Having a record of 9 and 10 has never felt as good to a team as it does for Norton Carolina! Winning as the Tar Heels did, besting an equally short-handed Miami team, showed that being ready to shoot, taking good shots, hustling on defense, and limiting turnovers is a winning formula.
Brandon Robinson missed Wednesday’s game at Virginia Tech as a precaution, after an auto accident a few days earlier, but returned to another career game performance with 29 points, including 6/10 on 3-pointers. Add Christian Keeling 4/6 for 9 points in 15 minutes and Justin Pierce 4/8 with 9 points in 17 minutes, and the team finally got the needed strong play expected from the two graduate transfers.
UNC had its best game from the floor all year, shooting 58% overall, while going 10/23 from behind the arc, with five different players scoring from deep. Garrison Brooks (14 points/5 rebounds) and Armando Bacot (19 point/12 rebounds) were steady, but the Tar Heels also got strong games from Andrew Platek and Leaky Black.
On a historical note, Roy Williams earned coaching win number 880, surpassing mentor Dean Smith in career wins, but as Williams noted, getting win number 9 for this team was much more important.
