Wednesday’s Battle 4 Atlantis opener was a tale of two halves for the North Carolina Tar Heels in their 91-69 win over Northern Iowa. But they almost found themselves upset again early on in a holiday tournament.
After grabbing a 2-0 lead to start the game, the Tar Heels fell behind 10-2 and found themselves trailing for the majority of the first half. The Panthers built the lead out a few different times, shooting 60 percent from the field making 15 of their 25 attempts.
Meanwhile, North Carolina shot just 33.3 percent from the field including really struggling from the three-point line. Despite UNC cutting the lead down to just six at 41-35, they were still struggling.
Then the second half happened.
North Carolina woke up in that second half to avoid the upset by using a 15-1 run that spanned from the end of the first half to the start of the second for a 51-42 lead. And they didn’t look back from there.
The Tar Heels opened up the half making 8 three-pointers out of their first 10 made baskets, using that to push ahead and never look back. They built the lead out to 22, shutting the door on any Panthers upset hopes. That push was led by Cormac Ryan, R.J. Davis and Harrison Ingram, who each had two made three-pointers during that stretch.
UNC would finish the game shooting 46.2 percent from the three-point line, making 12 of their 26 attempts which is by far their best showing of the early season in that area.
Ingram led the Tar Heels with 16 points while Ryan and freshman Elliot Cadeau had 15. Armando Bacot finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds as Jae’lyn Withers had 11 points.
The Tar Heels improved to 4-0 on the year.
Player of the Game
I’m going to give this to Harrison Ingram. The forward led the Tar Heels with 16 points and shot 4 of 6 from the three-point line. He was really good all game long and added 9 rebounds to his stat line.
What’s next?
It’s a quick turnaround for the Tar Heels as they will play the winner of Villanova and Texas Tech on Thursday.
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Story originally appeared on Tarheels Wire
