UNC started its 2023-2024 basketball season on November 6th at home vs. Radford. The Tar Heels defeated the Highlanders 86-70 in a game that started off very close. UNC only was up by 5 points at halftime, increasing the anxiety for many fans who watched them lose a lot of games they shouldn’t have last year. This is essentially a completely new team with only 4 guys returning who are in the rotation. Armando Bacot dominated as usual with his typical double double. He finished the game with 25 points and 13 rebounds. RJ Davis struggled from the field going 6-14 and scoring 13 points. Fr. Elliot Cadeau made his much anticipated debut and put up 5 points with 6 assists. UNC also brought in a lot of transfers in the offseason; Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame showed his effectiveness as a shooter and a defender. Harrison Ingram from Stanford showed his ability to do it all and be a great glue guy for the team moving forward.
Radford had 3 guys in double figures with Kenyon Giles, Bryan Antoine and Daquan Smith. Early in the game Giles was hitting tough shot after tough shot and giving UNC’s defense a ton of trouble. These guards kept them in the game until the very end with their ability to make clutch shots and plays. The Highlanders start off the year 0-1 and will be back in action on November 10th vs Marshall.
UNC is looking to avenge their season from last year when they started as the #1 team in preseason and then ended up missing the NCAA tournament. With almost a complete roster turnover, Hubert Davis is looking to get back to the Final Four like he did in 2022. UNC will return to the Dean Dome on November 12th vs. Lehigh.
Many Green Level students were tuned into the game. I asked Jr. Chloe Rich what she thinks UNC needs to improve on after the first game. She said “I definitely think just finding their key players to really depend on as the season progresses is key. UNC had a lot of new transfers come in this year along with talented freshmen, all of which hold different skill sets so I feel like finding the balance between everyone’s strengths and weaknesses will help UNC’s flow on the court improve greatly.” In other words, UNC just needs to build better chemistry between the new and returning players. They have a lot of talent, but they need to be able to play together in order to maximize their potential.
