Lucas: Notre Dame Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina overwhelmed Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament opener, beating the Irish 76-56.

2. The Tar Heels largely did it from three on Wednesday. Carolina went 13-for-28 from the arc. That continues some much improved shooting over the last eight games. During that stretch, the Heels are 87-191 from three, a remarkable 45.5 percent. It wasn't long ago this was a team that was on track to be one of the worst three-point shooting teams in UNC history.

3. The ringleader was Jae'Lyn Withers, who hit seven trifectas and finished with a career-high 21 points. The most recent Tar Heel to make seven was RJ Davis in his 42-point game against Miami. The school record is eight, held by several Heels. Withers also had nine rebounds, just one short of a double-double.

4. Carolina had a very difficult time defending Notre Dame standout Markus Burton in the first meeting of the season, when he scored 23 points and made ten trips to the free throw line in his return from injury. But that game was played without Seth Trimble, and the combination of Trimble and Drake Powell was a much more formidable defensive pairing. Burton shot just 3-for-11 and scored a hard-earned 11 points.

5. What a first half from Withers. He made five three-pointers in helping the Tar Heels build a lead as big as 21 points in the first half. In addition to his shooting, Withers was also active on the glass, pulling down six rebounds in his 16 first-half minutes. The Carolina record for three-pointers in a half is seven by Wayne Ellington.

6. Withers' first half barrage was part of a Carolina offensive effort that was heavily three-point focused in the first 20 minutes. The Tar Heels hit nine of 17 three-point attempts in cruising to a 43-29 lead at the break. They were just five for 13 from two-point range in that same stretch.

7. Withers will be the headliner, but Ven-Allen Lubin quietly was very impactful in the win. Lubin recorded his second double-double as a Tar Heel, scoring 17 points to go with 10 rebounds. Lubin was credited with only one assist but had at least two (one to Drake Powell and one to Ian Jackson) on very nice passes. Lubin was the team leader in plus-minus at +28.

8. Speaking of nice passes, Elliot Cadeau had 10 assists, marking his fifth double-digit assist performance this season. Cadeau also had six rebounds and, more importantly, was charged with just two turnovers.

9. The effort from Lubin and Withers helped Carolina win the rebounding battle, which it didn't do in South Bend. Carolina had an eight-board edge and is now +65 in that category in the last seven games. The Heels are 16-4 when outrebounding the opponent.

10. Carolina continues to play well in the Spectrum Center. The Tar Heels are now 19-3 in the building. The program's overall record in Charlotte is 169-28.

11. With the win, Carolina has won 14 of the last 16 against Notre Dame and advances to face Wake Forest tomorrow at 2:30 in the quarterfinals. The Deacs edged Carolina by one point in Winston-Salem on Jan. 21. Somewhat surprisingly, it's the first ACC Tournament meeting between the two teams in a quarter of a century--they let met in this event in 2000 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Ven-Allen Lubin

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Jae'Lyn Withers

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