North Carolina got a statement win Saturday, beating Wake Forest by 33 points after the Demon Deacons had previously defeated UNC on Jan. 5, 73-67 in Winston-Salem.
Here are some notes and quotes from the game:
Moody rhymes with Rudy
After playing just 16 minutes, prior to Saturday’s game, senior walk-on guard Wade Moody had a day to remember.
With 4:48 remaining and the game firmly in hand for UNC, Moody entered and 12 seconds later sunk a 3-pointer, sending the Smith Center into a frenzy. His shot gave UNC 101 points and triggered a promotion from Bojangles that grants spectators two discounted Bojangles’ sausage biscuits when the team scores 100 points.
He followed it up with another 3-pointer two and a half minutes later, again igniting the crowd. He would hear the student section chanting his name as the minutes dwindled down on UNC’s win.
“It was awesome. We haven’t got biscuits in the past two years — my whole career — and so that was pretty cool,” Moody said. “I hadn’t scored yet this year, so hitting the shot that gave us biscuits and kind of getting that little weight off my back was good.”
Tar Heels find stroke from the stripe
UNC shot a season-high 82.8 percent from the free-throw line, breaking the previous season high by more than six percentage points.
Leslie McDonald shot considerably better than his season average, making all four of his attempts, despite a season average of 62.5 percent entering the game. J.P Tokoto also outperformed his season average of 48.6 prior to the game, making five of six attempts.
“Once you miss you’re thinking about the second free throw so much to knock it in that you end up missing that. It’s a mind game.” McDonald said. “Once you make your first one, you’re like, ‘OK, I got that out the way. Now I know what to do.’”
Coach Roy Williams has been unable to explain why his team has so much trouble at the free-throw line, and after Saturday’s game he seemed just as surprised at the team’s success.
“I’ve got 100 letters this year from people who are experts and said they can fix it. That’s the dumbest damned thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” Williams said. “I’m not the smartest guy in the world but I’m not the dumbest either. If I could fix it, I would have already fixed it.
“I looked at the moon last night, looked at some stars and said, ‘Yeah, tomorrow’s really going to be a good day from the free-throw line.”
A record-breaking day
The Tar Heels raced out to 52 points by halftime and didn’t let up in the second-half, eclipsing 100 points for the first time since Dec. 1, 2012 against Alabama-Birmingham.
Six players — J.P. Tokoto, James Michael McAdoo, Kennedy Meeks, Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson and McDonald — scored in double digits Saturday, including all five starters.
This Tar Heel squad, which is not known for its outside shooting, set a school record for three-point percentage in a game with at least 10 made 3-pointers — 73.3 percent. The previous record — 70.6 — was set in 2010 against Hofstra in Puerto Rico, when UNC made 12 of 17.
UNC’s 11 made 3-pointers were also a season-high, besting the previous mark of nine against Texas.
The win was the largest margin of victory in an ACC game for UNC, at 33 points, since a Feb. 16, 2008 win against Virginia Tech.
“I’m having a whole lot of fun right now,” freshman guard Nate Britt said. “We just beat our rivals the other night. We lost to Wake (Forest) earlier in the season and we got a big win tonight. So I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now, and I’m just hoping that we can keep the intensity going and just keep it moving forward.”
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