Moments That Popped: No. 25 North Carolina 87, No. 19 Kansas 74

It was the first ever game in Chapel Hill between storied college basketball programs Kansas and North Carolina — two blue bloods, two teams ranked in the Top 25, two teams who factor into the history of college basketball as much as any others out there.

And thanks to a couple of true freshman and all kinds of energy, the blueblood battle did not disappoint, with the home team snapping a 5-game losing streak to Kansas to prevail 87-74.

Kansas (1-1) led for 17:08 of the first half, controlling the tempo and tone of the game on both ends.

The Jayhawks gave up the lead momentarily, when UNC ripped off a 10-2 run with Peterson on the bench in foul trouble, but KU responded with a 13-0 run to reclaim the lead and control of the game.

The Jayhawks led 37-29 at halftime, thanks in large part to four 3-pointers by Bryson Tiller.

The 2^nd half was a completely different story and all Carolina.

Behind 78.3% shooting by the home team during the first 12 minutes of the 2^nd half, Carolina (2-0) built a lead of as large as 15 points en route to the runaway win.

Stud-freshman Darryn Peterson led KU with 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including a 3-of-5 mark from 3-point range. UNC's freshman phenom, Caleb Wilson, led the Heels with 24 points on an equally efficient 9-of-12 shooting night.

KU will return to action next Tuesday night when Texas A&M - Corpus Christi comes to Allen Fieldhouse for a 7 p.m. tipoff on ESPN+.

Here’s a look back at some of the highlights and lowlights from Friday night’s battle in Chapel Hill.

LIKES

• DP ready for the challenge – A lot of the talk leading up to Friday night was that Carolina’s Seth Trimble would be the best defender Peterson sees all season. Houston probably has a player or two who would say something about that, but, nonetheless, Trimble presented a serious challenge for the KU freshman. And while Trimble made it hard on him early and often — bumping him, crowding him, being handsy with him and more — Peterson didn’t flinch and just kept attacking Trimble whenever and wherever he could. Peterson had 7 points on 3-of-4 shooting in the game’s first 6 minutes alone and looked like he was both ready and excited for the tough test that Trimble presented.

• Tiller for 3 – We’ll be talking all season about whether KU freshman Bryson Tiller should do more with his 6-11, 240 size or continue to play where he’s most comfortable — on the perimeter. If he can shoot like he shot in the first half of this one, I’d imagine Self will be mostly OK with him playing wherever he wants. Tiller was red-hot in the first half, knocking in four 3-pointers to help Kansas maintain control and to help KU find some consistent scoring outside of Peterson. Tiller’s positive impact was limited to the first half, though. He played just four minutes in the 2^nd half while committing 3 fouls and fouling out.

• No sign of cramps – It was one of the biggest questions of the week and it didn’t come up as an issue of any kind during Friday’s game. After being limited by cramps in two of KU’s first few games (exhibitions and regular season) and missing one altogether, Peterson played 28 minutes in this one and was out there late in the second half still fighting to get KU back into the game until taking a seat for the final couple minutes. It didn’t happen, of course, and it was a rough night overall for the Jayhawks. But if you’re looking for a silver lining, this was definitely it.

DISLIKES

• DP’s early foul trouble – After picking up his first foul on an offensive charge, Peterson was whistled for foul No. 2 at the 9:25 mark of the first half, which, after a brief rest that came before it, sent him back to the bench for the next 2:29 of game clock. You don’t have to read this here to know that KU is a drastically different team with Peterson on the bench. And his absence allowed Carolina to get back into the game, even taking their first lead at one point. In case his value to this team wasn’t already obvious, this really underscored how much Kansas needs to have him on the floor. Peterson played 5+ minutes the rest of the half without picking up No. 3. There was a moment early in the 2^nd half, when Carolina was pushing in transition and Peterson was back to challenge. But he shied away from the contact, perhaps to avoid that 3^rd foul, and UNC finished the layup. The guy knows how valuable he is. But he’s also a good enough defender that KU needs him to be able to unleash himself on that end, too. Early foul trouble hampers that.

• 2^nd half start – UNC opened the second half down by 8 and reeling a little bit. But the Tar Heels ripped off a 10-2 run that extended to 13-4 to reclaim the lead and bring the building back into it. There were a number of areas where UNC hurt Kansas in the first few minutes of the second half, but by far the biggest was in transition. KU’s transition D was pretty good in the first half. But it was nearly non-existant in the early going of the final 20 minutes. Good learning experience for this new/young Kansas team. They’re going to see plenty more games/environments like this and experiencing it on Friday night will serve them well down the road.

• Caleb Wilson’s new poster – It came after the first UNC shot of the night and it was arguably the biggest highlight of the evening, too. After a deep 3 missed, Wilson went up and got it like there was no one anywhere around him. Rather than blocking out, KU big man Flory Bidunga jumped for the board but the ball bounced high off the rim and left Flory hanging. Wilson went right over the top of him to flush it with power, giving the home crowd a little extra to get juiced about in the game’s early going.

• Carolina on the offensive glass – Speaking of Wilson’s put-back dunk, that play was merely a sign of things to come in this one, as an early concern for Kansas showed up once again on Friday night. The Tar Heels finished the game with 16 offensive rebounds and an offensive rebound percentage of 50% (how many misses they got back divided by opportunities – 16 of 32). Five of those offensive boards came in the game’s first 7 or so minutes — 10 in the first half — as the Tar Heels shot just 36% during that stretch but offset some of those shooting woes by getting on the offensive glass. This stat was indicative of the way the Tar Heels seemed to outwork Kansas in a few different areas throughout the night. Loose balls. Defensively. Diving on the floor. Etc.

WHAT THE?

• Talk about flipping a switch – North Carolina played fairly slow to KU’s liking in the first half, mostly thanks to the Jayhawks’ commitment to keeping the Heels out of transition. But that disappeared in a hurry, when UNC ripped off a 29-9 run in the first 8 minutes of the second half to take complete control of this one. KU looked as slow-footed and helpless in transition during that run as they looked good throughout the game’s first 20 minutes. The Tar Heels got whatever they wanted off of that transition, too. Points out the rim. Kick-outs for open 3s. And sometimes both on the same possession. Once it got going, KU looked powerless to stop it and the energy the Tar Heels got from the juice they injected into the building only helped that.  

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