ACC Hoops: Tarheels roll past Irish in ACC Tournament

March 12, 2025 

Charlotte- Jae’Lyn Withers scored 21 points all on 3-pointers and Ven-Allen Lubin had 17 points and 10 rebounds in North Carolina’s 76-56 rout of Notre Dame on Wednesday, the second day of the ACC Tournament. 

North Carolina made nine of 17 3-pointers in the first half, with Jae’Lyn Withers making five of six. His first three 3-pointers, all in row, helped the Tar Heels build a 17-5 lead in the opening five minutes. Later, he made two more in a 12-0 run that gave the Tar Heels a 37-17 lead. North Carolina led 43-29 at halftime. 

Five players scored for the Tar Heels in the first 7 1/2 minutes of the second half as they extended their lead to 58-38. The largest lead was 24 points on two occasions, the second time when Withers made his career-high seventh 3-pointer in 10 attempts. 

RJ Davis added 13 points, Elliot Cadeau got 10 assists and Withers grabbed nine rebounds for North Carolina (21-12). The Tar Heels shot 48% and made 13 of 28 3-pointers. 

For the Irish, Markus Burton was held to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting plus 5 of 7 from the free-throw line for Notre Dame (15-18). 

The Tar Heel defense might’ve been the day’s deciding factor. After edging Pitt, 55-54, on Tuesday, Notre Dame shot only 29.4 percent in the first half and 32.3 percent in the game. Carolina limited the Fighting Irish to 56 points and has won 26 consecutive games when holding opponents under 60. UNC has won 14 in a row when holding opponents under 40 percent from the floor. The Tar Heels improved to 21-12 with the victory, their fifth in a row over the Fighting Irish, while Notre Dame fell to 15-18. UNC is playing its best basketball of the season and has won seven of its last eight games.  Carolina built a big, first-half lead by hitting 9 of 17 three-pointers (52.9 percent) in the opening 20 minutes, dishing out 10 assists on 14 baskets. Its defense limited the Fighting Irish to 35.7 percent shooting after halftime, never allowing Notre Dame to threaten in what became a blowout win. UNC is now 109-52 in its ACC Tournament history, including 3-1 against Notre Dame, 5-1 in the second round and 23-8 in

Charlotte. The Tar Heels are 168-28 all-time in the city of Charlotte, including 19-3 in the Spectrum Center. 

Coaching Comments from UNC Coach Hubert Davis: 

“Initially I thought we had really good spacing, a combination of ball and player movement, and one of the things that us as a group, as a team we’ve talked about is generating good threes and coming off of dribble drive, attacking the paint through post penetration, even offensive rebounding, That’s really helped our three-point shooting over the last month, month and a half, and especially today. I felt like not just J-Wit’s threes, everyone’s threes. They were good threes generated by good offense, unselfishness, and as a result I thought we shot a really good percentage.” 

The Tar Heels will play No. 4 seed Wake Forest on Thursday.