CHAPEL HILL — NC State and North Carolina turned a halfcourt battle within the paint, with the Tar Heels residing on the foul line.
North Carolina pulled away for a 80-69 win over its rival Saturday on Saturday, however each coaches needed to emphasise the hopeful return of NC State sophomore taking pictures guard Terquavion Smith.
Associated hyperlink: Field rating — North Carolina 80, NC State 69
Smith drove to the basket and fell onerous after getting knocked off steadiness within the air as a consequence of a foul by North Carolina small ahead Rechon “Leaky” Black, who was ejected as a consequence of a aromatic two foul. Smith felt numbness in his elbow and ache in his neck, and exited the sport on a stretcher. Coach Kevin Keatts headed to the close by hospital after his press convention to hitch Smith.
“Our prayers and ideas proper now are with Terquavion,” Keatts stated. “We’re ready to listen to again. It’s a very emotional scenario for me proper now. Clearly, the sport is essential and we fought, however my prayers and ideas go to my gamers at these kind of moments.
“I do know Leaky Black, and I don’t assume he’d make a grimy play. I haven’t seen it [the replay].”
NC State fell to 15-5 total and 5-4 within the ACC, and North Carolina improved to 14-6 and 6-3 within the league. They’re two of the eight groups within the ACC that 5 – 6 convention victories.
The UNC coaches and gamers additionally had Smith of their hearts, with Black ensuring he has Smith’s telephone quantity to speak to him.
“He [Smith] is an unbelievable child and unbelievable participant, and also you by no means wish to see anyone get damage or injured,” UNC coach Hubert Davis stated. “He’s a implausible participant.”
Smith was fouled with 9:45 left within the sport and NC State was trailing 59-49. Senior level guard Jarkel Joiner made each free throws, after which junior middle Ebenezer Dowuona rapidly scored inside to chop it to 59-53. NC State couldn’t decelerate’s UNC inside-oriented sport plan, and the free throws began to pile up.
North Carolina got here out with an in depth objective within the second half. Coach Davis needed to get the ball inside, drive to the rim and decelerate the tried three-point photographs.
Senior middle Armando Bacot took over the sport, which led to NC State’s put up gamers selecting up fouls in bunches. The Tar Heels dominated the free-throw line class, ending the sport 36-of-39 for 92 %.
NC State picked up six staff fouls within the first 4 1/2 minutes of the second half. The sixth staff foul occurred with 11:56 left within the first half, setting the tone for a parade of free throws.
“I’ve by no means been concerned in a sport with 39 free throws,” Keatts stated. “Which means we’ve got to get somewhat extra aggressive — we took 12, 12-for-12.”
NC State was short-handed earlier than Smith’s damage, with senior middle Dusan Mahorcic and redshirt junior energy ahead Jack Clark out, and freshman put up participant Isaiah Miranda doubtless redshirting.
“It was no shock that it was that approach,” stated Keatts on the sport being bodily.
Bacot took benefit and completed with 23 factors and 18 rebounds, and have become the all-time faculty chief for double-doubles. The Tar Heels out-rebounded the Wolfpack 42-27, together with plus-eight on offensive rebounding.
“You realize he [Bacot] goes to provide his finest on each ends of the ground,” Davis stated.
Keatts is aware of how onerous it’s to cease or decelerate Bacot. The one factor that did was when he picked up his third foul and went to the bench. Keatts didn’t wish to double Bacot and have him dish to open teammates.
“You possibly can double him or choose your poison,” Keatts stated.
If it wasn’t Bacot on the inside, it proved to be junior level guard R.J. Davis driving usually to the rim. He went 14-of-14 from the free-throw line for 26 factors. UNC solely tried 5 three-point makes an attempt after halftime, lacking all of them, and dedicated only one turnover within the second half.
“Firstly of the sport, I assumed we took too many fast threes,” Coach Davis stated. “I like threes, I do, however we’re the perfect within the convention by way of attending to the free-throw line. NC State is the worst proper now at placing individuals on the free-throw line.”
NC State’s offense struggled apart from after they handed the ball inside to redshirt junior middle D.J. Burns. He scored 18 factors in 25 minutes of motion. The remainder of the sport shot 18-of-49 from the sphere for 36.7 %.
NC State returns to motion in opposition to retiring coach Mike Brey and Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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Bill Belichick introduced as new UNC head football coach
Bill Belichick is officially the new head coach at UNC and addressed the media where he discussed his deep roots in college football.
Sports Pulse
By any measure, Bill Belichick’s first five weeks as North Carolina’s football coach have been unusual.
The way he got the job practically out of nowhere was weird.
The justification for taking the job — largely because he believed NFL teams were no longer interested in him — was weird.
Seeing him on the road recruiting, meeting with kids in high schools and embracing social media has been kinda weird.
Watching him every week on the Pat McAfee Show, where he’s still asked about everything going on in the NFL, is also pretty weird.
And even as he hires assistant coaches and insists North Carolina is where he’s going to be next season, the speculation that he might bail if the right NFL offer comes along — spurred on by his murky contract status — is extremely weird.
You know it has been frustrating for North Carolina and Belichick’s new staff that every day during the NFL’s silly season seems to come with a new report that one team or the other might gauge his interest. Michael Lombardi, Belichick’s right-hand man and general manager, has twice this week gone on social media to shoot down the chatter, going so far as to say, “The NFL isn’t a option so please stop making it one.” And Belichick’s girlfriend posted an Instagram picture of the two of them Thursday with the caption: “Two people who are overtly committed to @uncfootball.”
For better or worse, this is going to be the Belichick experience as long as he stays at North Carolina. Every month, maybe even every week, is going to bring a new rumor. Every chatty agent or NFL general manager is going to whisper his name to reporters who know that his potential return to the league would be a massive story. And every mention of his contract, which apparently isn’t signed yet, is going to emphasize how easy it would be for him to abandon college football should he be tempted by one last shot in the NFL.
For better or worse, that’s what North Carolina signed up for. It’s what Belichick signed up for, too. The narrative that he’s only doing this until something better comes along is mostly the product of his own history and the strangeness of taking on a college program for the first time at age 72.
Belichick almost certainly understood that better than anyone going into this, and it’s not going to change as long as he’s wearing that Carolina baby blue.
At this point, we have to take Belichick’s people at their word that his entire focus right now is building a roster and getting the Tar Heels ready for the 2025 season. Despite the reports and rumors, the odds of him bailing on North Carolina before he even gets started seem remarkably low.
But because of how unconventional all of this is, you have to at least allow for the possibility that North Carolina’s administration will wake up one day and feel used by a coach who never really unpacked his suitcase. Maybe in a year, maybe in a month. Who knows.
Rather than worry about how long Belichick will stay, though, or the potentially devastating circumstances under which he might leave, North Carolina and its fan base should lean into the experimental nature of this pairing. Embrace the uncertainty of how long it might last.
Every athletics director hopes the football coach they hire stays 10 years. But Belichick’s tenure has to be judged by a different standard.
His longevity just doesn’t matter. He was hired to get North Carolina really good, really fast — and when you consider how weak the ACC has been, there’s a chance he might just pull it off.
If SMU and 41-year-old coach Rhett Lashlee can come directly from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC and make the College Football Playoff right away, a similar leap is not outside the capability of a six-time Super Bowl champion.
Maybe Belichick is exactly where he needs to be. Sure, the idea of Belichick working for Jerry Jones or coaching the Raiders is media catnip. The narrative that he longs for 15 more coaching wins to overtake Don Shula as the NFL’s all-time leader is easy and obvious.
But think of it this way. What would actually enhance Belichick’s coaching legacy more: Doing something he’s already done a whole bunch of times or coming into a situation where he has no history or experience and elevating a college program to a place it’s never been before?
The answer is easy. For all Belichick has accomplished in the game of football, even getting North Carolina to the CFP just once would add more to his legend than another Super Bowl ever could.
So why do so many people think he isn’t serious about North Carolina? Why is the NFL rumor mill working overtime to pull him back after rejecting him completely as a coaching candidate last year?
Belichick may not have envisioned himself on a college sideline a few months ago, but he’s there now. And his tenure will be judged by quality, not quantity.
North Carolina had nothing to lose here. It was an underachieving program stuck in the middle of the ACC without the kind of financial backing it needed to compete at the highest level. Even if Belichick bounces back to the NFL next year, the entire mentality of North Carolina has changed. It’s gone all-in on football in a way it never did before.
Sure, every time an NFL job opens, Tar Heel fans are going to be nervous because Belichick’s name is going to get thrown in the mix. Get used to it. It’s better than the comfortable alternative North Carolina had under Mack Brown and most of its previous coaches: Irrelevant and ignored.
As long as Belichick is there, that’s not going to be the case. And even if it doesn’t last a long time, this is still an experiment without a downside — NFL rumors and all.
NEWPORT, N.C. (WBTV) – A registered sex offender is facing more charges after he allegedly escaped while on a work release assignment in North Carolina on Thursday.
State prison officials said 44-year-old Kevin Leonard Worsham Jr. was on work release when he left his assignment in the small town of Teachey in Duplin County.
He returned on his own to the work release location early Friday morning and was arrested, according to officials.
Worsham has a criminal history dating back to 2004, including a past conviction that required him to register as a sex offender.
His current sentence came after he – being a registered sex offender – failed to properly report an address change. Prison records show he was convicted of the offense in Gaston County, and was expected to be released in December 2025.
Now that he is back in custody, Worsham is facing new felony escape charges.
He was being held in the minimum-security Carteret Correctional Center in Newport, but after his escape, he will be housed at Central Prison in Raleigh.
Charlotte man accused of killing teen given bond after it was initially denied, records show
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DALLAS — Lexi Donarski had 15 points, Alyssa Ustby scored 12 and matched her career-high with 18 rebounds and No. 14 North Carolina rolled to a 64-33 victory over SMU on Thursday night.
Donarski did her damage from 3-point range, sinking 5 of 6 attempts for the Tar Heels (16-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). Ustby collected her seventh double-double of the season with five of them coming in the last six games.
Indya Nivar had 11 points and Maria Gakdeng totaled 10 points and seven rebounds for North Carolina, which has won three in a row and 6 of 7.
Kaysia Woods scored 12 to lead the Mustangs (10-8, 2-4).
Nivar had nine points in the first half as North Carolina turned a 13-6 first-quarter lead into a 31-14 advantage at halftime. The Tar Heels shot just 39.4% from the floor before the break, but that looked red-hot compared to SMU, which shot 13.8% overall (4 for 29).
Donarski hit her only two shots of the third quarter — both from beyond the arc — and the Tar Heels led 44-22 heading to the fourth.
Woods had five points in the final period to help SMU top the 10-point mark in a quarter for the first time in the game.
North Carolina guard Alyssa Ustby dribbles during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against SMU, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Dallas. Credit: AP/LM Otero
SMU allowed the biggest comeback in NCAA women’s basketball history its last time out when the Mustangs saw a 32-point lead with 1:37 left in the first half turn into a 72-59 loss to Pittsburgh. SMU was outscored 28-0 in the third quarter and 26-10 in the fourth.
North Carolina travels to play Pittsburgh on Sunday. SMU travels to play No. 3 Notre Dame on Sunday.
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