University of North Carolina Athletics

1. Incredible comeback by Carolina, which rallied from a deficit of 18 at halftime and 21 in the second half to beat Dayton 92-90. The increase represents the second-largest comeback in school history.

2. The Tar Heels scored a whopping 59 points in the second half, and RJ Davis finished with 30. The senior scored nine of Carolina’s 14 points down the stretch and shot four of four from the finish line in the final 14.2 seconds.

3. But it wasn’t just Davis. Seth Trimble scored a career-high 27 and also had 10 rebounds, Drake Powell played some great minutes in the second half and Jalen Washington recovered from some early trouble, made a couple of big late baskets – and fouled Zed Key, who had been tormenting the Heels in the paint. As with any comeback like this, it’s not just one player.

4. The Heels handled the end of the game well. They trailed by four points after another Dayton three-pointer with 2:44 left (the Flyers were 7-for-14 from three in the second half), but worked their way back with a big Davis three-pointer followed by a Powell three-pointer , back and then let Davis bring it home at the foul line. A late referee’s review of a Dayton corner three-pointer (the good news is that Nate Santos was still able to cheer as if it had been a three-pointer and the UNC bench barked at it even though it was a two-pointer) changed the final seconds and made it possible Carolina, playing from the front instead of tied up.

5. Great break from Hubert Davis With 14 minutes left, it was just a “let them think about it” move with Dayton leading by 14. Classic Dean Smith play, and it worked.

6. The comeback was made possible by a poor first half in which Dayton completely dominated and took a 51:33 lead at halftime. Nothing was going right for Carolina in this phase, from turnovers (the Heels had twelve turnovers in the first half alone and the Flyers converted them into 19 points) to foul problems (RJ Davis (he sat on whistles for an extended period with two fouls in the first 20 minutes) until the Dayton bench caught fire, posting a 28-4 advantage in bench points.

7. This first half was further proof that the Tar Heels are doing what Cadeau is doing. It was a completely uncharacteristic 19 minutes of action for the sophomore during this period, as he committed six turnovers, was whistled for a few offensive fouls, handed out just two assists and only made one of his two field goal attempts. Cadeau was by far the team’s +/- leader this season, sitting at an astounding -20 in the first half.

8. Both Cadeau and the Tar Heels maintained control in the second half. UNC had just three turnovers in the final 20 minutes and Cadeau had zero.

8. Credit to Dayton for doing a great job stopping the Tar Heel transition game for most of the game. Part of that defense was shooting, as the Flyers broke a season trend by getting hot from the three-point line (they shot 7 of 18 from beyond the arc in the first half). But another big part of this was Anthony Grant’s team fully committing to getting back on defense and forcing the Heels to do something other than run to the rim. The Heels ended up scoring 15 fast break points, compared to a current average of about 20 per game.

9. Remember that the advancement of new students is not always linear. Ian Jackson showed good signs Friday night in Honolulu, but Dayton’s more experienced guards took advantage of him defensively in the first half on Monday.

10. The win helps the Tar Heels trim down an impressively small roster. In the history of the sport, there have only been nine schools with at least three games in the series against the Tar Heels that had a winning record against Carolina. Dayton was one of them, but that series is now 2-2 after Monday’s win, so take the Flyers out of the standings. That leaves just eight: Army, Georgetown, George Washington, Indiana, Iowa, NYU, Texas and West Virginia.

11. Carolina is now 36-5 at Hawaii State. The Tar Heels now have a 23-4 record in all Maui Invitational games, including winning four previous tournaments.

12. Carolina now takes on Auburn, a team that looked very impressive when it came back to beat Iowa State on Monday night. The emotional Tigers are deep and talented; This match takes place on Tuesday night at 11 p.m. Eastern Time and pits two teams that both need to get back to their best after a big comeback on Monday.