North Carolina Routes Wake Forest In Winston Salem

From the opening tip this wasn’t a game as North Carolina not bounced back from their recent loss but blew out Wake Forest in the process at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Eighth-ranked North Carolina responded to its first loss in a month by pouncing on an overmatched opponent and rolling to its biggest margin of victory ever in an Atlantic Coast Conference road game. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

Cameron Johnson scored 27 points and fueled the Tar Heels' game-opening run of 18 straight points in Saturday's 95-57 win at Wake Forest. The 38-point margin of victory was a school record, surpassing the previous highs of 34 points in league road games at Virginia and Virginia Tech during the 2004-05 season. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

It also marked the most lopsided win by either team in the longtime instate series, as well as Wake Forest's worst loss in their Joel Coliseum home of nearly three decades.
  "We jumped on them early," senior Kenny Williams said. "I think our defense was really focused and we made everything tough on them." “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

Still, Williams pointed to UNC being outrebounded to say things weren't perfect. Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams, too, could point to 11 first-half turnovers for the Tar Heels (20-5, 10-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) as another concern. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

Minor issues, all, after a blowout win. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

The Tar Heels, who lost to fourth-ranked Virginia on Monday, ran out to leads of 18-0, 25-3 and 35-7. They shot 74 percent in the opening half and finished at 62 percent while making 16 of 25 3-pointers, with that 64-percent conversion rate a program record for any road game in which they attempted a minimum of 20 3s. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

Johnson finished 10 of 13 from the floor and 7 of 10 from behind the arc, making his first eight shots overall and his first six from behind the arc.
"I don't think I really shot the ball too well in practice yesterday," Johnson said. "So I really kind of took some extra time to do some extra shoulder work, make sure that was feeling all right, get everything moving well. And I guess it paid off for today." “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

Freshman Jaylen Hoard scored 17 points on an ugly afternoon for the Demon Deacons (9-15, 2-10), who shot 21 percent to fall behind 49-21 by halftime. Wake Forest finished at 33 percent. “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

"We came out and didn't do a lot of things well," Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said. "Carolina came out, made some shots, rebounded the ball, put us in a tough spot. ... And then from there, it just kind of snowballed." “according to https://goheels.com/news/2019/2/16/mens-basketball-tar-heels-dominate-wake-forest.aspx

North Carolina will return to action on Wednesday night when they make the short trip down tobacco road where they will take on Duke.