Stats and stuff (and video) - Northwestern game

[gary-7]

Starting with notes:
- Other than Berry (who was on it all night), we went through long stretches in the first half where nobody was playing D worth a damn, and honestly some of it was as much lack of commitment and effort as it was technique. But then our late first-half spurt was largely triggered by increased team defensive effort (apparently Roy got some guys' attention).

- We were better defensively as a team in the second half. Particularly Jackson and Brice stepped it up on that end. Theo honestly had a rough night on the defensive end --- got himself off balance and overran his spots at times (made me wonder if his wheels were hurting) --- Kennedy needs to work harder to keep his man from catching clean on the block (did better in the second half) --- and Nate........

- Speaking of Theo, ya never know what he might do at a given moment, but he is irrepressible and pulls off some gems. Kid don't back down.

- Thankfully our FT shooting decided to show up --- 16-19 is pretty sporty!

- Speaking of Jackson, he showed why he is the perfect 3 in our system --- a versatile true "swing" man, in constant motion and very crafty. Dude is sneaky-deadly against zones.

- And speaking of zones... our Zone Offense looked damned sweet most of the night --- a thing of beauty when we keep the spacing and movement --- JB directing traffic and JJ terrorizing the baseline defenders is bad news brewing for that 2-3. Honestly, the only thing missing was more made 3s. Put Marcus back in that mix and I think we'll be OK
Our last bucket is a great example:
Up 11 in the last 2 minutes of the game, we milk the clock in Zone O, then with 11 seconds on the shot JB takes control, feinting to the key then penetrating to draw the off-guard which creates the gap for the kick to Theo, and with a baseline defender now having to close out on a potential 3-ball he wisely drives and drops the sweet dime to JJ for the highlight finish.... the kinda stuff that makes coachin' fun!

Teamwork. Dagger. Ballgame.

So anyway, here are some interesting numbers --- hopefully no one will be offended.

The Good: 16-19 FTs
The Bad: 7-24 from 3

I only credited 5 true Fast Break points, and 27 Secondary Break Points...
but we had 16 of the SB points in the second half which helped turn things back in our direction and put the game away.

Berry/Pinson (22:03) - 2.40 PPM
Berry/Britt (11:27) - 1.84 PPM
Britt/Pinson (4:16) - 1.64 PPM

Berry in game (33:30)
UNC 73 (2.21 PPM)
NU 57 (1.70 PPM)

Berry not in game (6:30)
UNC 7 (1.08 PPM)
NU 12 (1.85 PPM)

 

[shun1]

Thank you Gary-7.

!!!!!!!!!!!! GO ROY & STAFF !!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!! GO TAR HEELS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Spacegrass]

Looks like when Paige comes back Pinson moves into the "energy guy" role off the bench. Which I feel is a much better role for him at the moment. We need our best offense on the court to start games. Meeks usage this season is going to be match up dependent. 2 rebounds tonight is terrible. Right now defensively Hicks is just a much better defender and has been for going on 2 seasons. I have been mostly impressed with Brice so far with his consistency on the boards , less pouting when things don't go well , and has gotten better each game with staying out of foul trouble. His feet defensively still need some work but they look improved from last year.

 

[DSouthr]

Considering that I did not see the NI game, my initial reaction following this game is "WELCOME TO THE 2015-16 SEASON JUSTIN JACKSON" DARN GLAD TO SEE YA!

As this game progressed Jackson got better and better, the kid was everywhere, by far the best I have seen him, the kid destroyed that zone. His passing and Theo's passing were what we tune in to see, just pretty pretty stuff. Ya got to talk about the job Joel Berry did on the defensive end and so glad to see Joel working to penetrate the zone with the dribble and basically set up our offensive attack of that tuff zone. Notice, Joel doesn't just swing the ball around the horn, he looks to attack no matter if it is zone or man, contrast that with Nate who rarely attacks the middle of a zone and allows the offense to bog down. That is Joel, he attacks, be it with the dribble or the pass, he is constantly looking to attack, last night Justin & Theo joined him in attack mode, loved it.

Really enjoyed Brice attacking the soft middle of that zone and when they seemed to adjust to that we attacked the short corners with big time tuffness. Justin or Theo were going to that short corner and either finished or slipped the ball to a big when the defender comitted to the attack.

Theo, well, one thing you can never say about that kid is that he is boring! He had some of the sweetest passes you could ever ask for, aside for a couple of late second half heat checks that I could have done with out, felt he was really sharp on the offensive end. But yeah, he did struggle on the defensive side. We may be seeing some of the fall out from his not being able to get in a full off season of work, he is struggling a little bit to stay in front of the quicker 2 guards and he gets caught out of position on help and not able to recover back. Demps took him to school a few times, especially in that second half.

There is a bunch of really good teams, top 20 teams that would have lost to NW last night, they went in to this game fully believing they not just could win but would and our Heels just did not wilt in the face of that. That was by far the best I have seen our fellas play this season, as good as we have attacked a tuff zone in a long while.

 

[Steat]

One down and one to go on. I said yesterday that the Heels needed to win these two games in Kansas City to avoid dropping out of the top 10. I was proud of the team last night. A win tonight and a win against Maryland will vault the Heels back into the top 5 and that's were they need to stay going into the ACC season. If the Heels win the Dance this year many are going to look back at the 14-1 UNC run to lead by 7 at the half. I was very interested in seeing how the team would react after going down by 7 points late in the first half. Let me tell you folks, this is what a championship caliber team is made of....and it was all done without our best player. NW played zone all night and the Heels only shot 7-24 from the 3-point line and we still beat them by 11 pts. Why? Because Justin Jackson roamed the baseline like no other UNC player I have ever seen. Pinson didn't have his best game but he is glue man for the Heels and has no fear. He will take most of Britt's minutes when Paige returns and will be the first off the bench and will not lose that many minutes. The overall defense was much better. The team forced NW to take longer 3-point shots....many from the NBA circle. Hoping that Luke Maye can get more playing time because I think the Heels will need him as an option if the Meeks, Hicks and Brice all get in foul trouble. I just don't want to see James in the game more than 2-3 minutes a game.

 

[gary-7]

Considering that I did not see the NI game, my initial reaction following this game is "WELCOME TO THE 2015-16 SEASON JUSTIN JACKSON" DARN GLAD TO SEE YA!

As this game progressed Jackson got better and better, the kid was everywhere, by far the best I have seen him, the kid destroyed that zone. His passing and Theo's passing were what we tune in to see, just pretty pretty stuff. Ya got to talk about the job Joel Berry did on the defensive end and so glad to see Joel working to penetrate the zone with the dribble and basically set up our offensive attack of that tuff zone. Notice, Joel doesn't just swing the ball around the horn, he looks to attack no matter if it is zone or man, contrast that with Nate who rarely attacks the middle of a zone and allows the offense to bog down. That is Joel, he attacks, be it with the dribble or the pass, he is constantly looking to attack, last night Justin & Theo joined him in attack mode, loved it.

Really enjoyed Brice attacking the soft middle of that zone and when they seemed to adjust to that we attacked the short corners with big time tuffness. Justin or Theo were going to that short corner and either finished or slipped the ball to a big when the defender comitted to the attack.

Theo, well, one thing you can never say about that kid is that he is boring! He had some of the sweetest passes you could ever ask for, aside for a couple of late second half heat checks that I could have done with out, felt he was really sharp on the offensive end. But yeah, he did struggle on the defensive side. We may be seeing some of the fall out from his not being able to get in a full off season of work, he is struggling a little bit to stay in front of the quicker 2 guards and he gets caught out of position on help and not able to recover back. Demps took him to school a few times, especially in that second half.

There is a bunch of really good teams, top 20 teams that would have lost to NW last night, they went in to this game fully believing they not just could win but would and our Heels just did not wilt in the face of that. That was by far the best I have seen our fellas play this season, as good as we have attacked a tuff zone in a long while.

Dave, you got it right on all counts.
Our Zone Offense is designed for wing entries into gaps created by motion. When our Wings get these kinds of assist numbers that means A) the offense is working, because B) the PG is directing the flow and attacking (and NOT pounding the ball with useless dribbles), C) we are stressing the D on the baseline BEHIND the zone, and D) the Bigs are getting rewarded for moving and working.
We pop a decent pct of 3s and we're at our magic number around 90 with a 20 pt win as it should be.

 

[acarter0277]

I would like to see us get it into Meeks in the high post more often in our Zone Offense. He is such a good passer, he could make the right decisions there. The ball in the high post collapses the zone, and it would make for some easier looks from 3 for our perimeter players.

 

[Steat]

Has anyone noticed that the turnovers are now this year? Tokoto gone? Berry doing good job at the point?

 

[gary-7]

I would like to see us get it into Meeks in the high post more often in our Zone Offense. He is such a good passer, he could make the right decisions there. The ball in the high post collapses the zone, and it would make for some easier looks from 3 for our perimeter players.

I noticed NW paying a lot of attention to our high post man, probably for that very reason. They seemed to react to a Big moving from low to high, which at least makes our baseline and sometimes backside attacks more viable.

 

[gary-7]

Has anyone noticed that the turnovers are now this year? Tokoto gone? Berry doing good job at the point?

...and JB must've stolen the stat guy's girl friend. Got slighted out of an assist and a blocked shot

 

[Ozheelfan]

Thanks as always for the insight Gary.

There's been a lot of hand wringing this year (every year) about the 3pt defence and against NW it was again suspect.

Watching the game I noticed all perimeter defenders run behind ball screens instead of fighting through them. Demps absolutely punished them for it.

I'm not as well versed on the game as many posters here but is this Roy's standard method or does he like his guards to stick with the ball.

I should say at times it was hard for the on-ball defender to stay with his man, not because of the ball screen but the ball screen defenders. Big Joel, Kennedy and others were setting screens against their own guards!!! (or maybe just getting in the way)

Anyway, hope you can shed some light, I'm going to go sit down and watch Ben Simmons.......

 

[gary-7]

Thanks as always for the insight Gary.

There's been a lot of hand wringing this year (every year) about the 3pt defence and against NW it was again suspect.

Watching the game I noticed all perimeter defenders run behind ball screens instead of fighting through them. Demps absolutely punished them for it.

I'm not as well versed on the game as many posters here but is this Roy's standard method or does he like his guards to stick with the ball.

I should say at times it was hard for the on-ball defender to stay with his man, not because of the ball screen but the ball screen defenders. Big Joel, Kennedy and others were setting screens against their own guards!!! (or maybe just getting in the way)

Anyway, hope you can shed some light, I'm going to go sit down and watch Ben Simmons.......

Oz, the above/below thing comes into play more with screens for guys coming ACROSS the top of the key. If you have a dead eye shooter you don't like to give him the extra space. The best option is for the defender to beat his man to the screen (or the dookie tactic of grabbing jersey/shorts and holding thru the screen). If you have to go below you'd better get to the other side before your man has a head of steam... and hopefully your teammate is calling them out. Nate and Theo got caught more than once by Demps.
The sceener's man (your teammate) needs to either do a hard hedge or clear so you can at least beat the ball handler to a spot.