Luka Bogavac scored 19 points in place of Seth Trimble to help No. 18 North Carolina grind out a win over Radford 89-74 on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill.
Trimble was injured in a team practice Sunday and underwent surgery to repair a broken bone in his left arm. Bogavac was coach Hubert Davis’ pick to replace the senior and he justified that with his second-half performance.
After missing his first six shots, Bogavac finished with a team-high 19 points and five assists as he made seven of his final 12 shots to pace the Tar Heels (3-0). He scored 12 points in the second half with two 3-pointers.
Henri Veesaar (18), Jarin Stevenson (15) and Caleb Wilson (13) also notched double figures for North Carolina. Freshman phenom Wilson had three early fouls and finished 4-for-13 from the floor, but grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Highlanders (2-1) kept it close for much of the first half, but couldn’t string enough shots together in the second half to make a comeback. Dennis Parker Jr. and Del Jones led all scorers with 23 and 22 points, respectively.
Radford didn’t help itself defensively by committing 33 fouls that led to 49 free-throw attempts for North Carolina. Four Highlanders fouled out and three more had at least three fouls.
The Tar Heels’ largest lead was 26 points before missing nine of their last 10 field goals.
Neither team came out of the gates hot in a foul-fueled first half with 26 fouls.
The Highlanders took the early lead as Jaylon Johnson orchestrated a 9-0 run. After Johnson’s conventional 3-point play and his 3-pointer from the corner, Parker drilled a 3-pointer to give Radford a 19-16 lead with 10:10 left in the half.
North Carolina had four turnovers in that stretch.
The Tar Heels finally came alive near the end of the half and ended on a 28-12 run — capped by a Bogavac putback with 21 seconds left — to seal a 44-31 halftime lead. Radford missed eight of its final 11 field goals to close the half.
North Carolina was paced by Veesaar, who had 11 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting.
The Tar Heels could have had a bigger lead, but connected on just 14 of 24 free throws (58.3%) in the first half. They finished 31 of 49 (63.3%).
–Field Level Media
