It was the Cole Anthony show during No. 9 North Carolina's season-opener against Notre Dame. The highly-touted freshman's 34 points, 11 rebounds and five assists led the Tar Heels to a 76-65 victory over the Irish.
Anthony's performance not only set a new North Carolina record for the most points scored by a freshman in his college basketball debut, but it also set a new ACC record. He is the only freshman to put up a 30-point, 10-rebound and five-assist stat line in a debut in the past two decades, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Cole Anthony lived up to the hype in his college debut! 🔥
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) November 7, 2019
He finished with 34 PTS, 11 REB & 5 AST in the @UNC_Basketball victory!pic.twitter.com/icEHI3gUgs
The player who previously held the North Carolina opening game scoring record was Rashad McCants. He scored 28 points in a game against Penn State during the 2002-03 season.
Although Carolina came away with a key ACC victory, it took a spark led by Anthony to really get them going in the second half. The Irish, who were led by sophomore guard Prentiss Hubb (22 points, six assists), had a 37-32 lead at about the 18-minute mark in the second half. That's when Anthony started to shine. He cranked out seven straight points and ended up scoring 15 points during UNC's 29-13 second-half run that put the Tar Heels in the driver's seat.
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Along with McCants, Anthony joins another Carolina star. This was the first game a Tar Heel freshman has posted 30-plus points and 10-plus rebounds since Carolina legend Tyler Hansbrough, who scored 40 points and racked up 10 rebounds against Georgia Tech in 2006.
📽️: Notre Dame ✔️ Next Up ➡️ UNC Wilmington pic.twitter.com/EUHw1Z47F3
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) November 7, 2019
Anthony, who is the son of UNLV legend and former NBA guard Greg Anthony, shot 12-of-24 from the field and 6-of-11 from behind the arc on Wednesday.
Carolina travels across the state to face UNC Wilmington next, and Roy Williams has to feel good about his star fresman's debut. A team who lost its core in Coby White, Nassir Little and Luke Maye last year, will be looking to continue its fresh start in the second game of the season.
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UNC-UNC Wilmington will take place at 7 p.m. ET on Friday Nov. 8 and will be available to watch on FloSports. Notre Dame will host Robert Morris at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 9 on ACC Network Extra.
