UNC rebounds with home win over Notre Dame after two consecutive losses

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Seth Trimble was ready.

When Notre Dame’s Cole Certa drove into the lane and just past Derek Dixon in the opening 30 seconds, the UNC senior guard was already in position to help. He didn’t close out as much as simply leap straight up and let his outstretched arms — and athleticism — do the work. The ensuing block sent Certa’s ball toward the tunnel the North Carolina team had run out of not too long ago. A defensive stop of that bravado — especially after this rough stretch the Tar Heels have had — felt worthy of a celebration.

And Trimble did just that. He flexed. He roared. After a week on the West Coast that saw his team, for the most part, defend like “boys” in his eyes, he seemed determined to set the tone early upon the team’s return home.

Message received. No. 22 North Carolina rolled to a 91-69 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday night at the Dean E. Smith Center — a much-needed rebound win for a squad that had lost three of its last four games.

Caleb Wilson led the Tar Heels with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He also led the team in assists (five) and free throws (five made on eight attempts). Henri Veesaar led the way on the boards with 12 rebounds.

North Carolina (15-4, 3-3 ACC) stretched its early lead to nine points after Wilson flushed home a put-back opportunity after a Veesaar drive. Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry called a timeout with eight and a half minutes until halftime. It seemed to have an impact, as the Fighting Irish (10-9, 1-5 ACC) mounted a brief 8-2 run — capped by a Ryder Frost 3-pointer — to cut their deficit to three.

UNC closed the half on a 16-10 run, 12 of those points coming from Dixon and Wilson. The Tar Heels maintained control for the entire second half — not allowing the Fighting Irish to claw back as so many opponents have this season.

Most importantly, North Carolina’s defense looked much improved on Wednesday night.

UNC hasn’t just struggled to defend the perimeter this year — the Tar Heels have been among the nation’s worst in that regard. Since the start of the calendar year, UNC has recorded the fourth-worst opponent 3-point percentage in the nation, per Sportradar. North Carolina has allowed its opponents to shoot 45% in that stretch, or 70 makes on 156 attempts. Only North Dakota, Coppin State and University of Louisiana at Lafayette have managed worse percentages.

But, on Wednesday, North Carolina held the Fighting Irish to 32% from distance and 36% from the field. Here are some more takeaways from the game:

Tar Heels let it rain

Ten of UNC’s first 11 shots against the Fighting Irish were 3-pointers — and for good reason.

The luck was with the Tar Heels from behind the arc. By the time Jonathan Powell joined the party with 9:39 left to play in the first half, he became the sixth North Carolina player to hit a triple.

After a brief lull, UNC hit five of its last seven shots in the first half and entered the locker room with a nine-point lead.

Three-point shooting has been a major difference in the Tar Heels’ ACC losses. SMU, Stanford and Cal combined to outscore North Carolina 132-81 from 3-point range. UNC averaged nine triples across those three games.

But against the Fighting Irish, that trend flipped. The Tar Heels still had over 18 minutes to play by the time Dixon sank the ninth triple of the night. And they weren’t done. Two more 3-pointers — back-to-back treys by Evans and Stevenson — stretched UNC’s lead to 22 points, at which point North Carolina was shooting 50% from distance.

The Tar Heels’ percentage dipped as the game dragged on and more reserves took the floor. But, when all was said and done, UNC finished with 13 triples — its highest single-game mark this year.

Young earns the start

After playing a season-high 20 minutes in a win over Wake Forest on Jan. 10 — and a combined 20 minutes in UNC’s West Coast swing last week — Jaydon Young earned his first start as a Tar Heel on Wednesday.

Young played eight minutes in the first half, recording an early 3-pointer and subbing out with 15 minutes until halftime. He re-entered at the 9:06 mark and missed a triple, committed an out-of-bounds turnover and foul before he was subbed out again.

The second half went far worse. Young recorded three fouls in less than two minutes and was subbed out with 18 minutes to play, shaking his head as he walked down the bench. He returned briefly later but didn’t score again, finishing with three points on four shot attempts.

Wednesday marked the third different starting lineup we’ve seen from the Tar Heels in the last three games. After rolling out an Evans-Stevenson-Trimble-Veesaar-Wilson lineup against Wake Forest and Stanford, Davis subbed in Dixon for Evans against California.

And, if Young’s performance on Wednesday is any indication, there will likely be some more tweaks made to that starting rotation.

Dixon continues to impress

Dixon had another impressive performance against Notre Dame in his second start — recording 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting to finish as the third-highest scorer behind Veesaar and Wilson. Wednesday night marked the fourth time this season Dixon has recorded three or more treys.

Dixon recorded his first start in UNC’s loss at California on Saturday, in which he tied his career-high with 14 points, timely shotmaking and three assists.

“As I said before, I thought Derek did a really nice job [with] his poise and his confidence out there,” Davis said at his Monday night radio show. “Obviously, he can really shoot the basketball. I thought he got us into our offense and made really good plays... I was really happy with what Derek did against Cal.”

Odds are he’ll be happy with what Dixon did against Notre Dame, too.