LAWRENCE, Kan. — There are no moral victories for North Carolina basketball.
No. 9 UNC showed up at Allen Fieldhouse on Friday evening expecting to walk off James Naismith Court with a win against No. 1 Kansas in Lawrence.
There’s no shame in losing at Allen Fieldhouse. Two games into Bill Self’s 22nd season at Kansas, the Jayhawks have a 316-18 record (94.6%) at home.
Hubert Davis, James Brown fired up UNC at halftime vs Kansas
That 316th win was setting up to be a rout of UNC, which trailed by 20 points late in the first half and 15 points by halftime.
“(Hubert Davis) has that really good ability to bring that fire out of us,” said Jae’Lyn Withers, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half and added nine rebounds.
“In the second half, we decided that we weren’t going to keep taking punches; we were gonna punch back.”
Junior guard Seth Trimble, who finished with a team-high 19 points, said the Tar Heels “weren’t playing hard,” which led to getting “a lot of emotion” from Davis and fired-up freshman James Brown, who had two rebounds and two points in the final two minutes of the first half.
One reporter asked RJ Davis, who had 16 points but missed 12 of his 15 shots, if Hubert Davis questioned UNC’s toughness at halftime.
“He didn’t question it, he just challenged us,” RJ Davis said. “. … Winning on the road is hard. It was more so challenging us instead of questioning us.”
“I told ‘em at halftime that things can change, and things can change quickly if our want-to and our desire on the defensive end raises,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said.
“That’s what we did in the second half.”
The Tar Heels (1-1) came all the way back to take the lead with two minutes left before Hunter Dickinson helped Kansas (2-0) avoid a second-half collapse. Still, Davis praised his team’s effort, saying the Tar Heels “competitively fought better” in the final 20 minutes to avoid being run out of the gym.
After giving up 53 points in the first half, UNC had a 51-39 advantage in the second half. The Jayhawks went from shooting 60% to 38.5% in the final 20 minutes. But UNC didn’t score in the final two minutes and Kansas made the winning plays behind its All-American center to close the door on an upset bid.
RJ Davis, Seth Trimble confident Tar Heels are on right track
It was a top-10 matchup that had the March Madness feel of an NCAA Tournament. Thankfully, for the Tar Heels, it’s only November.
Despite foul trouble, poor shooting and questions about its newcomers and returners alike ahead of the Kansas game, Trimble believes the Tar Heels showed the rest of the nation it’s capable of staying in the race among the nation’s top teams.
“We’re gonna be a very good basketball team. We know we have doubt with whoever wants to doubt our frontcourt, whoever wants to doubt whatever it is,” Trimble said.
“We don’t care about any of it. We’re gonna be a great basketball team. Today was a good step. A lot of things didn’t go our way. … A lot of things went wrong, but there’s so much to take away from that game.”
RJ Davis agreed.
“I think it’s a confidence booster for us,” Davis said. “I think it just shows what we’re capable of, what we can improve on, what we struggled at and what we did well. I have a lot of belief in this team.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC basketball vs Kansas: RJ Davis, Seth Trimble confident in Tar Heels
