Hubert Davis says Jaydon Young jumpstarted UNC in win over USC Upstate

Favored by nearly 30 points on Saturday, the North Carolina Tar Heels faced a solid challenge in their return to the basketball court.

UNC welcomed USC Upstate, a team that won just six games last season, to the Dean Dome for a 2 p.m. tip-off. North Carolina appeared to pull away early, starting its afternoon on a 7-0 run, only for the visiting Spartans to come roaring back and take a 3-point lead.

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Shortly after Tyler Smith’s trifecta, Henri Veesaar brought the Tar Heels within one. With just under seven minutes left in first-half action, Jaydon Young drained a 3-pointer that gave UNC a 23-21 lead it never relinquished, en route to an 80-61 victory.

Young’s basket was his only points in 7:20 of game time, but it proved to be a clutch make that jumpstarted North Carolina’s (9-1) offense. After the win, head coach Hubert Davis highlighted Young’s importance in the game, while also praising his entire bench for its impactful effort.

“That was a key moment,” Davis said. “Jaydon has been practicing well and him getting into the game, being able to knock down that shot, I thought he was good defensively. I could point to everybody coming off the bench, I just felt like they made at least one play. JB (James Brown) dove on the floor, I was animated there, because that was hustle. It might not show up on Instagram stories, but I thought it was the biggest play of the game, because someone dove on the floor. But I thought Jaydon, that three was huge for us, it got us going. Derek (Dixon), JB, we talked about Jonathan and Zayden off the bench. I thought their energy and effort and enthusiasm was good for us today.”

Young, a Virginia Tech transfer, averages just 4.3 minutes per game. When Young was called on Saturday, he delivered – and proved all a team needs is one bucket to start clicking.

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Publish date : 2025-12-14 15:26:00

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