UNC Sails Past ETSU In Second Half, Earning Win No. 10

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The Tar Heels continued their winning ways on Tuesday, earning their 10th win of the season. North Carolina handled East Tennessee State, leaving the Smith Center with a 77-58 victory to advance to 10-1.

Henri Veesaar delivered a career-high 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds. He made 10 of his 11 shot attempts, including two of his three shots from 3-point range. Caleb Wilson contributed 20 points and eight rebounds.

Like plenty of its first halves this season, UNC took a while to create separation from its opponent early. The Tar Heels didn’t hold more than a four-point advantage over the Buccaneers for most of the half, and even trailed ETSU a few times.

North Carolina maximized on a two-for-one opportunity to create some momentum going into halftime. Veesaar knocked down a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on the left wing to put the Tar Heels ahead by six. Moments later, after a Jarin Stevenson block, Jaydon Young tossed the ball ahead to Jonathan Powell, who took a couple of dribbles before gathering the ball and netting a left-hand layup to put UNC ahead by eight.

UNC built on the late-half boost early in the second half, going on a 7-0 run (12-0 overlapping halftime) to push the lead to 15 and force a timeout from ETSU. The Tar Heels built on their distance from there, courtesy of a 15-0 second-half run, that maxed out the lead at 66-39.

North Carolina will head to Atlanta to face Ohio State on Saturday at 3 p.m. inside State Farm Arena for the CBS Sports Classic. Ohio State is 8-2 this season, and 1-1 in the Big Ten. Bruce Thornton, a four-year starter for the Buckeyes, leads the team with 21.8 points, 4.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game.