The North Carolina junior varsity men’s basketball team defeated King College 94-55 on Saturday behind a double-double from junior forward Kyle Holland.
Holland finished the game with 21 points and 10 rebounds to help lead the Tar Heels to an easy victory.
Early in the game, North Carolina had trouble containing the dribble penetration of the King College guards.
“We got off to a slow start but when we started to do a better job of guarding the ball, it helped turn things around,” coach C.B. McGrath said.
UNC turned things around pretty quickly. The Tar Heels started to hit from downtown and finished with eight 3-pointers for the game.
“Once we started to see the ball go through the hoop, it became contagious,” Holland said. “People became more confident with their shots and started playing looser.”
With the Tar Heels leading 51-28 a minute before halftime, King College went on a 5-0 spurt at the end of the half, aided by a half-court shot at the buzzer to bring them to within 18.
But that was as close as they would get.
McGrath pointed to the Tar Heels’ ball movement as one of the biggest factors in the victory.
“I thought our guys played very unselfish,” he said. “We passed up an open shot to get an even more open shot.”
UNC was consistently able to get out and run on the fast break, which Holland attributes to the level of intensity that the team was playing with in practice.
“I credit it to all of the running and sprints we do in practice,” Holland said. “We practice really hard and we sub a lot so we were able to keep fresh.”
King College appeared tired in the second half and did not have the depth to compete with the Tar Heels. King College’s inability to hustle and get back in transition led to many easy baskets for UNC.
Although Holland was the standout performer, UNC also got 15 points and seven rebounds from sophomore forward Frank Tanner, and six points and 10 rebounds from freshman forward Denzel Robinson.
“It was one of the better jobs we have done this year,” McGrath said. “Hopefully we can build on that.”
With the win, the Tar Heels evened their season record at 5-5. Their next game will be Sunday at home against Milligan College.
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