Wooten: Even against his mom, he says, Sharpe would go hard all the time

CHAPEL HILL — No matter who defends him, Carolina’s Day’Ron Sharpe says, he’s going full blast.

“I pride myself on my motor,” the Greenville freshman said Saturday after a 66-65 victory over Notre Dame. “I play hard every possession, 24/7, in the backyard, against my momma — all the time.”

His 25 points and nine rebounds were the Tar Heels’ answer to a sterling afternoon from Notre Dame’s Nate Laszewski. The 6-foot-10 junior stepped behind the 3-point line for 7-of-11 shooting and 25 points.

“He’s a load around the basket,” Carolina head coach Roy Williams said of the wide-shouldered, 6-foot-10, 265-pound Sharpe. “I’m stunned he only had nine rebounds. I thought he had 15. He was a man in there.”

He needed to be. Carolina labored through 35 percent shooting from the floor and on 3-pointers. The Heels also had just 2 fast-break points — a rarity for a Roy Williams team and the lowest since having zero in the double-overtime game at Virginia Tech last year.

“The two biggest factors, we didn’t turn the ball over. And then, our job on the backboards and second-chance points for others,” Williams said. “I just threatened them on how much we were going to run if we kept turning the ball over.”

They only had eight.

“We’ve got to lose ourselves into the team,” Williams said.

Carolina avoided an 0-3 start in ACC play in part by limiting Laszewski to one shot in the final seven minutes, a miss, and grabbing 21 offensive rebounds to Notre Dame’s three — netting an 18-5 scoring edge. Carolina won the boards overall 48-27.

The winning points were from Black, a possession after his failure on the defensive end. He drove from between the wing and top of the key to a layup with 9.1 seconds left.

“The play broke down, I had the ball high, and saw the baseline,” Black said. “I felt I got fouled the time before, so I had it in my head to go hard.”

For Sharpe, that’s never an issue. Whether against Notre Dame in the ACC, or in the backyard against his family.

Saturday, he loaded the Tar Heels on his back the second half and carried them home.

“Every single day, his motor is on another level,” Black said. “He’s a big-time player.”