Quick stuff (TN game)...

[gary-7]

...and any questions?

I sure as hell hope not. Pretty much every question --- about what this team CAN be, SHOULD be, but too often so far has NOT been --- was answered in microcosm tonight.

Thus, I'm gonna start right here:
- Hubert and staff, my brothers, meet me at Camera 3: PLEASE... just forget 2021-22 ever happened. Sure, that was a great coaching job to get a roster to the FF that frankly had no business there...; BUT, that was then. Y'all properly spent all last summer and camp reinstating Carolina basketball, and in the first half tonight we finally got to see the fruits of that, and it was no fluke. Then, we tried to give it back, and that too was no fluke --- it was OVER-coaching.

- First, let's get one thing straight: TN played well --- not just in the second half --- folks, they shot 53+% in the first! So, how'd the score end up 61-39? Easy. we actually got a FAIRLY reffed half, and we played OUR game --- full-court transition-fueled Carolina basketball, led by our generational PG (yes, that's what I said). BUT, in the second we played THEIR game --- half-court basketball, and that direction was coming from the bench. Too damned many called plays, too much iso. Barnes is a prick, but his teams defend the half court well, and they stymied much of what we tried to do there. So that's the question: You KNOW they want to slow us down, and you KNOW the invented calls were coming, so.... WHY give them what they want?

- Yet another reason to stay outta half-court ball, #3 was a match-up nightmare for us --- we don't have anyone like Leaky to check a guy his size and skill --- and geez, our running game had neutralized him. We did throw some 30 and 40 to thwart him late, but mostly we were sitting ducks in the second half. (BTW, that was a terrible call on Seth when he rolled his ankle).

Ok... other stuff:
- Our ball-movement in the first half was a thing of beauty. And we play with so much more CONFIDENCE when we run at our tempo, and that tempo, folks, starts with #2 at the helm and unleashed.

- Speaking of tempo, in the first half we were pitching ahead and running it right up their backs after MADE SHOTS.

- Withers... just a bad night. We need more from ya moving forward, young fella.

- Back when I used to run the post-entry station at camps, the nastiest trick I taught to get the rock past an aggressive defender was "zip it by his ear" (which can be dangerous in the wrong hands). I hope y'all saw EC pull that off in transition. Wow, I bet that dude's ear is still whistllin'

- Good thing we made FTs. Mando's improvement there especially continues to be big.

- Nice to have three guys with 20+, but again....... because tempo.

- With that said, after one important second-half 3, instead of looking at the crowd, RJ should've been pointing to the passer, given that Cadeau's pocket pass hit him right in the damn gut when he should've been looking

- Finally, well... it's already been said. PLAY OUR GAME AT OUR TEMPO. And the SCREAMING OBVIOUS path forward starts with the starting lineup --- EC/RJ/Ryan/Ingram/Bacot. That frankly is the biggest no-brainer in the history of no-brainers. I really hope no one embarrasses themselves by arguing otherwise at this point.

Anyway... I'll always take a win over Barnes. Just wish I could've enjoyed more than 20 minutes of it. We've got an opponent comng up that will run with us. Let's hope we relish it and start that game with our best feet forward.....

 

[Heelicious]

Good post. Hard not to compare this years team to last years - the last two years really - and this team seems so much better. In the last two years even if somehow we got up by 24 against a good team we’d have lost because the iron 5 would’ve just been dead gassed. So nice to have 8-9 legit guys we can play without a big step down, backward.

I just don’t see withers deserving the time he is getting. I’m not saying everything he does is negative - maybe he’s better in practice but is struggling to NOT be a liability on the court. So many turnovers, missed easy shots. I’d rather his minutes go more to Jwash. Or Trimble. Even wojcik seems more fundamentally sound. I realize that jwash is still pretty lost most times on defense especially on guys who can drive or shoot from perimeter.

Bacot and RJ are what they are - which are really good important pieces. Probably similar to what we got last year from them. It seems Trimble has taken a big step up - a little on defense where he was already very good, but he’s a legit offensive threat - that at least needs guarding and he can drive to the hole and even hit open 3s. Basically a decent replacement for leaky.

But wow - Ingram and EC. I don’t know what more you can say except they both have crazy basketball skills - but more importantly- they both have a great emotional/ leader gene. Fired up, hate to lose, love to win, show right level of emotion, can be true LEADERS on the court.

I know lots has been said about EC and he’s earned it. He’s the vital offense driver.

But I can’t say enough about Ingram. What a beast he is. Clearly the Heels best overall player. Big, long, great on defense, sort of a five tool guy on offense - 3s, backing guys down, posting up, dribble drive, finish via pass or score in half court or on break. He’s probably the single guy on our team who’ll get an NBA spot. And just watch sometime how active he is on defense. Moves his feet, arms up, never slacking.

And I just LOVE how we have emotional team leaders on the court. We didn’t have that at all really last two year (maybe RJ -but there were such issues with the Caleb mess, etc.)

 

[FlaTarHeel]

Awesome post Gary
1. UPTEMPO will get us to the Final Four
2. Walking the ball up with RJ will get us to RD2
3. Let's ditch the ISO ball experiment. It worked a little against Arkansas and maybe twice tonight.
4. Withers is in a fog right now, we need him to get out of it soon.
5. Speaking of Arkansas, Wooooo Pig dookie. 🤤

 

[tarwhiz]

Terrific 1st half and learned some things going forward in the 2nd half. Cadeau stepping up and hitting his last 4 free throws, just might get him to a comfortable place in his head, on the line going forward.
I thought a big point in the 2nd half was when Cadeau went out of the game. I think we were up 23 points when he went to the bench, and the next two possessions the offense careened to a total halt in rhythm and speed. Tenn immediately cut the lead to 16 and the game pressure first set in for the Heels.
Two things MUST get figured out going forward. The first one is how do we play with Cadeau on the bench? I think this is the best time to start playing through Ingram and not having R.J. or Seth initiate the offense.
The 2nd thing is, they have to find a way to put Withers in situations where he can be productive doing the things he is capable of doing. The young Man is NOT a playmaker. He should limit his dribbles to 1-2 with the same hand on straight line finish drives. He also needs to actually USE his height and length. He plays too small for a 6'9" long armed forward. Dunk the basketball!
Shoot the catch and shoot three! JWith ball handling is worse than Styles handle last year.
Great win, in a MUST WIN situation playing at home in my opinion. Now let's get that first ACC win on Saturday and pave the way to those next 3 showdowns in Dec.

 

[gauchoheel]

Cadeau was very good, but you didn't really mention Ingram. He's been the best Heel so far this year I think. Fantastic play for the most part. Guy looks like an NBA player to me, and he's been a massive upgrade over Nance.

And how about the defense? Phew. Guards are getting shredded, we can't defend the pick and roll, lots of miscommunications, bad fouls.... The only consistent stops were the first 10 minutes when (mostly) Ingram was highly disruptive. By far our worse defensive performance of the year. Luckily our offense was even better this time.

 

[gauchoheel]

Good post. Hard not to compare this years team to last years - the last two years really - and this team seems so much better. In the last two years even if somehow we got up by 24 against a good team we’d have lost because the iron 5 would’ve just been dead gassed. So nice to have 8-9 legit guys we can play without a big step down, backward.

I just don’t see withers deserving the time he is getting. I’m not saying everything he does is negative - maybe he’s better in practice but is struggling to NOT be a liability on the court. So many turnovers, missed easy shots. I’d rather his minutes go more to Jwash. Or Trimble. Even wojcik seems more fundamentally sound. I realize that jwash is still pretty lost most times on defense especially on guys who can drive or shoot from perimeter.

Bacot and RJ are what they are - which are really good important pieces. Probably similar to what we got last year from them. It seems Trimble has taken a big step up - a little on defense where he was already very good, but he’s a legit offensive threat - that at least needs guarding and he can drive to the hole and even hit open 3s. Basically a decent replacement for leaky.

But wow - Ingram and EC. I don’t know what more you can say except they both have crazy basketball skills - but more importantly- they both have a great emotional/ leader gene. Fired up, hate to lose, love to win, show right level of emotion, can be true LEADERS on the court.

I know lots has been said about EC and he’s earned it. He’s the vital offense driver.

But I can’t say enough about Ingram. What a beast he is. Clearly the Heels best overall player. Big, long, great on defense, sort of a five tool guy on offense - 3s, backing guys down, posting up, dribble drive, finish via pass or score in half court or on break. He’s probably the single guy on our team who’ll get an NBA spot. And just watch sometime how active he is on defense. Moves his feet, arms up, never slacking.

And I just LOVE how we have emotional team leaders on the court. We didn’t have that at all really last two year (maybe RJ -but there were such issues with the Caleb mess, etc.)

Not sure we have 8-9 legit guys. I think Withers, High, and Wojcik are about to see pretty limited minutes. Davis and Ingram both played 38 minutes tonight, and Bacot probably would've played ~35 without foul trouble.

I think Hubert will be mindful to play a bit deeper bench this year, but I see a clear top five (Davis, Cadeau, Ryan, Ingram, Bacot) with a single "good" backup in Trimble and a talented but uneven (due to lack of defense/rebounding at such a critical position) big in Washington. No one else has shown much yet this year.

 

[Heels5150]

EC with 10 assists and zero turnovers! No made FG’s. (that will come) Sign me up for that every night. EC has struggled at the foul line but he hit the big ones at the end of the game when it counted the most. Hopefully that gives the young man some confidence going forward. Withers was really off his game to say the least. Hubert left him in way too long during Tennessee’s push. Cormac was playing on two gimpy ankles that I’m sure felt like jello and it was good to see him try and push through it and play. Cormac is becoming one of my favorite players but I do have to say that I was wondering how our team would have looked if we would have gotten Dalton Knecht instead of Cormac. Cormac does have to play smarter and both him and Withers missed point blank layups in the second half. Washington played well in his allotted minutes outside of getting taken to the rack twice in the first half and getting stripped of the ball. He shot the ball well and he played with confidence. High had a very nice assist in the first half and I liked Trimble going to the basket strong for two layups. Ok I have to say that we have the worst inbounds plays throwing the ball in when we are being pressured. Also we have issues defending the opponents inbounds plays under their goals as Teams continuously get wide open looking threes. This team is only going to get better and better as the season goes on and they are a lot of fun to watch. Us thumping Arkansas by 17 and dook losing to them without Mark is very telling. We still have a brutal stretch coming up but we are trending in the right direction. GDTBATH

 

[dtodd4475]

Shot it well. 32 -38 from the line (including Cadeau late to protect the lead. 12 - 28 from 3 (Ingram looks legit as another consistent sniper threat to go with RJ and Cormac).

Cadeau 10 assists 0 turnovers was huge. As we get to the real competition he is already over 30 minutes, it was just a matter of time. It's his show to conduct.

Ingram 38 minutes after playing all 40 against Arkansas. RJ stayed out of foul trouble and logged 38 also. The bench has been sifted out. Other then fouls/injuries it looks like Withers, Washington, and Trimble getting minutes, the rest a splash here and there as needed, with a heavy dose of our clear starting 5.

Very solid win. These non conference matchups are crucial in the big dance picture.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

Ingram 38 minutes after playing all 40 against Arkansas. RJ stayed out of foul trouble and logged 38 also. The bench has been sifted out. Other then fouls/injuries it looks like Withers, Washington, and Trimble getting minutes, the rest a splash here and there as needed, with a heavy dose of our clear starting 5.

Too many minutes and I don't care what the final score says.
If HD continues to revert back to this it will hurt the team going forward.

 

[39 Feet Above Sea Level]

Solid analysis and comments. Very nice win besides giving most of the lead back.
But…….for three straight games…..and maybe 30 times (or more) in my Carolina
association, a guy carries his team with 30+ points. What contributes to this
defensive breakdown? Any hoophead on here able to explain it to me?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

...and any questions?

I sure as hell hope not.

Just one. What happened in the 2nd half? [You do address this, but I still have to ask.]

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	T
Tennessee	17	22	30	23	92
North Carolina	30	31	21	18	100

I watched some of the Miami-Kentucky game yesterday and we did to Tennessee in the first half what UK did to Miami in the 2nd half.

In a word, we were AMAZING. That was some beautiful basketball.

But then what happened?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Withers ... needs to actually USE his height and length. He plays too small for a 6'9" long armed forward. Dunk the basketball!

This. Play after play he uses his quickness to get "so close, but no cigar." What does he need to do to stop coming up short?

I still think Withers is slower to adapt to our system than our other transfers who get real minutes. I'm hoping more games/PT will fix that.

There's no shame in being last to "get it." Somebody has to be last, after all. But when he gets it, we'll be a better team.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I do have to say that I was wondering how our team would have looked if we would have gotten Dalton Knecht instead of Cormac.

I remember when we thought we would get Knecht. Turns out we were right to want him.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

When Tennessee committed to their D, we had trouble. How many other teams will we face who can do that? UVa is always a hard nut for us. Who else in the ACC?

According to Pomeroy's early season numbers, we aren't to shabby on D ourselves. Third in the ACC after UVa and Duke, closely followed by Clemson and Pitt.

 

[gauchoheel]

When Tennessee committed to their D, we had trouble. How many other teams will we face who can do that? UVa is always a hard nut for us. Who else in the ACC?

According to Pomeroy's early season numbers, we aren't to shabby on D ourselves. Third in the ACC after UVa and Duke, closely followed by Clemson and Pitt.

We had trouble? We dropped 100 on them. That is likely to be the best offensive game we have all year. Bartorvik has us at 155 points per 100 offensive possessions adjusted for opponent, meaning we had an effective FG% of 68%. Hard to shoot 70% as a team very often.

We scored at will, our defense was just atrocious. We hardly even forced kickouts, Tenn guys just got layups possession after possession.

 

[TarHeelTroy]

Cadeau 10 assists 0 turnovers was huge. As we get to the real competition he is already over 30 minutes, it was just a matter of time. It's his show to conduct.

EC's first double digit assist game with the masterful Ed Cota there sitting behind the bench was special. I wonder how many double digit assist games Cota had in his UNC career. There were several jaw dropper passes from EC but one that didn't end with an assist (somebody/maybe Ryan missed the shorty) was that one that looked almost like a wide receiver curled upfield and EC hit him perfectly over the shoulder across the lane. Yall know the one I'm talking about?

 

[TarHeelTroy]

Harrison's 3 pt shooting has been very solid so far and a massive upgrade from Nance, and not just in the 3 pt shooting, in all facets.

Seth Trimble and Jalen Washington's improvement over last year so far has been fun to see.

 

[jrhessey]

- With that said, after one important second-half 3, instead of looking at the crowd, RJ should've been pointing to the passer, given that Cadeau's pocket pass hit him right in the damn gut when he should've been looking

Actually getting kind of tired how often that happens. I've noticed it the last couple of years with both Davis and Love not pointing to the passer.

 

[DSouthr]

Just to frame this, Tenn was the #10 team in the country and while they were coming off back to back losses (back to back to back now) their first 2 were to the #1 and #2 teams at the time they played them. That first half UNC put on a display of offensive basketball and you get that when you take solid high quality shots. What I think really makes this stand out is that Tenn didn't play poorly, the considered #1 defensive team in the country shot over 50% in that first half as well and still trailed by 20 at the half? We hung 100 on the best defense in the college game?

Let's talk the concerns from this game, first a bit disappointed that we didn't completely put them away in that second half. We ran a lot thru Ingram in that first half, that slowed in the second. Cadeau had what, 8 or 9 assists in that first half, finished with 10. Tempo first half was what we have all wanted to see, way more half court in that second half. We got set play happy in that second half as opposed to just letting the offense flow in the natural rhythm of the game that you saw in the first half. Hubert, man, ya got to stop trying to fix what ain't broken.

Our back court, once again, torched by a shooter that outsized them to the point he just shot himself white hot, he got in his zone and at that point the kracken was released and just was not going to be stopped. 3rd game in a row we have allowed a single guy to go off on us, you have to contain a guy like that BEFORE he gets white hot, we didn't and KNect connected. I recall one trip KNect (or how ever you spell it) drove thru the paint directly in to the waiting RJ & Cadeau, split them and easy finish with no attempt of defense from either of our guys? You just can't let a guy drove from top of the ley all the way down to the paint AND split your 2 guard defenders and offer zero resistance? Totally lost in the picks, not good.

Withers, man, that was not good my man from any aspect, film review on this one is not going to be comfortable for you and it shouldn't be. And man, in this one JWit, didn't like your effort, didn't see the want to, didn't see the motor you played with last season and that needs to get back on place real quick. Jalen, hey I get it, he let Konect torch him in back to back trips while he was in for Bacot. But Jalen did put 7pts up and snagged a couple boards, you tell me based on just last night, you prefer Withers or Washington to have been in there in that second half? Bottom line, I think we need more JWash and from last night less Withers. Just telling you what I see, it is my opinion, see it another way if you want.

OK, nuff of the depressing, this was a great win for this team, bit of a statement of what this team can do when it plays free and easy and yet there is still so much more this team can improve on. That second half was a bit anti-climatic we let them hang just close enough that we allowed some late drama to creep in. But to this teams credit, they fought it off, lots of teams would have totally folded like a cheap suit but these guys beat the challenge back, good gut check. You beat down the #10 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY, YOU HANG 100 ON THE BEST DEFENSE IN THE COUNTRY, you have a LOT to feel great about! Mean while, back on the ranch, Arky takes down the dukies and they did it WITHOUT Marks, the dukies did not react well to the physical play from Arky, LOVE that!

 

[xtarheelx]

I love Ingram’s game!!!! My Christmas “gift” wish is for Cadeau to be scoring threat by March

 

[DaveChapelle]

We might need to start mixing in some zone defense.

 

[tarwhiz]

Too many minutes and I don't care what the final score says.
If HD continues to revert back to this it will hurt the team going forward.

I don't have a problem with the min last night( must win home game) but I agree that Ingram can't be getting 35-40 min each game without getting worn down.
The 4 spot behind Ingram is a problem!
I know some were clamoring for Withers to start this season, hell he has been a huge disappointment so far, even backing up the 4 spot😔
Carolina only plays 4 total games in Dec so the staff will have an opportunity to really dig into what is going on with Withers, and make a decision, " Can we use him with his weaknesses, or do we turn to High and try to fast track his development?"
Either way, we need for one of them to give us 12-15 productive, high motor minutes each night. Ingram needs rest, and we can't utilize him at the 3 if our 4 spot continues to be garbage if Ingram is not playing there.

 

[gary-7]

Awesome post Gary
1. UPTEMPO will get us to the Final Four
2. Walking the ball up with RJ will get us to RD2
3. Let's ditch the ISO ball experiment. It worked a little against Arkansas and maybe twice tonight.
4. Withers is in a fog right now, we need him to get out of it soon.
5. Speaking of Arkansas, Wooooo Pig dookie. 🤤

Good stuff. The only caveat I would put on that is the Ingram iso is a nice weapon, as long as we use it judiciously and wisely. TN was ready and defended it well, so I too would have stepped away from it last night.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

Good stuff. The only caveat I would put on that is the Ingram iso is a nice weapon, as long as we use it judiciously and wisely. TN was ready and defended it well, so I too would have stepped away from it last night.

My point exactly, it won't work against every team and I hate seeing 4 other capable scorers standing there watching.

 

[NorCalTarheel]

I think we also need to give credit where credit is due, regardless of where you stand on our coach.

He seemingly has brought EC along at a good pace and inserted him into the starting lineup, where most of us thought he belonged in the first place. He is using his bench and giving guys some good experience, some of which we may need somewhere down the line. Coach Davis has been criticized for his lack of in-game adjustments and refusal to switch up defenses. Check and check! We tried doubling Knect to get the ball out of his hands, although it may have been too late at that point.

At this point of the season and hope fully we can continue to improve. If so, we are as dangerous as anyone in the country.

Go heels!

 

[gary-7]

Terrific 1st half and learned some things going forward in the 2nd half. Cadeau stepping up and hitting his last 4 free throws, just might get him to a comfortable place in his head, on the line going forward.
I thought a big point in the 2nd half was when Cadeau went out of the game. I think we were up 23 points when he went to the bench, and the next two possessions the offense careened to a total halt in rhythm and speed. Tenn immediately cut the lead to 16 and the game pressure first set in for the Heels.
Two things MUST get figured out going forward. The first one is how do we play with Cadeau on the bench? I think this is the best time to start playing through Ingram and not having R.J. or Seth initiate the offense.
The 2nd thing is, they have to find a way to put Withers in situations where he can be productive doing the things he is capable of doing. The young Man is NOT a playmaker. He should limit his dribbles to 1-2 with the same hand on straight line finish drives. He also needs to actually USE his height and length. He plays too small for a 6'9" long armed forward. Dunk the basketball!
Shoot the catch and shoot three! JWith ball handling is worse than Styles handle last year.
Great win, in a MUST WIN situation playing at home in my opinion. Now let's get that first ACC win on Saturday and pave the way to those next 3 showdowns in Dec.

Good points all. EC was +10 for a reason. As for Withers, the thing that worried me from the outset was his propensity to hang on the perimeter. He needs to play bigger for sure. And yes, we are a half-court team with EC out (yet another in the myriad reasons EC needs to start), but I'd like to think we could still at least push tempo to at least some degree.

 

[gary-7]

Cadeau was very good, but you didn't really mention Ingram. He's been the best Heel so far this year I think. Fantastic play for the most part. Guy looks like an NBA player to me, and he's been a massive upgrade over Nance.

And how about the defense? Phew. Guards are getting shredded, we can't defend the pick and roll, lots of miscommunications, bad fouls.... The only consistent stops were the first 10 minutes when (mostly) Ingram was highly disruptive. By far our worse defensive performance of the year. Luckily our offense was even better this time.

We were disruptive early BECAUSE of tempo. We had them totally out of their comfort zone and they got loose with the rock. In other words, TEMPO works to our advantage on BOTH ends.

 

[gary-7]

Not sure we have 8-9 legit guys. I think Withers, High, and Wojcik are about to see pretty limited minutes. Davis and Ingram both played 38 minutes tonight, and Bacot probably would've played ~35 without foul trouble.

I think Hubert will be mindful to play a bit deeper bench this year, but I see a clear top five (Davis, Cadeau, Ryan, Ingram, Bacot) with a single "good" backup in Trimble and a talented but uneven (due to lack of defense/rebounding at such a critical position) big in Washington. No one else has shown much yet this year.

We do have 10 legit guys and frankly, getting back to that old play-
not-to-lose short rotation mentality is the last thing we need,

 

[gary-7]

Solid analysis and comments. Very nice win besides giving most of the lead back.
But…….for three straight games…..and maybe 30 times (or more) in my Carolina
association, a guy carries his team with 30+ points. What contributes to this
defensive breakdown? Any hoophead on here able to explain it to me?

TEMPO, TEMPO, TEMPO, my friend.
It applies to both ends, especially when we don't have a legit "stopper" this season.

 

[gary-7]

EC's first double digit assist game with the masterful Ed Cota there sitting behind the bench was special. I wonder how many double digit assist games Cota had in his UNC career. There were several jaw dropper passes from EC but one that didn't end with an assist (somebody/maybe Ryan missed the shorty) was that one that looked almost like a wide receiver curled upfield and EC hit him perfectly over the shoulder across the lane. Yall know the one I'm talking about?

Yes, and EC had 5 not converted + 3 "coach's" that resulted in FTs, and from my notes he got cheaterd of 1 dime by the stat man.

 

[gary-7]

Actually getting kind of tired how often that happens. I've noticed it the last couple of years with both Davis and Love not pointing to the passer.

In fairness, I saw him point once in transition, but I would like to see a return of this practice as a consistent part of the improved culture.

 

[gary-7]

We might need to start mixing in some zone defense.

Multiplicity in general.

 

[strummingram]

If Tennessee didn't have Knecht, they'd have lost by 40... or more. Without him in the game, Carolina was just debasing them. When he went out, the game was over.

 

[UNC-75]

If/when Cadeau is able to hit his free throws consistently and becomes a more reliable shooter he will make it impossible for a defense to stop the Heels. I hope he is working on those shots day and night.

 

[DSouthr]

Looking at the box score, Ingram and RJ each had 38mins, guys sorry but that is to much, love both these guys but that is to many minutes. RJ's minutes, I do have to factor in Ryan catching foul trouble and fouling out as a factor for RJ's 38 but Seth and even Pax could have got some of those 38. Yeah, I know, Wit pissed the bed last night, felt even the 12mins he got was to many but I darn sure feel JWash heeded more court time and it be at the 4. At the 4 BECAUSE Bacot sat a good bit in the first half and we needed his rebounding and scoring that second half, we needed bacot on the court. So I put Jalen in at the 4 because Bacot had to be out there and it lets me keep Ingram at the 3 where he is more of a scoring threat with his ability to either back down or pop out and nail a trey.

WE are slipping in to "iron man" minutes again for a couple guys, need to curb that. Isn't it striking that we see the tempo really slow down from 1st to second half AND see a couple guys getting 38mins for this game? Tempo slows, all the sudden Hubert is calling set play after set play and we go from 24 up to having late game drama? Some check it if you can but I believe the number of subs was much higher in the first half than the second. So you mean that pace slowed down and we played fewer guys, could it be that playing fewer guys has an effect on the pace of the game? You know I am saying that tongue in cheek because common sense tells you playing fewer players is going to slow your pace down just as it effects your ability to defend on tired legs.

 

[tarwhiz]

Too many minutes and I don't care what the final score says.
If HD continues to revert back to this it will hurt the team going forward.

I don't have a problem with the min last night( must win home game) but I agree that Ingram can't be getting 35-40 min each game without getting worn down.
The 4 spot behind Ingram is a problem!
I know some were clamoring for Withers to start this season, hell he has been a huge disappointment so far even backing up the 4 spot😔
Carolina only plays 4 total games in Dec so the staff will have an opportunity to really dig into what is going on with Withers, and make a decision, " Can we use him with his weaknesses, or do we turn to High and try to fast track his development?"
Either way, we need for one of them to give us 12-15 productive, high motor minutes each night. Ingram needs rest, and we can't utilize him at the 3 if our 4 spot continues to be garbage if Ingram is not playing there.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

We had trouble? We dropped 100 on them. That is likely to be the best offensive game we have all year.

That misrepresents what I said - which was about how we looked when TN committed to D.

Which was basically the 2nd half - when we were outscored 53-39

I call that trouble.

On the offensive side, we had 2 of our 3 best quarters of the year in the first half - at 30 and 31 pts. Our Q3 against Northern Iowa was even better at 34, but we sustained it for most of the whole half against TN.

Gary emphasizes that we got away from what was working in the first half. I can't argue with that. But TN was also playing some seriously disruptive, in-your-grill D that we didn't handle too well.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I know some were clamoring for Withers to start this season, hell you has been a huge disappointment so far even backing up the 4 spot😔

Mea culpa. I still think he has what it takes, but he clearly needs work (and PT) to be where I thought he already was.

Withers has a higher ceiling than Wojcik, but Wojcik is a more comfortable fit and plays under better control. Meanwhile, Washington is too easily pushed around, High is a freshman, and Okonkwo looks even more out of sync than Withers.

I do think Ingram is better playing SF than PF, though, so we need to bring someone along at PF if we want Ingram playing most of his minutes at his best position.

I'd like to see Withers get a good run against FSU. It's the easiest game for a while. Assuming we can avoid getting cocky after the good win over TN.

 

[ChiShankCity]

Can't offer too many negatives, especially offensively. We scored 1.3 points per possession against probably the best defensive team in the country. Tennessee still ranks in the top 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom and BartTorvik despite what UNC did to their defense last night.

My concern coming out of the game is Tennessee will struggle to score this year. They came into the game 70th in offensive efficiency and they scored at a high rate when they didn't shoot themselves in the foot. But that isn't a huge surprise to me. I don't think we have the pieces to be a good defensive team. Cadeau and RJ can be targeted against most quality guards and we don't have a natural rim defender.

I don't think we can look at a macro view of our defense game-to-game. I just don't think we'll ever put together 40 minutes of good defense. I think it's more important for this team to get key stops in key stretches of the game. Time and score will dictate a lot of that, but that's how I view UNC's defense.

I do think our depth is being overstated by many. I see Cadeau, RJ, Cormac, Ingram, and Bacot as our clear and obvious 5 best players. Then Washington and Trimble are effective role players who will have good moments and not so good moments like every role player has. I'm waiting to see what Withers is actually good at, but he plays a position where he'll need to give us minutes so he's our 8th guy. Wojcik and High are less than 5 minute specialty minutes guys in massive games like this.

I think there's a little bit of overreaction to Tennessee making it into half a game late. That's a pretty good team that has some pride. They weren't going to fall over and lose by 30. It's normal we're going to try to bleed the clock for a bit too. Also, this core group of Bacot and RJ haven't had much experience playing with 25 point leads in the second half against real teams. Probably a bit of a learning experience, even if their seniors. Hell, Hubert hasn't had much experience with that kind of game either.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Looking at the box score, Ingram and RJ each had 38mins, guys sorry but that is to much, love both these guys but that is to many minutes. RJ's minutes, I do have to factor in Ryan catching foul trouble and fouling out as a factor for RJ's 38 but Seth and even Pax could have got some of those 38.

I'm guessing RJ and Ingram play fewer minutes if Cormac is 100%, but I don't want to see Iron Man creeping back in.

Agree that Seth and Pax could have played more. IMO, Hubert was a little too quick to pull Trimble when he got a bit cocky after good plays and made mistakes. Smack him, but let him play.

The UConn/UK/OK sequence will let us know if Hubert is actually serious about using his depth. If we need to go Iron Man in Q4, OK, but make sure you don't wear out our starters early on if you intend to play that card.