Huskies Outlast Tar Heels, 87-76

Tuesday, December 5

New York, N.Y.

9 PM

North Carolina

7-2,1-0ACC

Connecticut

8-1,0-0Big East

North Carolina

UConn

RJ Davis scored 26 points for his fifth consecutive 20-point effort.

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

December 5, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Lucas: The Jimmy V Lucas: Rapid Reactions Postgame Notes Box Score (.pdf)Media Central

By: Matt Bowers

NEW YORK, N.Y.—Fifth-ranked Connecticut shot 55 percent from the floor in the second half and beat No. 9 North Carolina, 87-76, on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden.

The Huskies rebounded from their loss at Kansas last weekend and improved to 8-1 this season. Carolina fell to 7-2. UConn built a 13-point lead early in the second half and withstood a Tar Heel rally to seal the victory.

RJ Davis posted his fifth consecutive 20-point game with 26 for UNC, hitting 8 of 17 shots (including four of eight three-pointers) in 38 minutes. He's averaging 26.6 points per game in his last five contests.

Armando Bacot recorded his school-record 73rd career double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds despite missing 8 of his 12 field goal attempts. Harrison Ingram tied his season high with 20 points while adding four rebounds and five assists.

Cam Spencer had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists for UConn, which shot 17 for 31 (54.8 percent) in the second half and 51.5 percent in the game.

Carolina struggled to shoot 38.9 percent in the second half after connecting at a 52-percent clip before halftime.

How It Happened
First Half
• After shooting a season-low 42.1 percent collectively in Saturday's win over Florida State, Carolina shot 51.9 percent in the first half.
• UConn also shot well at 48.6 percent but was just 4 of 16 from three-point range (25.0 percent).
• UConn went on a 10-1 run to take 42-32 lead in final two minutes, but a follow dunk by Bacot and three-pointer in the final seconds by Ingram made the score 44-39 at the break.
• The Huskies controlled the glass in the first half with a 21-14 rebounding advantage. Carolina managed just three first-half offensive rebounds while allowing seven.
• UConn's offensive rebounding edge helped the Huskies have eight more field goal attempts than the Tar Heels.
• All five UNC starters scored multiple field goals in the opening 20 minutes.

Second Half
• The Huskies went on an 11-2 run coming out of the locker room to take a 55-43 lead with 16:56 remaining.
• UConn hit 7 of its first 8 shots in the second half, including its first four three-pointers.
• Carolina upped its defensive intensity with full-court pressure and ripped off a 7-0 run in just 41 seconds to cut the UConn advantage to five at 63-58, forcing a Husky timeout at the 12:03 mark. Davis scored five consecutive points during the flurry.
• The Huskies connected on 12 of their first 20 shots in the second half (60 percent), including 6 of 10 three-pointers. In the same span, UNC shot 36 percent and 2 of 8 from three-point territory.

Postgame Tidbits & Notes
• Carolina made its third appearance in the Jimmy V Classic and first since the 1999-2000 season.
• UNC is 5-2 all-time against Connecticut. Tuesday night's game was only the second neutral site game in the series, joining a meeting in the 1998 NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, N.C.
• The game matching No. 5 Connecticut and No. 9 Carolina was the Tar Heels' first top-10 game in four seasons (since a December 2019 date with Virginia).
• Ingram tied his season high and scored 20 points for the third time this season. He's reached double figures in all nine UNC games this season.
• Davis hit all six of his free throw attempts and has hit 33 in a row.
• Connecticut has won 25 of its last 26 non-conference games, all by double digits (the longest such streak in NCAA history).

Up Next
After a break for fall semester final exams, Carolina will return to action on Saturday Dec. 16 in Atlanta against Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic. The Tar Heels' next home game will be on Dec. 29 against Charleston Southern.

Follow Tar Heel basketball on X at @UNC_Basketball and @UNCMBBstats and on Instagram at UNC_Basketball.