Justin Jackson contributed 17 points on 6 of 8 shooting and continues to come into his own, blossoming as a freshman and finding the right spots for offensive production. Coming off a 16-point performance against Virginia Tech this past weekend, Jackson supplied a good chunk of offense once again for the Heels and is pouring in 59.7% of his shots in the last eight games. Carolina is now 9-0 when Jackson racks up double-digits. The back-to-back double-digit games for Jackson was a first for him in ACC action and is a sign that the McDonald's All-American from Texas is starting to figure the game out.
"At the beginning of the season, I thought too much," Jackson said after the game. "I tried not to mess up. Now, I'm just playing. If the shot is open, I take it. If not, I pass the ball or set a screen, whatever I need to do."
The Heels were doing it all by the time the game reached the midway point of the second half. Wake had stuck around with Carolina in the first half as both teams pushed the tempo just as everyone had expected. Carolina was shooting great (53.1% in first half), but what was keeping Wake in the game was the thorn that has hampered UNC all year; defensive rebounding. The Deacs were snagging offensive boards left and right which was giving them extra chances to score and Wake was delivering. Led by Codi Miller-McIntyre's 10 points in the first half, Wake had stuck around and was within two points with a minute to go. However, it was Carolina that would roll off four quick points to finish the half and take a 40-34 lead into the locker room.
The Heels never looked back.
Right after halftime, the Heels returned to commanding the post as Meeks used great post position to drop in six super-quick points to push the Heels' lead to double-digits in less than two minutes of second half play. When you find a honey-hole, keep going to it and that is what Carolina did. Time and time again, UNC would get the ball in the paint and score on an easy layup or turnaround jumper off the glass. So far this season, the Tar Heel big men have shown a knack of handling the load offensively when the outside shots will not drop. The Heels still are struggling from the perimeter, shooting 3 of 9 from three point range versus Wake (although a perfect 3 of 3 in the second half). However, netting 65.3% of its 2-point field goals for the entire contest is a staggering mark for Carolina and even more impressive of a showing on the road in an ACC game.
Entering the game, Coach Roy Williams knew he was lacking the depth in the backcourt due to recent injuries to Joel Berry, Stillman White, and Luke Davis. He would need Marcus Paige, Nate Britt, and Theo Pinson to deliver some pivotal minutes. And when Pinson left the game with 7:50 to go in the first half with a bruised foot, it was even more crucial that Paige eat up more minutes. Paige, fighting through plantar fasciitis for weeks now, did not have the best shooting game that he or his coaches would have liked, but he was able to aid the offensive flow by dishing out eight assists to go with his 12 points. With those eight assists, Paige has 19 dimes in his last three games.
Not only did the Heels miss quite a bit of depth in the backcourt, but foul trouble to Meeks, Paige, and J.P. Tokoto led to Coach Williams pulling out a new wrinkle defensively that we do not usually see for a great length of time. But, Williams ran the 2-3 zone for most of the second half to keep his guys out of foul trouble and it worked pretty darn good. Wake hit a couple of threes against the zone but, overall, Carolina buckled down and thwarted any sort of offensive momentum builders from the Demon Deacons. Paige, Johnson, and Meeks talked to reporters after the game in the video below.
Miller-McIntyre was the greatest source of offense for the Deacs. Wake's leading scorer finished with 20 points and six rebounds while Devin Thomas attained his third consecutive double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Carolina focused on stopping Thomas and, for the most part, the Heels accomplished that mission. Thomas had been averaging 19.5 points/game in conference play until the Carolina game.
"(Thomas) is the guy that we try to concentrate on," Coach Williams said. "You're supposed to try to emphasize cutting back on the advantages that their best scorer has. So we tried, but we were fortunate that he missed a couple of easy ones too."
In his first year at Wake Forest, Greensboro, NC native and NCAA champion Danny Manning (won a title as a player with Kansas in 1988) has turned around the thinking and the playing style of the Demon Deacons. With close losses to Dook and Louisville at home, Wake seemed to be primed for the upset Wednesday night. But, with an inability to stop Carolina's big men from scoring and failure to gain that extra energy on its home court, WFU may have regressed a bit in this game. The Deacs were beaten thoroughly in the paint where they had not given up more than 40 points to an opponent all season long, only to give up 50 to the Heels. Manning knows his team has a lot more growing to do and it will first start with fundamentals.
"We have to do a much better job of guarding and that's not just post players, that's everybody," Manning exclaimed. "There isn't a science to it. Guard your damn man."
Frustration abounds for Wake as the loss puts the team from Winston-Salem at 1-5 in conference play and searching for a signature win. As for the Heels, a 5-1 start in the ACC is the sixth time the Heels have had such a good start during the Roy Williams era. And, it's only the second time in the Williams era that the Heels have started 5-1 with three of the victories coming on the road. Carolina has won 9 of its last 10 games since losing to Kentucky in early December, and its only loss during this stretch was by one to now-#8 Notre Dame. The win over Wake was Roy Williams' 150th combined ACC regular season and ACC Tournament win moving him to fifth in ACC history in that category.
Next Game: #15 North Carolina (15-4, 5-1 ACC)
vs
Florida State Seminoles (10-9, 2-4 ACC)
Date/Time: Saturday, January 24, 2015 @ 2:00pm EST
Location: Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill, NC
TV/Radio: ESPN or ESPN3 / Tar Heel Sports Network
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