National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Connecticut 87, North Carolina 76
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Officials: # John Gaffney, # Kipp Kissinger, # Ron Groover
Attendance: 17873

Cam Spencer scored 23 points and No. 5 Connecticut used some hot shooting to defeat No. 9 North Carolina 87-76 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic in New York.

Alex Karaban posted 18 points and nine rebounds, Tristen Newton racked up 14 points, and Solomon Ball had 13 points for UConn (8-1), which shot 51.5 percent.

RJ Davis scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half for North Carolina (7-2), which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Davis has scored 20 or more points in six games this season.

Harrison Ingram added 20 points and Armando Bacot, who shot 4-for-12, supplied 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Tar Heels.

The Huskies, who were coming off a loss Friday night in a showdown at Kansas, were relentless at times on the boards, securing 11 offensive rebounds.

North Carolina, which has topped nationally ranked foes Arkansas and Tennessee since late November, ended up 7-for-20 on 3-pointers, including a 0-for-6 line for Cormac Ryan. Unlike in Saturday's big second-half comeback against Florida State, the Tar Heels weren't able to create enough havoc with full-court pressure to stem Connecticut's effort.

The Huskies made their first four 3-point attempts in the second half to build a 13-point lead and then withstood a few North Carolina rallies. Ball had two of UConn's first four 3-pointers in the half as the Huskies outscored the Tar Heels 16-8 in the first five minutes.

UConn regrouped after North Carolina closed within 69-63. The Huskies stretched their lead to 75-63 as the Tar Heels were in a 1-for-11 stretch.

Then within nine, North Carolina had back-to-back turnovers to thwart any major shift in momentum.

The Huskies overcame some moderate foul trouble in the first half.

UConn, which was playing North Carolina for the first time since 2005, was up by 10 points, but the Tar Heels made six of their last eight shots to pull within 44-39 at the break.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
North Carolina   Connecticut
RJ Davis 26 Scoring Cam Spencer 23
Armando Bacot 5 Assists Cam Spencer 6
Armando Bacot 13 Rebounds Alex Karaban 9
RJ Davis 6 Free Throws Made Cam Spencer 4
Elliot Cadeau 1 Steals Alex Karaban 2
Armando Bacot 1 Blocks Donovan Clingan 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
North Carolina 76 44.4 7-20 13-22 18 29 1 3 7
Connecticut 87 51.5 10-31 9-16 25 39 4 5 8