30 minutes, ZERO fouls! Not a misprint.
Isaiah Hicks
- Thread starter 2DDIMOND
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Hicks seems to be thriving with Pinson back. Not sure if it is just coincidence or what but he has looked different since Theo's return.
no coincidence. theo has excellent ability to penetrate and take pressure off meeks and hicks and dish out assists. our offense in general flows better with theo in the game.
Great game by both big men. It was one of Kennedy's better games, IMO.
Kennedy and Isaiah were a combined 15 of 23 from the field last night. It's no coincidence that they've been more efficient since Theo's return. He's the best on the team at feeding the post. Mike kept saying this when Theo was out.
The strengths of our team are scoring points in the paint and rebounding. I warned before the game that we couldn't fall in love with the 3-pt shot, but needed to go inside early and often. We ended up taking too many treys(24) and only made 7 of them. But our inside game was efficient enough to offset that.
I think Tony's absence has actually made our team better. We needed Kennedy, and especially Isaiah, to step up and they have. Kennedy and Isaiah both played 30+ minutes(Kennedy's done that twice in the last 3 games), something we need them to be able to do. Now they have the confidence that they can do that, Kennedy from a stamina POV and Isaiah from a fouling POV. That bodes well for us. Now when Tony returns, we should be even better with the increased depth.
Yeah archer, I talked about a concern I had over the summer, I did not want to see us depend on Joel and Justin making those treys to much, I wanted and still do, for us to work thru our big men, what we do at UNC. There have been games this season, I felt we fell in love a bit to much with the 3 ball and ignored working it inside, last couple games we seem to have re-discovered the need to get our big men more involved, I would specifically point to Hicks but Meeks as well and even Luke at times. I think we are a better team when we look inside first and I much prefer more balance scoring so that when maybe Joel or Justin are not having their best shooting nights we can go to others to lead the way scoring.
I noted a few games back that Hicks had a string of games with his getting less than 10 shots, he is extremely efficient and has been all season, he just for a sting there was not getting enough shots. His being a rock from the free throw line, he is the big man I want to see either finish or get fouled and march to the line.
When you get 35pts from your starting big men like we did last night, it takes a ton of the pressure off of Joel and Justin, they can get cleaner looks and they are gonna hit 50% of their clean looks.
I agree on all counts, David.
We feature our bigs as much or more than any team in the country. One would think bigs would be chomping at the bit to come to UNC. I think I saw where we were #1 in the country in rebounds, and #1 in the ACC in rebounds as well as points in the paint. That's our bread and butter.
We feature our bigs as much or more than any team in the country. One would think bigs would be chomping at the bit to come to UNC. I think I saw where we were #1 in the country in rebounds, and #1 in the ACC in rebounds as well as points in the paint. That's our bread and butter.
Yeah arch, it is what we do at UNC, our big men get touches, they are not just rebounders that set screens, we work it inside for easy scores and our big men march to the line and make their free throws, pure Dean Smith stuff right there.
interesting point. we got bradley last year, a top thirty kid, but no highly recruited bigs the two years before and none this year. why aren't we getting top 20 big men at carolina anymore? are those guys so nba focused they're more comfortable at one-and-done type schools? i wonder if carolina with our top rated education, family like hoops program, and a great college town where people like to stay awhile is not the best nba pit stop.
I think top 20 bigs pretty much have a OAD mentality, moreso than guards. But I'm astounded that bigs ranked in the 20-70 range aren't lining up to play for Roy. Makes zero sense to me, Jimmy.
Been telling everyone for a while our Bigs would flourish with Theo back.
Completely agree. What we've done with bigs ranked in that range is second to none.
100% correct you were. His ability to pass through levels of the defense is uncanny. He's set up so many Hicks/Meeks layups in just the past two games.
Yep, Dean loved to score unguarded and with the clock not running....
I tend to agree with the Theo impact in that his passing has been fun to watch, I'd like Theo to explore a little hit the seam with a drive but I'll take, steals, rebounds and assists all game long. It is fun to watch Theo's direct to the rim delivery for Hicks, they seem to be able to hook that one up most any time.
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