Just cannot expect Love and Davis to carry the team with hopes that Washington can have a repeat game and that Black can maybe get 10 points as well but even if all of those things happen someone else needs to show and be willing to take some shots.

Yes I know Trimble and Johnson have been choices to start since Nance went down but let’s be fair and honest here neither one of them have looked to score. Yes they can definitely help the team with their defense but with 2 starters out which means 30 points a scorer who is not scared to shoot is more important than a defensive standout..:

McCoy can still come in for Washington, Johnson for Nickel and Styles can give Black a short rest. Dunn and Trimble can come in for Love and Davis when needed…

Nickel for the brief time he has been playing always has his head up and is ready to shoot. Yes like Washington he looks completely lost when trying to play defense but in this case I would take his possible offense to help relieve the scoring load on Davis and Love…

I realize expierence players normally are the first to come off the bench and that is why McKoy, Johnson, Dunn and Trimble come in especially now with the two bigs out first but in my eyes this may be a game that Nickel could and should stand out….

You may agree or disagree but sometimes a hunch just might be the right move. Washington proved that the other night against Virginia….

Seeing reports that Garrett Riley is headed to Clemson as OC.

Just watching College Game Day and the short segment about the Heels. None of the “experts” seem to be concerned about the Heels so far. Bilas even said that “Carolina is a top 10 team by the end of the regular season IF they are healthy”.

Thoughts?

Seeing that Warren is leaving the B10 for the Bears. And I noticed in the ESPN article that Phillips will be considered a favorite to replace him. What do you guys think? Will Phillips jump to the B10? Will it hurt the ACC if he does? Who would replace Phillips?

Maybe AJ and the crew has some thoughts.



GO HEELS!!

I am here at the KFC Yum! Center. I will give updates on Armando and Pete as soon as I have them.

Regardless, Caleb needs to get on track. If not, and they don't have Pete and Armando, this is a very dangerous game for the Tar Heels.

CAROLINA 80, LOUISVILLE 59
JANUARY 14, 2023
KFC YUM! CENTER, LOUISVILLE, KY.

UNC Scoring Leader: Armando Bacot, D’Marco Dunn 14
UNC Rebound Leader: Bacot 16
UNC Assist Leader: RJ Davis 5
Team Records: UNC 12-6, 4-3 ACC; Louisville 2-16, 0-7 ACC

• The 21-point win is Carolina’s largest at Louisville (previous was a 93-76 win on 2/17/2018).
• Carolina won on the road for the first time this year (also beat Portland in Portland, Ore., on Thanksgiving in a game that was officially listed as an away game) and snapped a four-game road losing streak,
• Armando Bacot, who played 1:18 and had no points and two rebounds at Virginia on January 7, started today, played 24:42 (limited mostly due to early second-half foul trouble) and tied for the team lead in scoring with 14 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.
• Other than the game at Virginia, this was Bacot’s least amount of playing time this season (24:42).

• Bacot had 11 points and 10 rebounds in just the first half to post his 10th double-double of the season and the 59th of his career, one from tying Naismith Hall of Famer Billy Cunningham for the all-time UNC record (60).
• It was Bacot’s 20th career game with 15 or more rebounds and 66th with 10 or more (extending his school record).
• Bacot scored his 10th and 11th points on an offensive rebound (his 10th rebound) and tip-in with 6:46 to play in the first half.
• Bacot has 1,187 career rebounds. Tyler Hansbrough is the only Tar Heel with more (1,219).

• Bacot tied Duke’s Shelden Williams (2003-06) for ninth place in ACC history with 59 double-doubles.
• Bacot entered the game leading the ACC in offensive rebounds at 4.4 per game and had four offensive boards today.
• Sophomore D’Marco Dunn shared UNC scoring honors with Bacot with a career-best 14 points.
• Dunn scored in double figures for the first time in his career (previous high was seven vs. Notre Dame on January 7).

• Dunn set career highs today in minutes (25:56), points, field goals (5), three-pointers (2), offensive rebounds (2), rebounds (5), steals (2) and plus/minus (+25) and tied his career highs in free throws (2), assists (1), turnovers (1) and blocks (1).
• Dunn was a plus 18 in the first half and led all players in the game with a plus 25.
• Puff Johnson scored a season-high 12 points, his third game this season in double figures.
• Johnson matched his career highs in three-pointers (2) and rebounds (6).

• RJ Davis had a game-high five assists. The five matched his season high (for the sixth time).
• UNC is 6-0 this season and 18-1 over the last three seasons when Davis has five or more assists.
• Davis committed only one turnover. The Tar Heels are 10-2 this season when he has more assists than turnovers.
• Caleb Love made a career-high five steals.

• Love did not make a three-pointer (0x7), ending his UNC-record streak at 45 consecutive games with a made three-pointer.
• Love scored 10 points and has 1,219 in his career, tying James Worthy for 60th in UNC history. Love passed Sean May (1,213).
• Leaky Black had three assists and three steals. UNC is 4-1 this year and 39-11 in his career when he has three or more assists.
• This was the fifth straight game Black made multiple steals. He has three, three, two, three and three for a total of 14 in the last five games and leads UNC this season with 27 steals.

• Carolina made 11 steals (season-high 12 in the four-overtime game vs. Alabama).
• Both teams turned the ball over 14 times. Carolina converted those turnovers into 23 points, while the Cards scored eight points off UNC miscues. UNC is 7-1 this season when it scores more points off turnovers than its opponent.
• Carolina had a season-best 17-2 edge in fastbreak points (previous best was 17-3 vs. Georgia Tech).
• Carolina’s bench out-scored Louisville, 26-10, the fifth time in 18 games this season UNC’s non-starters out-scored the opponents bench. UNC is 3-2 in those games with wins over The Citadel, Notre Dame and Louisville.
• Puff Johnson started in place of Pete Nance, who missed his third straight game (and almost all of the Wake Forest game) due to a strained back.

• Johnson made his second career start.
• The lineup of Davis-Love-Black-Johnson-Bacot started for the first time.
• Dontrez Styles played five of his eight minutes today late in the first half and was a plus 8 in helping the Tar Heels take an 11-point lead at the half.
• The Tar Heels made 19 of 23 free throws (82.6%), their third-highest percentage of the season.

• UNC held Louisville to 37.0% from the floor, lowest by an opponent since James Madison on November 20.
• The Cardinals made one three-pointer (in 14 attempts), the fewest vs. the Tar Heels this season (previous low was three by Indiana).
• UNC held Louisville to 59 points, which matched (59 by Georgia Tech the fewest by an opponent since UNCW’s 56 in the season opener.

Series vs. Louisville
• Carolina has won four in a row and six of the last seven vs. Louisville.
• The Tar Heels are 19-7 all-time vs. Louisville (10-4 since the Cards joined the ACC).
• Carolina is now 4-3 in the KFC Yum! Center and 4-5 vs. Louisville on the road.

Next Game: Tuesday, January 17 vs. Boston College, 7 p.m. (RSN)

As great as it was to see Bacot play hurt and register yet another double double I was also impressed with Puff not being hesitant to shoot the rock. In the first half he launched four from downtown without any success but that did not stop 🛑 him from shooting more balls 🏀 in the second half as he bombed two from downtown within a minute to basically put the final nail in the Cardinal coffin ⚰️ . I have not seen the official stats but I think he finished with 12 points and a handful of rebounds. This outing will put other opponents on notice that Carolina has more options offensively than just the starting guards and Bacot…

...and this might be the quickest yet.

It's hard to believe we had in our hands the chance to steal a game in Charlottesville with Mando going down, but we DID. Indeed, even with that... and even with an "all-star" officiating crew SUCKING BALLS almost entirely in UVA's favor, we nonetheless had that chance, and we f***ing blew it.

- Even with the zebras stepping in before the half to help UVA close strong. the fault was with our staff. Specifically, who in the actual f*** on the bench thought it eas a good idea in the second half to switch Leaky onto their 5'8 PG??? I don't GAS what might have happened last year, THAT was the fatal mistake --- creating negative mismatches for us in at least 2 other positions --- that let them take control of the game for the first time, and we never recovered. Just unf***ing real,

- I mean, Clark had not hurt us one iota, and we even defended his curl-and-lob action. So WHY??? Go back and rewatch --- that's where things went south, SMDH.

- Other than that, kudos to Washington for giving us glimpses of his future, but it's unfair to expect him to play those extended minutes without fatigue. And yes, he made some freshman defensive mistakes. Honestly, and some won't like this, the general handling of personnel was inconsistent. The lineup we started with is just offensively challenged and shouldn't be repeated. We took control in the first half with Dunn playing the small 3. And I'm not sure why Puff disapperaed in the second half.

- I also remain flummoxed as to why we would run weave action at the top vs their hard hedges, especially since few get called. --- it plays right into their hands. Tony's teams are always gonna get back on D, so we need to be extra efficient in movement once we're out of transition.

Anyway, unfortunately it took some hero-ball by Caleb and RJ to even keep us in it after we allowed the gates to open with the unfortunate defensive switch. Writing any more will just make my head hurt, So... time to move on. Get well soon, Mando...

😮