North Carolina basketball holds off Ohio State, 71-70

ATLANTA — That’s probably not what Hubert Davis had drawn up, right?

But, luckily for the Tar Heels, when Seth Trimble stumbled to the floor and lost control of the ball with the game on the line, Henri Veesaar was there to scoop it up and flush it home for a victory-sealing dunk. On the other end, Ohio State’s John Mobley Jr. missed a 3-pointer, the Buckeyes were blocked on the putback attempt and the No. 12 Tar Heels escaped with a 71-70 win over Ohio State (8-3) in the 12th annual CBS Sports Classic.

Caleb Wilson (20 points and 15 rebounds) and Veesaar (17 points and 10 rebounds) combined for 37 points and 25 rebounds. Wilson didn’t score until three and a half minutes remained in the first half, but pulled down a career-best 15 rebounds in his Atlanta homecoming.

The Tar Heels managed for nine games as Trimble recovered from a left forearm injury, but Saturday’s win over Ohio State at State Farm Arena showed, once again, how crucial the senior is to this team. Trimble, renowned as the Tar Heels’ best perimeter defender, took the tough assignment on Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton and made him fight for all 16 points. Thornton shot 7 of 16 from the field and also finished 0 for 4 from deep.

“There’s really only one guy on our team that had any chance of getting a stop on Thornton,” Davis said. “And that was Seth.”

Trimble, meanwhile, led the Tar Heels in 3-pointers made — going 3 for 5 from deep.

The game wasn’t without its warts, though. Davis once again hounded his team during the under-eight timeout after a particularly disjointed offensive stretch that saw UNC go scoreless for over three minutes. The Tar Heels weren’t spectacular on the defensive glass and nearly gave up the game after Mobley Jr. drained a late 3-pointer and drew a foul from Wilson.

UNC has learned a lot over the stretch it played with Trimble unavailable. For one, its frontcourt duo is elite — among the best in the nation. The backcourt still has some question marks, but plenty of Tar Heels off the bench have stepped up and showed promise.

This contest, too, provides lots of lessons. Here’s what we learned from this nail-biter in Atlanta:

Another slow start, inconsistent stretches

The timing of this game in the middle of a busy portion of the College Football Playoff calendar may have been apt. After six minutes of play in Atlanta, the score remained at a dismal 7-7.

UNC has fallen into a trend yet again this season of slow starts. At least, that’s how some might describe it. Not Davis. After North Carolina’s win over ETSU, he painted the issue as more nuanced, coming down to inconsistency.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that we’ve consistently gotten off to slow starts,” Davis said on Tuesday. “I would say that, at times, we haven’t been consistent at the beginning. We’ve gotten off to a fast start, then we had a four [to] six minute lull on both ends of the floor where we allow a team to come back.”

That’s exactly what happened Saturday against Ohio State. What started as three or so minutes of stagnant offense for the Tar Heels led to the Buckeyes clawing back from an 11-point deficit to two points and then, after Wilson fouled Mobley Jr. on the 3-pointer, Ohio State took its first lead since the opening minutes.

And UNC nearly gave the game away, if not for Veesaar’s quick hands.

“The best part of it is we have so much to improve,” Veesaar said after the win, later adding, “every game I feel like we can go back and watch film and there’s like, 16, 18 or 20 points that we could easily take away [by] not making our mistakes.”

Trimble returns, boosts Tar Heels in transition

Davis has said there’s nobody in the country he’d rather have handle the ball in transition than Trimble.

Saturday showed why.

After recording four fast break points over UNC’s last two games, the Tar Heels earned 10 transition points on Saturday. A large part of that, no surprise, was Trimble’s defensive prowess and ability to attack downhill.

“Having that ability to strike and be able to finish and transition like him is real,” Davis said last week. “He’s another playmaker. So he can handle the ball, he can distribute, he can score. And then, defensively, you can make the argument he’s the best on-ball defender, perimeter defender in the country.”

Six of UNC’s fast break points came courtesy of Trimble — and all of them came in the first half.

Defensive rebounding woes arise again

North Carolina conceded season-worst offensive rebounding totals against Georgetown and USC Upstate. In their win over ETSU, it appeared the Tar Heels had put those issues behind them.

But, with seven minutes left in the first half, it was already clear UNC was having some issues on the defensive boards. At that point, the Tar Heels had relinquished seven offensive rebounds.

The good news for UNC? The 12 offensive boards for the Buckeyes Saturday translated to just seven second-chance points. That’s a testament to the Tar Heels’ length and ability to contest. The bad news? That conversion rate will likely be a lot higher as North Carolina gets into tougher competition later in the season.

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