 rebounds in an opening half that ended with his team holding a 12-point lead.

“I think he set the tone,” Davis said of Withers, a Charlotte native playing in front of a large contingent of family and friends. “I felt like at times we were out of character. But Jae Whit, his energy and effort on both ends of the floor, really ignited us.”

Withers’ effort finally did carry over to the rest of the team.

The Tar Heels committed only 3 more turnovers and shot a blistering 57.6% from the floor, including 7-of-11 from 3-point range, while outscoring Wagner 50-34 over the final 20 minutes.

Bacot, intent on making his final postseason appearance one he’ll never forget, had his way inside with the smaller Seahawks. He pulled down 15 rebounds, the 7th straight time he’s had at least that many in an NCAA game, to go with 20 points for his 8th straight NCAA Tournament double-double.

In the process, he passed Phil Ford as the 2nd-leading scorer in UNC history. RJ Davis also reached a milestone with his 22-point performance. The ACC Player of the Year moved into the top 5 all-time by surpassing Lennie Rosenbluth on the school’s scoring list.

Those accomplishments are nice and because of the nature of a matchup that felt more like a November guarantee game than a win-or-go-home March battle for survival, the Tar Heels were able to take a deep breath and savor it a little.

But not too long.

“We’ve had a lot of fun,” Bacot said. “We don’t plan on going home soon.”

While the Tar Heels have cleared their 1st official hurdle on what they hope will be a 3-week journey that takes them back to the Final Four for the 2nd time in 3 years, their NCAA Tournament hasn’t actually begun yet.

Their first real test will come Saturday. The goal is to be just a little bit better than they were on Thursday.

If they’re not, it could be their last.