University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
UNCG
No. 24 Tar Heels Beat Spartans 79-56
December 17, 2014 | Men's Basketball
by Aaron Beard, The Associated Press
GREENSBORO—North Carolina is still trying to sort out what kind of team it can be. That's why coach Roy Williams is eager to get his team back on the practice court after a busy first half of December.
Kennedy Meeks scored 18 points to help No. 24 North Carolina beat UNC Greensboro 79-56 on Tuesday night, capping a stretch of four games and limited practice time due to exams in the past two weeks.
That had Williams promising "long, long, long" practices before Saturday's game against No. 12 Ohio State in Chicago.
"We need to get some work done in the next couple days," Williams said.
The Tar Heels (7-3) were coming off an 84-70 loss at No. 1 Kentucky over the weekend, a game that saw the Wildcats shoot 56 percent — the first opponent to shoot 40 percent against UNC — while repeatedly getting to the line and converting 18 UNC turnovers into 24 points.
The Tar Heels had a much easier time in a game against a Southern Conference opponent that has been short-handed because of a series of injuries all season.
UNC shot 49 percent and had a 20-point lead midway through the first half, cruising in the same arena where they'll play in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in March. They dominated the glass (51-26) and scored 16 second-chance points to go with 15 points off turnovers.
"I think we're still trying to get to know each other's games," Meeks said, "just find each other's spots, give them those easy opportunities to get baskets."
Kayel Locke scored 17 points for the Spartans (4-7), coached by former Tar Heels player Wes Miller. UNCG never recovered from a terrible start, missing 20 of 23 shots and all nine 3-point tries to open the game before falling to 2-52 all-time against ACC opponents.
"We really struggled to score early and it took us out of things we were trying to do and that affected us," Miller said. "I think that frustrated us and it kept us from being the team we're trying to be on every possession."
Preseason all-conference pick Tevon Saddler finished with six points on 3-for-8 shooting for the Spartans. He had scored 24 points in each of his last two games, but picked up a charge for his fourth foul in the first minute of the second half and had fouled out by the 11:15 mark.
