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When picking a player of the game for a given matchup, you don’t automatically have to go with the leading scorer. Sometimes, it’s worth choosing the best all-around stat line, or picking someone who impacted the game in a specific facet that allowed the team to win the game. On other occasions, you kinda have to just pick the leading scorer because their stats just overwhelm anything else.
UNC’s win over East Tennessee State falls into the latter category.
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In the 77-58 victory over the Buccaneers, Henri Veesaar led the way for the Tar Heels, going for 26 points and missing just one shot all night — 10-11 from the floor and 4-4 from the free throw line. He also chipped in eight rebounds, two assists, and a block.
The entire first half of the game was pretty close, with UNC getting some separation with a late first half run, and then turning it on to start the second. In a stretch that started with 2:15 left in the first half, and lasted until the 7:24 mark of the second, the Tar Heels increased their lead by 25 points. In that stretch, Veesaar scored 18 of his 26 points, which was basically half of what UNC scored during that run. The only thing that you could really denigrate about his night was that ETSU got a few too many offensive rebounds in the first half, which allowed them to stick around for a while. He and the rest of the team got that straightened out in the second, and it was pretty smooth sailing from there.
The other main contender is probably Veesaar’s frontcourt mate in Caleb Wilson, who went for 20 points and eight rebounds, just not quite as efficiently as Veesaar’s outing. Also, a shoutout to Kyan Evans. He’s had his struggles at points this season, but in this game, he hit a couple nice threes in the close first half, and also dished out six assists. As a team, UNC had 18 assists on 27 made field goals, and Evans was very good in that regard.
While ETSU could very well end up being a dangerous #12/#13 seed come NCAA Tournament…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/henri-veesaar-big-night-helps-160000117.html
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Publish date : 2025-12-17 16:00:00
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