Georgia Closes Strong & Tops Tar Heels, 78-70 - University of North Carolina Athletics

Friday, November 13

Chapel Hill

7 p.m.

North Carolina

3-1,0-0ACC

Georgia

4-0,0-0SEC

Team	1	2	F
Georgia	38	40	78
North Carolina	31	39	70

Terrence Brown scored 21 points in the loss.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 13, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Georgia finished the game on a 10-2 run and topped North Carolina, 78-70, on Friday night in the Smith Center. After the score was tied at 68 with 2:42 to play, the Bulldogs hit two three-pointers and four free throws while the Tar Heels missed four of their last five shots.

UNC led, 60-51, with 10:35 remaining in the second half, but UGa finished the game with a 27-10 burst, as Carolina missed 16 of its last 21 shots.

Georgia improved to 4-0 with the win and dropped the Tar Heels to 3-1, snapping Carolina's 21-game home winning streak.

Kanon Catchings hit five three-pointers and scored 11 points in each half for Georgia to lead all scorers with 22 while grabbing 11 rebounds. Blue Cain hit four from long range and scored 20, and Marcus Millender had 17 points and seven boards.

Terrence Brown led the Tar Heels and tied his season high with 21 points, hitting four three-pointers, one shy of his career high of five. Neo Avdalas scored 11 in the second half and finished with 14 points, while Isaiah Denis added 11 points with three three-pointers and Maximo Adams tied his season high with 11 rebounds.

"We've just got to execute at the end of the games," Brown said. "I feel like we played pretty good the whole game until the end, and then we just didn't execute right. So we've just got to execute at the end of the games and finish possessions on the defensive end with rebounding and on the offensive [end] executing plays."

Trouble started before halftime for Carolina. Georgia hit three consecutive three-pointers and finished the opening stanza on a 9-0 run to lead, 38-31, at the break. The Tar Heels hit just 25 percent of their first-half shots, tying the third-worst shooting half by UNC in Smith Center history.

From the start in the second half, it was a different story for the Tar Heels, who started the period on a 29-13 run to grab the lead and reenergize the crowd. However, after shooting 9 for 14 to start the half, the UNC shooters cooled considerably down the stretch and could not put the game away after leading by as many as nine points midway through the half.

Carolina launched a program-record 38 three-point tries, hitting just nine for 23.7 percent. Georgia hit 14 of 36 from behind the arc for 38.9 percent. The Dawgs outrebounded UNC, 52-43, marking the third time in four games Carolina has lost the battle of the boards. Thirteen of Georgia's 15 second-chance points came in the decisive second half.

"Obviously, we didn't make a lot of shots from the three today, but just looking at the things that we can control ourselves, effort-wise, as a team, there's a lot to get better at," said Denis. "We'll watch film and get better."

"I showed one clip [to the team at halftime], and it was a clip where there was a loose ball, and it was an example of who wants the ball," Tar Heel head coach Michael Malone said in his postgame press conference. "They won that 50-50 battle, and they got a wide open three off of it. And I said those are the types of plays that can win or lose games. So we have to be the more desperate team. We have to be the more hungry team, be first to the floor, win those 50-50 battles, and I just wanted us to play more aggressive."

How It Happened
First Half
• Both teams struggled to get their footing in the early minutes, as Carolina missed 10 of its first 14 shots and Georgia missed 9 of 14.
• The Bulldogs shot slightly better than UNC through the first 12+ minutes and led, 22-20, at the under-8:00 timeout. UGa shot 8 for 22 (.364) to start the game, and the Tar Heels started 6 for 23 (.261).
• Brown hit his third three-pointer of the half with 4:04 left in the half to give Carolina a 28-27 lead.
• Georgia finished the first half on a 9-0 run, holding UNC scoreless for the final 2:49 as Carolina missed its final five shots.
• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Tar Heels, 27-21, in the opening 20 minutes.
• UNC shot 25.0 percent in the first half (9 for 36), its worst performance in the first seven halves of the season and tying the third-lowest field goal percentage in a half in the Smith Center in team history. Georgia hit 3 of its last 4 shots, all three-pointers, to lead at the break.

Second Half
• Carolina roared out of the locker room with a 19-7 run to start the second half and retake the lead.
• After back-to-back three-pointers by Denis, the Tar Heels expanded their second-half run to 29-13 and led, 60-51, with 10:35 on the clock.
• UNC hit 9 of its first 14 shots in the half (64.3 percent) while forcing Georgia to miss 10 of its first 15 (33.3 percent).
• The Tar Heels went scoreless for almost three minutes and allowed a 7-0 Bulldog run that tightened the score once again at 60-58 UNC.
• Catchings hit a three-pointer with 1:44 remaining to give Georgia a 72-68 lead and force a Carolina timeout.
• After Adams dished to Sayon Keita for a dunk that made it 72-70, Cain drilled a three with 1:01 left and Millender hit two free throws and James Scott hit one for a 78-70 advantage that proved to be the final score.

Up Next
Carolina will play the fifth of six consecutive home games to start the season when it hosts Marshall next Friday (November 20) at 9 p.m. on ACC Network in the Smith Center.

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