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ASHEVILLE, NC – While there may have been surfboards and Hawaiian shirts on opening day of the Maui Invitational on Monday, there were sub-zero wind chill temperatures at the exterior of Harrah’s Cherokee Center in downtown Asheville. Even with the abrupt change of venue, the North Carolina No.14 achieved his standard performance in Maui with a 78-51 victory over UNLV in the first round.
UNC (2-0) spotted the Runnin ‘Rebels (0-2) a 13-0 lead and it wasn’t close enough to make this game competitive after halftime. The Tar Heels took their first lead in the middle of an 11-0 run made from a trio of UNLV turnovers at the end of the first half, then dominated after the half as they edged their opponent , 35-9, within the first 15 minutes.
Roy Williams has played nine different players for at least 10 minutes as he continues to work on rotation possibilities. RJ Davis led UNC with 16 points on 5 of 9 shots, while Garrison Brooks added 14 points and had seven rebounds. Armando Bacot (12) and Andrew Platek (11) also reached double the points. Leaky Black tied a career high with 10 rebounds.
UNC kept UNLV at 29.0% shots (21.6 3FG%), including a 22.8% score on the final 35:38. The Tar Heels shot 41.7 percent from the floor and 35 percent from three despite missing their first eight field goal attempts.
UNC scored 21 points on 13 UNLV turnovers and beat their opponents, 21-9, on second-chance points. The Tar Heels topped the Runnin ‘Rebels, 54-35.
Slow start
There was no excuse for the jet lag for the Tar Heels’ Maui Invitational debut this season, although it would have been handy given their slow start. UNLV made their first five baskets and held up a 6-3 rebound as UNC missed their first eight field goal attempts.
The Runnin ‘Rebels, who lost last week to Montana State by 13 points, led the Tar Heels 13-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Andrew Platek sparkles on the bench
Williams wasted little time making his first mass substitution of the season – trading four players instead of five due to the need for a point guard on the pitch – when UNC fell behind 13-0. Senior guard Andrew Platek, who led the Tar Heels in the +/- class against College of Charleston last Wednesday (plus-27), injected defensive energy into the roster and scored eight of the first 19 points of his team, including his first points on a three-point with 13:42 on the clock.
The veteran guard finished with 11 of 4 of 6 points, marking the third time in his career that he has scored in double digits.
Note tweet
This last jumper gave Garrison Brooks 1000 points for his career. He is the 78th player of @UNC_Basketball history of scoring 1,000 points, the most of any NCAA program.
Louisville has the second-highest 1,000-point goalscorer in NCAA history with 69.
– Pat James (@ patjames24) December 1, 2020
next
The Tar Heels move up the Maui Invitational winners list and face the winner of Alabama-Stanford on Tuesday at 4 p.m. (ESPN).
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