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The Daily Tar Heel

Tar Heels top Temple in season-opening win

ANNAPOLIS, MD. — The North Carolina men’s basketball team looked lethargic for a majority of the first half in Friday’s season opener against Temple.

But behind a career performance by junior forward Kennedy Meeks, the top-ranked Tar Heels cruised to a 91-67 victory over the Owls in the Veterans Classic at Alumni Hall, located at the U.S. Naval Academy.

UNC trailed by as many as five points during the first five minutes of the contest and struggled to get into an offensive rhythm even after seizing the lead.

The Tar Heels manufactured a six-point advantage late in the first half before the Owls stormed back to tie the game at 34. But then North Carolina’s offense finally came to life.

With just over two minutes remaining in the first half, junior forward Isaiah Hicks made a layup. Junior guard Nate Britt made a 3-pointer on the next possession, and the Tar Heels used a 13-2 run to take a 47-36 lead into halftime.

Meeks, who scored a career-best 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting, then tallied nine points in the first five minutes of the second period to hand UNC a 58-45 lead.

Temple trimmed the Tar Heels’ lead to nine points with just under 10 minutes left in the game, but North Carolina went on an 11-0 run en route to sealing a 24-point win.

Quotable

“The whole thing before the beginning of the game was just to get the ball down low and get it as low as possible. That’s what we did. That was for all of the bigs. It just so happened some of my shots were going through, but the entire game, (we were) just trying to get the ball in the paint.” — Meeks on his performance.

Notable

After undergoing surgery on his left foot this past offseason, sophomore wing Theo Pinson tallied seven points, nine rebounds and five assists in a career-high 30 minutes on Friday. His previous career-high of 20 minutes came a season ago against Florida and William & Mary. In 24 games as a first-year, he averaged 12.5 minutes per game.

The Tar Heels still managed to score 91 points despite sophomore wing Justin Jackson struggling offensively. He scored only four points and shot 2-for-7 from the field.

Three numbers that matter

42: The Tar Heels, who held a significant size and talent advantage in the post, scored 42 points in the paint. Temple only notched 14 points in the paint.

49: UNC outrebounded Temple 49-12. North Carolina hauled in 15 offensive rebounds, which helped lead to 20 second-chance points.

7: Berry, Britt and Pinson combined to make seven 3-pointers on Friday. Britt and Berry were both 2-for-2 from behind the arc in the first half, and the trio combined to go 7-for-9 from 3-point distance during the game.

What’s next?

The Tar Heels host Fairfield at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Smith Center in their home opener.

@patjames24

sports@dailytarheel.com

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