FSM Essential Recap: UNLV vs North Carolina

RUNNIN’ REBELS FALL IN MAUI INVITATIONAL OPENER TO NO. 14 NORTH CAROLINA, 78-51.

The UNLV men’s basketball team raced out to a 13-0 lead over No. 14 North Carolina in the opening round of the Maui Invitational, Monday night at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, but the Tar Heels ended up winning going away, 78-51.

The Runnin’ Rebels got off to a hot start, but the Tar Heels used two runs to take the lead and eventually take control of the game .

After starting the game 0 of 8, North Carolina made 7 of 9 from the field and used a 19-7 run to cut its deficit to one. The Tar Heels closed the first half on a 15-3 spurt to lead 37-30 at the break. North Carolina then started the second half outscoring UNLV 13-1 to take a 50-31 lead.

UNLV head basketball coach TJ Otzelberger after the game, said, “We were building our confidence offensively by the great job we started doing defensively. We were very intentional, our guys were in the right spots, and we were able to play with a little more pace and flow to our offense. As the game wore on, they picked up the pressure, brought some presses, some traps, denied entries more on the wings, and we didn’t do the job we needed to do to be stubborn to get open.

We didn’t cut well enough to put ourselves in great position, and eventually it pushed us out on the floor, and we were running our offense at 35-40 feet, which is a challenge. We have got to do a better job using our competitive spirit on every cut, every catch, every pass, especially against a team with the size and length of North Carolina.”

Game Notes.

• The tournament was moved to the mainland because of the COVID-19 pandemic and was played with no fans in attendance.
• Grill led UNLV in made 3-pointers, making three for the second straight game.
• North Carolina more than doubled UNLV’s free-throw attempts (32-15). UNLV made 7 of 15 from the free-throw line, while the Tar Heels went 21 of 32.
• North Carolina shot 41.7 percent from the field (25 of 60), while UNLV was at 29.0 percent (18 of 62).
• North Carolina outscored UNLV 32-18 in points in the paint and 21-9 on second-chance points. The Tar Heels’ bench outscored UNLV’s 25-12.
• This marked the sixth all-time meeting between the two schools in men’s basketball. North Carolina now leads the all-time series 5-1.
• This is UNLV’s fourth all-time Maui Invitational appearance, and the loss dropped the Runnin’ Rebels’ to 5-5 in the event.
• UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in an NCAA-record 1,104 straight games.