Quick stuff (Cuse game)...

[gary-7]

...and my head STILL hurts from watching that.

Look, I said going in that this is a much-improved Cuse team --- offensively, that is, but that Zone was there for the taking, at least when we had the gumption to do so.

OK.. stuff:

- I didn't like the Leaky on Girard matchup from the get-go because of the size differential and Girard's knack for getting lost amongst their phalanx of (mostly illegal) screens. In fairness to Leaky, his own teammates were letting THEMSELVES being used as screens. We did at least adjust that part in the second half, with our off-ball guys finally opening up to the angle.

- Speaking of illegal screens, IIRC they called exactly ONE -- which would put it at about 5%.

- Shoulda known we'd have a clunky FT night after the way we shot em Saturday .

- For you coaches out there, repeat after me: Yes, you CAN and SHOULD run on a Zone team, and Hubert was exhorting our guys to do just that, and when we did, it was successful. Unfortunately, if ya wanna run, ya hafta REBOUND, as we got our asses handed to us on the glass.

- Speaking of that, we were too often getting outscrapped for 50/50 balls, and as far as the "physical" stuff went, we sure as hell weren't getting any help from the striped shirts. On nights like this, you just hafta OWN the rebound, and on offense, take em thru the damn rim and FINISH!

- Speaking of that ---and I don't wanna single a guy out who led the scoring, but Pete --- c'mon man, you have the skills, but you just can't be that soft. At just over 3 minutes left, Pete FINALLY exploded off the lane flash entry for an easy layup. THAT WAS THERE ALL NIGHT. Hell, they weren't even guarding the "flash" guy!!! There was no need for fall-aways --- just take it to the rack or lean in for an easy tear-drop. You coulda easily had 30... and only 4 boards in 40 minutes?

- OK, sorry, but with our Zone-Offense we shouldn't have trailed in that game for even a second, especially with Caleb staking us to an early lead, and constant shot ops available.

- As for other positives, RJ is one tough little nut, one guy who will never get outscrapped. Mando had to fight thru an absolute pounding on offense, and yet more phantom calls against him on the other end. And I REALLY liked what Nickel brought to the table --- another guy who wouldn't let himself be outscrapped, along with some excellent passing in Zone-O.

Anyway, sorry for the frustration, and a win up there is never anythng to sneeze at, but we're SO close to putting things together more consistently, if we can just get out of our own way more often. Just gotta keep on pushin' to get where we can be. Let's hope the extra practice days are put to good use, because we owe the Capels an ass-whuppin' next week...

 

[FlaTarHeel]

1. Pete played ok but there were times in the 2nd half he had me screaming at the TV. Come on Pete, we need you big guy. 🥺

2. I wonder which UNC alum stole Debbie Antonelli "cookie".
Her anti-UNC bias tonight was right out of the DSPN play book.

3. Lee Cassell again.

 

[DaSheed]

Get RJ into that tank they put Luke Skywalker in immediately.

 

[gauchoheel]

I agree Nance wasn't very good all things considered, despite a flashy box score. Just too many missed opportunities setting the table on offense from the high post -- and too many missed shots. Our offensive efficiency in this one was 103.4, compared to our season average of 113.5.

Leaky and Dunn didn't do much either (and Trimble is playing himself out of the rotation with his lack of offense). The rest all were very good IMO, especially Caleb. Huge improvement from him compared to his baseline this year.

We'll need Nickel to play more if Nance/Leaky/Dunn can't hit more threes. Just not enough shooting otherwise. I liked Nickel on both ends in this one.

 

[Heels5150]

Thank you as always Gary for sharing your expertise. I always enjoy your insights along with everyone else. I have been hard on Nance all year long. However, He had a good game in a lot of respects but not a very good or great game. Tyler Nickel would have feasted in that part of the zone. Nance should have torched Syracuse all night long right at the free throw line without breaking a sweat. It was just catch and shoot. For a fifth year senior who by Hubert’s account should be in the NBA I do not see it. His shot is flat, he is slow and robotic. He is a talented player but for this team to get where we want to go he can not play more than 25 minutes a game and that depends on who we are playing. He is great at sliding over to the five at times to give Bacot a breather. He did have 3 steals and he is improving some on his rebounds and boxing out. He easily could and should have had 30 plus points sitting in the middle of their zone. Being down Puff hurt again and we now have 8 days off until our next game where we owe Pitt another one. We were fortunate to escape with a victory even though we were in control of the game for the most part. Missing second half free throws almost came back to haunt us. I sure hope RJ is alright.

 

[JimmyinVA]

i thought it was a great win against a tough, determined opponent on their home court.

 

[Archer2]

Tyler Nickel would have feasted in that part of the zone.

I agree with all of your post, especially this part. I kept thinking the same thing. He would have destroyed the middle of the zone, those shots are like layups to him.

As for Nance, I don’t think he’ll play n the NBA. He lacks plus athleticism and has a very flat shot. Maybe overseas somewhere.

 

[Tarheel75]

Thanks, Gary, for the input.

Sheesh......Ever get the feeling last night that "we won it, we lost it, and then won it?"

As Gary mentioned, it's a tough place to play up there and it was satisfying to watch our guys dig down and pull this one out.

Looks like the time that Lebo spent with Caleb on Sunday helped to correct some
flaws in his shooting mechanics. Those 3's didn't clang in but went through the net cleanly.

RJ Davis may be a bit undersized, but he is a "Basketball DUDE" wouldn't you agree?
Dislocated finger on his shooting hand....again, a blow to his nose, and a nasty cut
above his left eye and still managed 9 points and 5 RBs ...., and 5 assists. He was our second leading rebounder folks.

And before we cut up Pete with our critiques, did you realize he never came out of the game? He played the entire game, 40 minutes, and maybe that had some effect on his shots and defense? I do however concede that Pete is perhaps a little slow in his reactions on defense and he has been all year, but we needed every bit of the offense and defense he provided.

The bench got some learning experience as well, and that will only help us in future games. Nickel would not have helped us by playing in the center of that zone guys. When playing the Syracuse zone, you have to have perimeter threats to keep that zone from collapsing and making it extremely difficult to score anywhere in the paint. You have trouble seeing on TV just how long and rangy those interior Syracuse players are and Nickel might have scored a basket or two but would have had most attempts blocked.

We had 10 assists on our 1st ten makes last night and it was a pleasure to watch the guys work the ball around with great passing and good shots. After that the game got very physical.

The officiating, while not great and suspect at times, did manage to get some calls correct. On the play where Mintz charged on RJ, Roger Ayers made the call, but the other official on the left of your screen had his arm up and was going to call a block but it was Roger's call to make as he had the position and a bird's eye view of the play.

I felt that we could lose this game, as it's a difficult environment to play in and Syracuse has improved a lot and were also 6-3 in the conference race. The team
showed resilience by overcoming that environment and refused to knuckle under to the opposition.

We are showing signs of really banding together teamwise and are starting to impose our will on our competition. As I look back on this season, I realized that we have suffered this season with injuries to our player of year candidate who missed 2 of our 3 conference losses, and sundry other players being injured and not available to play. We win and we celebrate, but doesn't every game seem to have that "must win" feel to it? That's how I feel, and I think that the way we began our season is the causative effect.

Well, we have a week to get healed up and get some practice in and Pitt, who as @gary-7 mentioned...., we owe an arse beating.

 

[Goheels83]

I know Nance played all 40min. Crazy, would of liked to see Washington get some minutes in that spot.

 

[Tarheel75]

I know Nance played all 40min. Crazy, would of liked to see Washington get some minutes in that spot.

Me too.

 

[trimbornunc86]

A win is a win but as other have mentioned, we had the game in control multiple times and let cuse right back in it, which is a bad habit they have had all season. This easily should have been a 10-15 point win. Once tthe tourney gets here if they are still doing that, they certainly wont go far

 

[FlaTarHeel]

And before we cut up Pete with our critiques, did you realize he never came out of the game? He played the entire game, 40 minutes, and maybe that had some effect on his shots and defense?

The bench got some learning experience as well, and that will only help us in future games. Nickel would not have helped us by playing in the center of that zone guys. When playing the Syracuse zone, you have to have perimeter threats to keep that zone from collapsing and making it extremely difficult to score anywhere in the paint. You have trouble seeing on TV just how long and rangy those interior Syracuse players are and Nickel might have scored a basket or two but would have had most attempts blocked.

The officiating, while not great and suspect at times, did manage to get some calls correct. On the play where Mintz charged on RJ, Roger Ayers made the call, but the other official on the left of your screen had his arm up and was going to call a block but it was Roger's call to make as he had the position and a bird's eye view of the play.

I felt that we could lose this game, as it's a difficult environment to play in and Syracuse has improved a lot and were also 6-3 in the conference race. The team
showed resilience by overcoming that environment and refused to knuckle under to the opposition.

Well, we have a week to get healed up and get some practice in and Pitt, who as @gary-7 mentioned...., we owe an arse beating.

Great points 75,

1. I didn't realize until very late last night that Pete played all 40 minutes. Kudos to him.

2. Great point about Nickel, he got a few good looks in the corners but the middle of that 'Cuse zone is a different world, and as you mentioned their length always seem to have no end.

3. Roger Ayers call saved our arse before Lee Cassell stole another road game from us. I've said it before that Cassell will be on a milk carton one day.

4. Leaving that arena with a win is never easy, and this SU team is pretty decent.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I congratulate Nance for finally showing some offensive aggression! I like his improvement and I hope he works on defensive positioning and anticipation. He also must get tougher with the ball on rebounds and on offense! The team showed a growth spurt and I am not surprised at all. Way to go Caleb! That is the kid we need and I expect to see both our tough little nuts continue to be dudes for the rest of the season! I totally disagree that we should change our zone O! It has killed that zone for years and we need that Big to just be aggressive going to the basket and taking that open shot! We need our wings to stay ready to shoot and Nickel showed he was ready. Bench is shaping up nicely and I really hope we are healthy by next game! Nance did pretty well even though he rushed a bit and threw some hard to catch post passes. I liked Leaky on Girard because we need to be careful of tiring RJ on D. Mintz was out of control on many occasions and I am glad the refs finally caught that ridiculous lead with your elbow punk move he did multiple times! We all know that is frustration because of the D and not basketball! BTW: we didn't let Cuse back into the game, they worked their arses off and earned those shots! The team played tough O and D during that stretch BUT we were even tougher! This win will prove to us that we are tough enough to take everyone's best shot!

 

[tarwhiz]

I agree Nance wasn't very good all things considered, despite a flashy box score. Just too many missed opportunities setting the table on offense from the high post -- and too many missed shots. Our offensive efficiency in this one was 103.4, compared to our season average of 113.5.

Leaky and Dunn didn't do much either (and Trimble is playing himself out of the rotation with his lack of offense). The rest all were very good IMO, especially Caleb. Huge improvement from him compared to his baseline this year.

We'll need Nickel to play more if Nance/Leaky/Dunn can't hit more threes. Just not enough shooting otherwise. I liked Nickel on both ends in this one.

Agree, Nickel wasn't scared, and didn't make mistakes either.
If defense is why he is not playing, this game was not a good representation of that aurgument. He was very good defensively and rebounded too.[/QUOTE]

 

[Bubspub88]

This was a game that UNC really need to win. They got the W but that's about it. I was disappointed that they never pulled away and continued to let Syracuse back in the game. I was hoping an experienced team would be mentally tougher on the road. This team has to learn to go for the kill when there's blood in the water.

I cannot figure out the bench. Washington looks awesome against UVa but then seems lost. Nickel goes from being the missing kid on a milk carton to contributing in a hostile environment. Trimble was pushing for starter minutes a month ago and now is hardly a factor. Are these guys that up and down in practice from day to day.

The frustrating part is that you can see the pieces can fit but for whatever reason they cannot put 40 minutes together. This was the first game of a pretty brutal second of ACC play. A road win is always nice but there are a LOT of things that need work.

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

2O assists on 26 baskets is a positive stat. Well, 21 if Pete “points to the passer” Joe Girardi.😉

 

[djones1975]

We controlled the game for 35 minutes and then should have lost it. It took some lucky calls for us to win. I don't think love got fouled at the end ( I think he could have been called for pushing off), Bacot could have been called for pushing off on the late free throw miss that turned into 2 points, and the charge on RJ was a close one despite the elbow. If we made some free throws and played a little more defense we could have ran away with this one. Cuse shot over 50% and was 44% from 3. We again won because of FT's. Nance was big with FT's and 4 steals. He was easily our best player last night and he still made some head scratchers. This team could be great.

I was excited to see Nickel play. That block was an eye opener for me. We need every win we can get. Cuse is a good team.

 

[midline]

Agree with a lot of stuff. Nance had a good night offensively. But my Lord he plays so soft. Every 50/50 ball he was involved with seemed to end with Syracuse ripping it away. But it is what it is.

And Leaky. He does a lot of things well, a glue guy of sorts. But he had such a height advantage over the guy he was guarding he just kept biting on pump fakes and flying right by leaving a wide open shot. And I have complained endlessly about the misguided green light he has from the 3 point line. There we were last night late in the game, critical possession and their Leaky is jacking up a three early in the shot clock. Come on Hubert, have the stones to demand that players not do what they cannot do.

 

[DSouthr]

This was a ACC road win against a team that gives us some match up problems, it wasn't pretty but we came out with the win and I think the mental state of this team really needed this win. Especially considering we now have some time to rest, heal, and prep for a Pitt team we own some pay back to.

While we can agree, nance missed some shots he should have made, I did like him being in the middle point of that zone, his length gave the cuse matchup headaches. But just as important was that it got Nance more actively engaged in our offense rather than as much standing around waiting for the ball to show up. Puff was not available and Nance just gave us more length at the spot in the middle of that zone than Leaky could have. That cuse zone is always tuff because it is a curve ball from what you are used to playing vs other teams and they have some good length on this team which really gives that zone teeth. I felt Jesse Walters gave us fits with his length, he had 5 blocks and effected several more and that really effected our rhythm.

Bacot, had to work for everything he got, had to yet again deal with multiple defenders running at him all night, just a really solid blue collar game from Bacot, kudos! Caleb Love, felt he played really well, his shot seems to be coming back and we should all be happy about that but those 5 assists he got and the other 5 from RJ, that I LOVE to see and had we finished some of those those assist numbers could have been even better. I really liked the efficiency of Caleb's game last night, RJs as well, they scored key points but they didn't fall in to the trap that the cuse baits for every team, pumping up big numbers of long bad shots, their shots were in the flow of the offense for the most part.

FINALLY we got to see Nickel play again, it had been way to long! Kid played his butt off, he seems to have a really good chemistry with Caleb, Caleb seems to actively look for Tyler when he is in there, from what I see maybe more that for any other team mate. Caleb just seems to have a belief that if Nickel gets a good look it is going in and because of that Nickel seems to have that same belief. Caleb slips the pass to Nickel and he drains a trey, next time down Nickel slips it to Caleb for the drive, there is a chemistry there.

Quick, can someone get a huge spatula, we need to scrap a 6'3" Seth Trimble off the freshman wall he has run square in to? LOL Yep, the freshman wall has him face splatted, you can see it, he has become tentative, he is second guessing everything right now, he will be fine, just the transition to this level of play, especially at this time of the season catches up to a freshman. Dunn has been working hard defensively in time I think can really be a hard defender, maybe to the Kenny level, having a real solid season. Jalen has a ways to go but every now and then you see a glimpse of what is to come. I can see him as his body develops to become a UNC version of what Walters is for the cure right now but a version much sharper offensively.

Wasn't pretty but it was another win added to the stack and it being a road win makes it even better. Now rest up, heal up, prep us and lets serve Pitt what they have coming, a good ole fashion Dean Dome smack down and then go hunt us some dukies!

 

[DSouthr]

Agree with a lot of stuff. Nance had a good night offensively. But my Lord he plays so soft. Every 50/50 ball he was involved with seemed to end with Syracuse ripping it away. But it is what it is.

And Leaky. He does a lot of things well, a glue guy of sorts. But he had such a height advantage over the guy he was guarding he just kept biting on pump fakes and flying right by leaving a wide open shot. And I have complained endlessly about the misguided green light he has from the 3 point line. There we were last night late in the game, critical possession and their Leaky is jacking up a three early in the shot clock. Come on Hubert, have the stones to demand that players not do what they cannot do.

Girard is good, there isn't a better jump shooter in the ACC (now that Grady Dick has come back to Earth there may not be a better jump shooter in the country), how does Bohiem keep on getting those deadly assassins' from deep like that, really glad Buddy is no longer there!

For the record, I do not like Leaky shooting treys, he gets open looks for sure, as Roy shared, there is a reason for that.

 

[ACokeForRoy]

Tyler Nickel has mastered the art of the run down from behind block..... I love it.

 

[ChiShankCity]

Positives:
- Caleb shot the ball really well and I think made good decisions relative to our expectations of Caleb.
- Good practice against a unique defense. Might help us later in the season
- Nance played well. A few shots didn't go in. Maybe should've drove instead of shoot it a couple of times. But at Northwestern, he shot those shots, so not all that surprising if that was his instinct. Or it may have been part of the gameplan.
- Nickel is a good matchup against zones

Negatives:
- You'd expect us to offensive rebound better. 6 offensive rebounds on 32 misses (19%). We're not a really good offensive rebounding team to begin with (29.3%) but expected more opportunities to score off the miss.
- Seth has been awful offensively most of the season. He's had 2 games with a positive BPM. Really, he should be out of the rotation in March if this continues. He also has a really weird shooting stroke. I thought I was watching Michael Kidd-Gilchrist shooting the ball when he missed the 2 FT's at end for the spread.

Reality:
- Syracuse isn't all that good. They rank between 85-115 according to the analytics. But, I don't think we're in the position to say we should win games by more. Take a W and move on.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

"How to beat a Zone Defense" by Dean Smith and Roy Williams.

 

[ChiShankCity]

Bacot, had to work for everything he got, had to yet again deal with multiple defenders running at him all night, just a really solid blue collar game from Bacot, kudos! Caleb Love, felt he played really well, his shot seems to be coming back and we should all be happy about that but those 5 assists he got and the other 5 from RJ, that I LOVE to see and had we finished some of those those assist numbers could have been even better. I really liked the efficiency of Caleb's game last night, RJs as well, they scored key points but they didn't fall in to the trap that the cuse baits for every team, pumping up big numbers of long bad shots, their shots were in the flow of the offense for the most part.

Where are you getting this from? Is it a feeling or a trend? Or based on history. I'm just curious.

 

[JimmyinVA]

i knew tyler nickel could shoot. but his solid defense last nite surprised me.

 

[GoNtheDistance]

Tyler Nickel should be one of the first guys off the bench to relieve Leaky specifically. He's got a big time stroke, and it showing that he can at least compete on the defensive end. That's worth 5-10 minutes a game.

 

[tarwhiz]

This was a ACC road win against a team that gives us some match up problems, it wasn't pretty but we came out with the win and I think the mental state of this team really needed this win. Especially considering we now have some time to rest, heal, and prep for a Pitt team we own some pay back to.

While we can agree, nance missed some shots he should have made, I did like him being in the middle point of that zone, his length gave the cuse matchup headaches. But just as important was that it got Nance more actively engaged in our offense rather than as much standing around waiting for the ball to show up. Puff was not available and Nance just gave us more length at the spot in the middle of that zone than Leaky could have. That cuse zone is always tuff because it is a curve ball from what you are used to playing vs other teams and they have some good length on this team which really gives that zone teeth. I felt Jesse Walters gave us fits with his length, he had 5 blocks and effected several more and that really effected our rhythm.

Bacot, had to work for everything he got, had to yet again deal with multiple defenders running at him all night, just a really solid blue collar game from Bacot, kudos! Caleb Love, felt he played really well, his shot seems to be coming back and we should all be happy about that but those 5 assists he got and the other 5 from RJ, that I LOVE to see and had we finished some of those those assist numbers could have been even better. I really liked the efficiency of Caleb's game last night, RJs as well, they scored key points but they didn't fall in to the trap that the cuse baits for every team, pumping up big numbers of long bad shots, their shots were in the flow of the offense for the most part.

FINALLY we got to see Nickel play again, it had been way to long! Kid played his butt off, he seems to have a really good chemistry with Caleb, Caleb seems to actively look for Tyler when he is in there, from what I see maybe more that for any other team mate. Caleb just seems to have a belief that if Nickel gets a good look it is going in and because of that Nickel seems to have that same belief. Caleb slips the pass to Nickel and he drains a trey, next time down Nickel slips it to Caleb for the drive, there is a chemistry there.

Quick, can someone get a huge spatula, we need to scrap a 6'3" Seth Trimble off the freshman wall he has run square in to? LOL Yep, the freshman wall has him face splatted, you can see it, he has become tentative, he is second guessing everything right now, he will be fine, just the transition to this level of play, especially at this time of the season catches up to a freshman. Dunn has been working hard defensively in time I think can really be a hard defender, maybe to the Kenny level, having a real solid season. Jalen has a ways to go but every now and then you see a glimpse of what is to come. I can see him as his body develops to become a UNC version of what Walters is for the cure right now but a version much sharper offensively.

Wasn't pretty but it was another win added to the stack and it being a road win makes it even better. Now rest up, heal up, prep us and lets serve Pitt what they have coming, a good ole fashion Dean Dome smack down and then go hunt us some dukies!

Good post David! Very accurate on Trimble, and I think he needs a good week of practice to re-engage his mind.
Cuse is much better than they have been in a few years and they will be a handful down the stretch for teams to go in there and play ( You listening Dook) if the Cuse can get into the top 75 in the Net this becomes an even bigger win.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

TNick played well; Caleb played well; RJ played like the dude he is; Nance played well; Bacot was Bacot; Dunn gave good minutes defensively and helped move the ball; Washington contributed and keeps showing us glimpses; Leaky chased the best and most experienced jump shooter in the country all game; Cuse played very hard and effective on both ends; and we won on the road!

Yup, I agree we should focus on the negative and call out Hubs for his poor coaching! We should all dump on Caleb like SDung because his good play could never erase mistakes he might have had in the past! Players don't develop or go through slumps, they will always be whatever they were during the first practice they ever had! Leaky will never hit a shot so he should never take one!

Did we win? I forget!

 

[tarwhiz]

i knew tyler nickel could shoot. but his solid defense last nite surprised me.

Dude plays hard. Watching him defend last night has me thinking he just stands around eating beef jerky in practice.
The kid I watched last night should not have his floor time limited because he can't play defense. His defense was quite good last night.

 

[notashelbyfan]

i thought it was a great win against a tough, determined opponent on their home court.

It was but we made it way harder than it should have been!

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Nope! Cuse made it hard by playing hard and well! We toughed out a win! Lucky calls my Aunt Lucy's arse! RJ earned that call with extreme sacrifice! Caleb "pushed off" a guy that was grabbing him with both arms! Bacot was being assaulted and was actually pushed directly out of bounds! Correct me if I'm wrong, didn't the big brains say we were 4.5 point favorites??? Weren't we 2 horrendous free throws away from winning by 6???

 

[TarHeelTroy]

Always hate playing Cuse especially up there. At times we looked great attacking their zone, but other times spacing was way off with Mando and Pete bumping into each other and we looked lost. Would have liked for us to get more transition baskets. Pete saved us with the FTs and the late basket, but far too many loose balls and rebounds were taken away from Pete because he was being slow or soft with the ball. Thought Mando would have gotten more offensive rebounds and putbacks. Only 8 rebs total for Mando. I remember Mando getting the fastbreak dunk. But that was the last Mando scored in the whole game. So I looked back for when that happened and it was with 13:09 left. Mando did not score and picked up 2 off. fouls the rest of the game. That ain't good. Gotta be more deliberate in getting the ball in the paint especially while their main big was out with 4 fouls!

But great win and MUCH needed. With the win we are currently tied for 3rd. If we lose that game we drop to tied for 8th! This was only our 2nd road win (1st being Louisville) and a brutal schedule upcoming. Our next 6 opponents are ALL in the top half of the ACC.

 

[ChiShankCity]

TNick played well; Caleb played well; RJ played like the dude he is; Nance played well; Bacot was Bacot; Dunn gave good minutes defensively and helped move the ball; Washington contributed and keeps showing us glimpses; Leaky chased the best and most experienced jump shooter in the country all game; Cuse played very hard and effective on both ends; and we won on the road!

Yup, I agree we should focus on the negative and call out Hubs for his poor coaching! We should all dump on Caleb like SDung because his good play could never erase mistakes he might have had in the past! Players don't develop or go through slumps, they will always be whatever they were during the first practice they ever had! Leaky will never hit a shot so he should never take one!

Did we win? I forget!

In your first paragraph, if all those guys played well and we still had a fight, claw, maybe get a little bit fortunate with an inadvertent F1 at the end to win... I can understand people being a little bit down about the win. Realistically, if you tell me four of our best players play well against an inferior opponent, we should probably win the game comfortably.

Again, IMO we're not good enough to be complaining about margin of victory on the road. Take the W and move on. But using your judgment how the game went, I can understand if people are disappointed that it was so close.

 

[WoadBlue]

I agree with all of your post, especially this part. I kept thinking the same thing. He would have destroyed the middle of the zone, those shots are like layups to him.

As for Nance, I don’t think he’ll play n the NBA. He lacks plus athleticism and has a very flat shot. Maybe overseas somewhere.

He's too soft.

 

[gary-7]

In your first paragraph, if all those guys played well and we still had a fight, claw, maybe get a little bit fortunate with an inadvertent F1 at the end to win... I can understand people being a little bit down about the win. Realistically, if you tell me four of our best players play well against an inferior opponent, we should probably win the game comfortably.

Again, IMO we're not good enough to be complaining about margin of victory on the road. Take the W and move on. But using your judgment how the game went, I can understand if people are disappointed that it was so close.

Sorry, but horsecrap. Of course you always take the W, but we also alsolutely have the talent to expect more.

 

[notashelbyfan]

Sorry, but horsecrap. Of course you always take the W, but we also alsolutely have the talent to expect more.

Gary and I agree take cover!

 

[notashelbyfan]

He's too soft.

Nance is an Allstars in a 12ft tall gym!

 

[r_u_worthy]

Do I wish the Heels were playing at an elite level & showing us the best version of themselves right now, sure. But it's only January 25th (today) and I see progression from the team. They are improving day by day. They are much better than they were even earlier in the month. They faced some true adversity on the road and still mustered the will, stayed together and found ways to make the plays needed to secure the W in a pretty tough place to win. And as noted in thread, the orange is playing much better themselves. If the Heels are on their way to really rolling in about 2-3 weeks I think we will like where that ends up. Glass half full from my perspective. Now, go ahead and bash the positivity guy!

 

[ACokeForRoy]

Tyler Nickel should be one of the first guys off the bench to relieve Leaky specifically. He's got a big time stroke, and it showing that he can at least compete on the defensive end. That's worth 5-10 minutes a game.

More than 5-10. One thing I have seen out of Nickel is the more he plays the better he plays.

 

[PeppersPizza]

This was a game that UNC really need to win. They got the W but that's about it. I was disappointed that they never pulled away and continued to let Syracuse back in the game. I was hoping an experienced team would be mentally tougher on the road. This team has to learn to go for the kill when there's blood in the water.

I cannot figure out the bench. Washington looks awesome against UVa but then seems lost. Nickel goes from being the missing kid on a milk carton to contributing in a hostile environment. Trimble was pushing for starter minutes a month ago and now is hardly a factor. Are these guys that up and down in practice from day to day.

The frustrating part is that you can see the pieces can fit but for whatever reason they cannot put 40 minutes together. This was the first game of a pretty brutal second of ACC play. A road win is always nice but there are a LOT of things that need work.

As someone who works with college freshmen, I can attest to the fact that they are "up and down" by nature. It's a late-teen late-adolescent reality. Just my observations and experience.

With that said, I think this "core group," the Iron 4, of guys--Armando, Leaky, RJ & Caleb--have had their own "roles" on this team for so long, it might be hard to integrate other players. For example, Manek was an ideal teammate, and it took most of the season for him to mesh. I hope the freshmen and Nance are on the same path.
To the credit of the Iron 4, when the pieces fell in place last year, they played as a team and the defense improved along with the movement of the offense. I'm cautiously optimistic.