Sports
Zayden High the unsung hero in UNC basketball's win vs. Oklahoma – The Fayetteville Observer
CHARLOTTE – It didn’t stand out on the stat sheet and it won’t be featured on ESPN’s highlight reel.
But freshman Zayden High played a key role in helping UNC basketball earn its second wire-to-wire victory against a top-10 opponent.
Lost in the shuffle of another stellar performance from senior guard RJ Davis – who scored 23 points with five assists, three steals and no turnovers – and a bounce-back effort from fellow veteran Armando Bacot (who had 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocks) was the showing of High at the Spectrum Center on Wednesday.
With Harrison Ingram dealing with foul trouble, Davis gave the 6-foot-9, 225-pound High an opportunity to step in with some key second-half minutes. The Rockwell, Texas, native played just over 12 minutes, finishing with three rebounds and two fouls.
High played 11 total minutes across the previous seven games.
“Did you see his energy? He competes and I love it. When you see that type of passion – and that will and that want-to – I tell ‘em, ‘I don’t know how you play absent of emotion.’ … If you’re doing something that you love, with teammates that you love, at a place that you love, I don’t know how you stay stoic,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said after the 11th-ranked Tar Heels earned an 81-69 win against No. 7 Oklahoma at the Jumpman Invitational.
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“His number was called and he stepped up. It won’t show up huge in the box score, but a huge determining factor in us winning this game was him. We got out-rebounded, but one of the things to help us rebounding, we gotta get bigger. Having him in there, I wish there was a stat of how many balls he kept alive or almost got. He always attacked the offensive glass. He just does exactly what I ask him to do and I was really proud of him.”
That energy and effort was infectious for the Tar Heels (8-3, 1-0 ACC) as they knocked off the previously-unbeaten Sooners (10-1) with a smothering defensive performance.
“I think the first half – and overall – defensively, that was our best effort of the season,” Davis said.
UNC entered the game averaging 5.5 steals and had seven at halftime against Oklahoma, finishing with 10. The Sooners committed a season-worst 18 turnovers, which the Tar Heels turned into 24 points.
“That’s something to build on,” Davis said. “The last two days of practice was some of our best defensive practices and it carried over in the game.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
