Inserting Derek Dixon into the starting lineup has paid dividends for No. 16 North Carolina, which carries a three-game winning streak into its Atlantic Coast Conference matchup on Monday night with Syracuse in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Coach Hubert Davis elevated the freshman point guard after a 95-90 loss at Stanford on Jan. 17. In his four games as a starter, Dixon has delivered 41 points and 15 assists with just five turnovers. He also has made 10 of 21 (47.6%) from beyond the arc.
More impressive, however, are the numbers his teammates are putting up with Dixon at the helm. The latest example came Saturday during a 91-75 victory at Georgia Tech in which the Tar Heels (17-4, 5-3 ACC) never trailed.
Caleb Wilson delivered 22 points, six rebounds and five assists. Henri Veesaar added 20 points and 12 rebounds while Seth Trimble provided 18 points.
Trimble, who has endured an uneven season that included a six-week stint in street clothes with a broken arm, has been particularly effective with Dixon in the backcourt.
In the last two games, Trimble made 13 of 20 shots from the floor, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and did not commit a turnover.
Trimble has done a lot of his damage on aggressive drives to the hoop. It’s a welcome sight for Davis, who said on Saturday that Trimble was “hesitant” when he returned in late December.
“He’s our most powerful driver and finisher,” Davis said. “The last two to three games, he’s done that consistently and consistently well. That takes us to a different level.”
Also thriving in the Tar Heels backcourt is Luka Bogavac, who has scored 30 points in the last two games, making 6 of 12 shots from distance, without committing a turnover.
Syracuse (13-9, 4-5) has a quick turnaround after beating Notre Dame Saturday night at home, 86-72, behind a career-high 28 points from Nate Kingz.
J.J. Starling, who opened his career at Notre Dame, scored 21 points and Naithan George guided the offense with 10 assists and no turnovers.
It was a much-needed victory for the Orange, who had lost their previous four games and were staring at the prospect of their first five-game losing streak since 1962.
“This was our most complete game we’ve had in a long time,” Syracuse coach Adrian Autry said. “We played with toughness. We played together. Even when we made mistakes, we recovered.”
The Orange did it with an unusual lineup change as top scorer Donnie Freeman (18.2 points per game) came off the bench for the first time this year.
The oft-injured Freeman, who has played in 27 of Syracuse’s 55 games the last two seasons, was not hurt. It was a “strategic” move, Autry said, governed by “matchups.”
The coach added that he “wasn’t sure yet” whether Freeman would continue to come off the bench. Freeman wound up with season lows for minutes (22), field goal attempts (four) and points (seven) versus Notre Dame — the first time he failed to reach double figures this year.
The Orange have been better than their record suggests, with four of their five ACC losses coming by single digits.
