A week off might be a good tonic for North Carolina, in coach Hubert Davis’ opinion.
The Tar Heels will find out if it was time well spent when they return to action Saturday to face La Salle in Chapel Hill, N.C.
“It comes at the perfect time for us to heal so that we can play fast and free and play the best that we can play,” Davis said of the layoff since the team’s latest game on Dec. 7.
It’s a chance to reset the season for the Tar Heels, who met power conference opponents in each of their past four games and went 1-3 in that span.
North Carolina (5-4) will play a game without a national ranking for the first time this season after last week’s loss to then-No. 10 Alabama and victory against Georgia Tech.
“A win goes a long way for this group and us trying to find ourselves,” Davis said.
Three of the Tar Heels’ losses came to opponents (Auburn, Alabama, Kansas) rated in the current Top 10.
Seth Trimble, North Carolina’s second-leading scorer at 16 points per game, topped the team with 19 in the 68-65 decision against the Yellow Jackets. The Tar Heels’ top scorer, RJ Davis (18.1 ppg) added 16 points.
La Salle (6-4) has dropped back-to-back games to Northeastern and Saint Joseph’s.
Corey McKeithan is checking in at 18.8 points per game for La Salle, reflecting an increase of more than 10 points per outing from last season when he played for Rider. The graduate transfer guard also grabbed a career-high seven rebounds against Saint Joseph’s.
“They’ve allowed me to handle the ball and shoot the ball,” McKeithan said.
Another Explorers guard, freshman Deuce Jones, is the reigning Rookie of the Week in the Atlantic-10, played a season-high 33 minutes off the bench while scoring 19 points vs. the Hawks.
“His energy is off the charts,” La Salle coach Fran Dunphy said of Jones. “He needs a little bit more seasoning, a little bit more poise. I love having him on our team. He’s very, very competitive.”
The Tar Heels will try to start a new homecourt winning streak against nonconference opponents after a 19-game string was snapped by Alabama.
North Carolina leads the series with La Salle by 2-1, though the teams haven’t met since January 1988. In that contest, Lionel Simmons set a Smith Center scoring record for an opponent with 37 points. Dalton Knecht matched the mark for Tennessee on Nov. 29, 2023.
La Salle last beat an Atlantic Coast Conference team on Dec. 20, 1974, a 67-63 decision against Clemson.