Caleb Love made six 3-point shots and racked up 23 points as North Carolina secured a much-needed victory by defeating visiting Clemson 91-71 on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Armando Bacot tallied 19 points and RJ Davis had 17 points, aided by four 3s, for North Carolina (16-9, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) avoided what would have been its second four-game losing streak of the season.
The Tar Heels made 15 shots from 3-point range in 33 tries (45.5 percent).
PJ Hall posted 18 points and Chase Hunter had 15 points on 3-for-16 shooting for Clemson (18-7, 10-4), which fell out of a share of first place in the ACC with its third loss in a row. Brevin Galloway added 10 points.
The Tar Heels, who had a strong second half in a seven-point loss Tuesday night at Wake Forest, had two 3s apiece from Love and Davis in slightly more than five minutes to begin the second half against Clemson. That helped them build a 62-43 advantage.
There was no fantastic finish for Clemson, which won in January 2020 in Chapel Hill in its previous visit. That result ended the Tigers’ 0-59 all-time mark in road games in the series.
Bacot had 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. He has a school-record 72 games with double-figure rebound totals.
North Carolina won despite starting forward Pete Nance going scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting from the field.
North Carolina led 42-33 at halftime behind 12 points from Love and 10 from Bacot and the team’s 22-12 rebounding advantage. Hall had three fouls at the half.
Love made back-to-back 3-point shots as part of North Carolina’s 11-2 run that produced a 22-17 lead and resulted in a Clemson timeout.
Hall scored Clemson’s first eight points. Hunter had the next four points for the Tigers.
Clemson’s Hunter Tyson, who was averaging 16.1 points per game, managed just three points as Leaky Black handled most of the defense on him and limited him to two shots from the floor. Still, Tyson eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career.
–Field Level Media