After the winning the first-ever game on an aircraft carrier just two days prior to its matchup with UNC-Asheville, the No. 1 North Carolina men’s basketball team christened the Bulldogs’ brand-new Kimmel Arena with a 91-75 victory.
Back indoors and on dry land, the Tar Heels found themselves down early as UNC-Asheville rode the momentum of an amped-up crowd.
After a 3-pointer from Big South preseason player of the year Matt Dickey, UNC-Asheville was up 5-2. North Carolina responded by utilizing its clearest advantage — height.
“We’re just bigger,” coach Roy Williams said. “And we’ve got to use that to our advantage. Their shooters can really shoot so we made sure we got out and bothered them but all in all it’s been a weird four or five days.”
Asheville’s senior guard J.P. Primm was the leading scorer for UNC-Asheville on Sunday with 23 while going 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Jaron Lane, the only non-senior in the Bulldogs’ starting lineup, added 21 points. As a team, UNC-Asheville sank 8 of 28 3-pointers.
“They could use more size, but if you don’t have it, you don’t have it,” Williams said. “You gotta play to your strength and those guys on the perimeter are the strength.”
Though the Bulldog guards had strong showings, the real story of the game was in the front court.
Tyler Zeller led all scorers with 27 points and came up two rebounds shy of a double-double. The undersized Bulldog forwards’ best defense against Zeller was to foul, but as it turned out, that wasn’t much of a defense as he went 11-for-13 at the free throw line.
Up by just three points with less than three minutes to play in the first half, the Tar Heels turned up the heat to spread out the margin to nine points by intermission. The run was capped off by a buzzer-beating layup from Zeller off an assist from point guard Kendall Marshall.
