RJ Davis racked up 26 points and North Carolina put together a suffocating defensive performance to down SMU 82-67 on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Davis made 8 of 15 shots from the field while hauling in five rebounds and dishing out four assists, but it was the Tar Heels’ defense that stole the spotlight. North Carolina (10-6, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) held the Mustangs to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and a 22.2 percent clip from beyond the arc to win its second straight game.
SMU (11-4, 2-2) never led, with one of its few offensive highlights coming within the game’s first five minutes. The Mustangs rattled off six unanswered points after falling into a 6-0 hole to start the contest before the Tar Heels used a 9-0 spurt to pull away.
Ian Jackson supplied 18 points and seven boards for North Carolina, which also got 17 points from Drake Powell. Only six Tar Heels in all got into the scoring column.
Chuck Harris broke through the stiff UNC defense to post 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting to lead SMU. B.J. Edwards chipped in 15 points, while Matt Cross paired 13 with 11 boards.
Despite struggling from the floor, the Mustangs did have success at the free-throw line, where they went 17-for-21 (81 percent).
After North Carolina had created some distance between itself and the visitors, a Harris free throw had SMU within 15-10 with 12:34 left in the first half. But the Tar Heels put together a 10-2 run not long after, going up 33-19 on a triple by Davis with 4:25 to go.
Jackson canned a trey to give UNC its largest lead of the first half, 39-22, with 1:33 left. Cross responded with a jumper that closed the scoring in the period.
From there, North Carolina led by at least 11 the rest of the way, turning the game into a rout at one point by using a 13-3 run to make it 63-38 at the 12:32 mark of the second half.
–Field Level Media
