Behind 61 first-half points, No. 17 North Carolina beat No. 10 Tennessee 100-92 in Chapel Hill on Wednesday.
Four Tar Heels scored more than 15 points, including R.J. Davis who led the team with 27 points, and Armando Bacot, who notched 22 points and 11 rebounds.
100 points is by far the most surrendered by Tennessee this season, which entered Wednesday ranked in the top 25 for scoring defense. The 61 points in the first half were the most in the nine years that Rick Barnes has coached the Vols.
Elliot Cadeau with 6 first half assists 😤
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball)
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North Carolina has now scored 80 or more points in all but one game this year.
Perhaps the best sign of the night for North Carolina's offense was the re-emergence of Armando Bacot. Bacot scored just 27 points across three games at last week's Battle For Atlantis, but seemed to find his scoring touch, shooting 6-8 from the field and 10-13 from the free throw line.
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Tennessee cut the Tar Heel lead as small as six points late in the second half, but North Carolina made its last eight free throws to seal the top-10 win over the Vols.
UNC meets Florida State for its first game of ACC play on Saturday, while Tennessee will have nearly a week off before welcoming George Mason to Knoxville next Tuesday night.
Arkansas outlasts No. 7 Duke
In the night one nightcap of the inaugural ACC/SEC challenge, Arkansas survived a late Blue Devil rally, and beat No. 7 Duke 80-75 in front of a wild crowd at Bud Walton Arena.
TREVON MY FRIEND BRAZILE
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball 🐗 (@RazorbackMBB)
Arkansas won despite playing without its leading scorer. Guard Tramon Mark was injured in the Razorbacks' last game against North Carolina. The Hogs made up for the loss with excellent team offense, recording 17 assists on 26 made baskets.
Duke struggled offensively for a large portion of the second half, which stuck the Blue Devils to a 14-point deficit with less than seven minutes remaining. Kyle Filipowski and Jeremy Roach were the only two Duke players to score more than seven points. Filipowski and Roach had 26 and 22 respectively.
SCOREBOARD: See other ACC/SEC Challenge scores and other matchups across the country
After day one of the ACC/SEC Challenge, the ACC holds a narrow 5-3 lead.
