North Carolina’s frontcourt repels St. Bonaventure challenge at Fort Myers Tip-Off
After the first half was over between No. 18 North Carolina and unranked St. Bonaventure in the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament, a major upset seemed like a real possibility.
St. Bonaventure, a small school tucked away in rural western New York, was facing one of college basketball’s Goliath programs and meeting them punch for punch with only two points separating the teams at the half.
The Bonnies had withstood an opening 15-5 onslaught from the Tar Heels, who couldn’t miss anything in sight to start the game. North Carolina’s heralded freshman Caleb Wilson was showing off his much-hyped moves and driving to the basket and hitting fadeaway jumpers.
UNC’s Luka Bogavac hit his second three-pointer in the opening salvo to send North Carolina coach Hubert Davis, who had a long NBA career as a mild-mannered shooting guard known for his three-point-shooting proficiency, rolling up and down the sideline yelling out to his team to “keep it up.”
Right on cue, the Bonnies responded and started hitting their own shots before North Carolina opened up the game again with a 21-10 lead.
Amid a sea of North Carolina blue in a packed Suncoast Credit Union Arena with most of the crowd pulling for the Tar Heels and in anticipation of every Wilson drive to the hoop, the Bonnies started stopping his shots, blocking them and turning North Carolina over.
Everyone had come for the Caleb Wilson show but a different big man was turning this night into his own show.
Frank Mitchell, a 6’8, 270-pound St. Bonaventure forward who could easily alternate as a punishing linebacker, was hustling and muscling his way to the hoop. He was picking up steals and outboxing North Carolina for offensive rebounds. He was unstoppable. On one play, he ran down a loose ball from further away than two North Carolina players who were closer to the ball.
All the sudden the story was becoming about who was this giant wrecking ball who transferred to this small upstate New York school from the University of Minnesota via Canisius via Toronto?
Mitchell went 9 of 18 from the field for 18 points and despite making all of his moves, deep inside the paint, was almost impossibly never given a foul shot.
And who was the 5’11 guard next to him hitting all these shots? Darryl Simmons II, a transfer from Gardner-Webb, was the guy hitting shots over UNC guards from all over Lee County. He went 9 of 16 from the field and four of six from three-point land. Simmons also did all of his damage without the benefit of a single free throw.
At halftime, UNC was clinging to a 35-33 lead.
Unfortunately for St. Bonaventure and their upset hopes, they could not maintain that momentum into the second half.
North Carolina raced off to a quick start in the second half, opening up a lead early.
Soon, the show was taken over by another big man. Henri Veesaar, a 7-footer from Estonia, started getting rebounds and making easy baskets at will. Veesaar had been blocked earlier in the game but in the second half started bullying his way to the basket, getting position in the paint more easily and wearing down the St. Bonaventure defense. The layups became easier for him as St. Bonaventure lacked an answer late to stop him. He even hit a three-pointer of his own as he waltzed to a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds, picking up a couple steals along the way.
Wilson picked up his own double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Even when St. Bonaventure stopped him, he seemed able to make a second attempt with his shots and get to the foul line. Every time St. Bonaventure made a run in the second half, North Carolina had an answer. Kyan Evans connected on three of his four three-point shots to put away any of the hopes for the Bonnies to make a comeback in the second half.
North Carolina devastated St. Bonaventure from the foul line, hitting 21 of their 27 free throws. St. Bonaventure hit five of their eight free throws. The free throw advantage alone covered the difference in the score.
To be sure, the game was physical on both ends. Both teams initiated contact seemingly on every play. Bonaventure’s defense had five blocks in the game and their big men were most effective in the first half.
In the second half, Veesaar said North Carolina made a change and started initiating the contact.
“I felt like they are a scrappy team,” Veesaar said. “We had a little slump where they were getting offensive rebounds,” Veesaar said. “We started hitting first.”
Veesaar called Mitchell “a great player. He’s good at rebounding the ball. I feel like he got into a great position. I tried to box him out. I got into a great position too which helped me get the rebounds,” he said.
Davis said he felt his players “handled the physicality much better in the second half” from St. Bonaventure. Davis said the difference in the second half was taking better care of the basketball. North Carolina had 13 turnovers in the game, but only two in the second half.
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt, who turned the St. Bonaventure basketball program around since taking over in 2007, said he was “really proud of our guys.” Schmidt said the team “dealt with adversity” after being down by as much as 11 in the first half before.
Schmidt said it was tough to guard Veesaar and Wilson. “It’s tough to guard those guys,” he said. “Those two guys are pros.”
Schmidt said the team played to win and he wasn’t looking for any moral victories. “We weren’t here for a moral victory, we are here to win, It’s disappointing to come up short. This is the first time we lost,” he said.
Schmidt said the team fouled too much and had a hard time getting past screens. “We hung in there.”
Both Mitchell and Simmons were two of the 11 new players on St. Bonaventure this year in the era of transfer portals, international and NIL money turning college basketball into free agency on steroids. Schmidt called Mitchell and Simmons “leaders.”
All five of North Carolina’s starters were new to the team this year. Only two of the players who hit the floor for North Carolina in the game were on the team last year.
Schmidt said he thinks the experience will be a “positive” for his team going forward, to build on. “It’s something we can grow on,” he said. “Give credit to North Carolina. It’s not like we lost to some has-been. They are a really good team.”
North Carolina will play Michigan State on Thanksgiving Day for the Fort Myers Tip-Off finale. St. Bonaventure will play East Carolina on Thursday.