...and the themes were playing through it and belief in our abilities.
That we would win a game at home against a good team following that gawdawful, nearly unforgivable loss Weds. is no surprise. The bigger question going in to today was how we would do it... and the implications were big for what this team would decide to be about. In many ways this was the perfect opponent and perfect environment to put that to the test.
Good Stuff:
- Any coach will tell you (at least off the record) that maybe the most important aspect of a given game to figure out early is how it's gonna be called. Then play accordingly. I'll tell ya I'm glad we got a bad crew today, and that was clear in the first 2 minutes. Brice got hammered 3 times with no calls and got mad --- and I mean mad to the point I was afraid he was gonna pick up a flagrant swinging his arms in frustration. So, whattaya gonna do now? The correct answer is play through it... and turn that anger into playing that much harder. And also accept that if it's gonna be a "physical day" then, by heck, play that way too. How many time have we seen UNC just take it and then get called for patty-cake fouls while the opponent is getting in full licks? Not today --- the guys took it personally and gave back as good as they got, and Lord knows we got away with some too, especially in the second half.
- Welcome back: Nate's shooting woes have hurt. Good to see him stroke some smooth 3s today. Big Joel shocked the world with an off-hand hook (!!!) and a behind-the-backboard 15 ft fall-away while the game was still in doubt (unfortunately he reverted to his bad side in the second half). Hicks was finishing strong again, and good game for Meeks off the bench. Also, Theo gave us the kind of versatile contribution we need from him. Also a glad welcome back to the bench, seemingly healthy and in uniform, after coming back from the locker room to Kenny Williams after that scary fall.
- This may have been the best part: Our defense (especially in the second half) was forcing Miami to start their half-court offense from way out deep. Kept them from getting any rhythm and keyed the blow-out that went down early in the half.
Bad stuff:
- Really, only one thing: I know a lot of folks don't realize where the breakdowns come, but our Bigs are not seeing man-and-ball well enough and are too often late helping. Since Dean Smith, our Guards are taught to funnel sideline-then-baseline. That goes out the window if the help isn't there in time. A guy driving baseline against our 20 D is something we hope occurs --- it should be a TO waiting to happen (or at least a difficult shot) if guys are doing their baseline-double/backside-help assignments. We still have work to do there.
Stats:
- As I said earlier, the way this game was called (or not) should have played right into the wheelhouse of Laranaga's bumper-car basketball. No sir. We were tough as nails vs their board attacks as witnessed by our 46-29 rebounding edge. We also scored 50 in the paint to their 28.
- Here's an odd one: In a game in which we scored 96 (and could easily made that 106) and hung 54 on em in the second half, we only scored 32 in our transition game (11 FB, 22 SB). Good news is it was obvious Roy hammered the guys about half-court execution. By my count we scored 44 in normal half-court O, and got 20 off set plays out of dead balls. That execution is very much a cause of 54.2% FGs in a game where we couldn't rely as much on easier transition baskets.
- Even with Marcus not having a good shooting day, we were 9/20 from 3 --- but more realistically we were 9/17 before garbage time. JB 2/3, JJ 3/4, Theo 1/2, Nate 2/3. here's the thing, folks --- that is not a fluke, that is more like these guys should shoot. It all comes down to belief on our own abilities. By all rights this team should be closer to 50% than 30% as 3-pt shooters.
- Kudos to Justin. 15 pts and 8 dimes (all in the flow of the game) by Walking Buckets.
- Kudos to Joel Berry. Only got 18 minutes due to foul trouble but came up with 10 pts and also caused 3 TOs that won't make the official stat sheets. More importantly, JB set the aggression tone and was the catalyst that launched our second half blitz right from the first possession.
- And of course kudos to the should-be ACC Player of the Year Brice Johnson for playing hard and 'playing through it' with another strong double-double (16 and 15).
- Final special kudos to CBS for their camera work (better than ESPN's) that showed what was really going on in the trenches.
- Here's what I want to close with: What we saw today was obviously pretty impressive, but it goes beyond that. We just dismantled the #11 team in the country, on a day when the style of play being allowed fit right into their briar-patch --- on a day when Miami shot twice as many FTs as we did (26-13). My message is that if some UNC fans don't understand how talented this bunch is, well ya might want to change channels to soccer or something. How we fare from here out is not a matter of talent, it is a matter of using it. And that comes down to consistent resolve and execution, responding to whatever conditions they are presented with and playing through them, and maybe most importantly, belief in that talent and playing and shooting with aggression, confidence and a chip on their proverbial shoulders.
We shall see...
That we would win a game at home against a good team following that gawdawful, nearly unforgivable loss Weds. is no surprise. The bigger question going in to today was how we would do it... and the implications were big for what this team would decide to be about. In many ways this was the perfect opponent and perfect environment to put that to the test.
Good Stuff:
- Any coach will tell you (at least off the record) that maybe the most important aspect of a given game to figure out early is how it's gonna be called. Then play accordingly. I'll tell ya I'm glad we got a bad crew today, and that was clear in the first 2 minutes. Brice got hammered 3 times with no calls and got mad --- and I mean mad to the point I was afraid he was gonna pick up a flagrant swinging his arms in frustration. So, whattaya gonna do now? The correct answer is play through it... and turn that anger into playing that much harder. And also accept that if it's gonna be a "physical day" then, by heck, play that way too. How many time have we seen UNC just take it and then get called for patty-cake fouls while the opponent is getting in full licks? Not today --- the guys took it personally and gave back as good as they got, and Lord knows we got away with some too, especially in the second half.
- Welcome back: Nate's shooting woes have hurt. Good to see him stroke some smooth 3s today. Big Joel shocked the world with an off-hand hook (!!!) and a behind-the-backboard 15 ft fall-away while the game was still in doubt (unfortunately he reverted to his bad side in the second half). Hicks was finishing strong again, and good game for Meeks off the bench. Also, Theo gave us the kind of versatile contribution we need from him. Also a glad welcome back to the bench, seemingly healthy and in uniform, after coming back from the locker room to Kenny Williams after that scary fall.
- This may have been the best part: Our defense (especially in the second half) was forcing Miami to start their half-court offense from way out deep. Kept them from getting any rhythm and keyed the blow-out that went down early in the half.
Bad stuff:
- Really, only one thing: I know a lot of folks don't realize where the breakdowns come, but our Bigs are not seeing man-and-ball well enough and are too often late helping. Since Dean Smith, our Guards are taught to funnel sideline-then-baseline. That goes out the window if the help isn't there in time. A guy driving baseline against our 20 D is something we hope occurs --- it should be a TO waiting to happen (or at least a difficult shot) if guys are doing their baseline-double/backside-help assignments. We still have work to do there.
Stats:
- As I said earlier, the way this game was called (or not) should have played right into the wheelhouse of Laranaga's bumper-car basketball. No sir. We were tough as nails vs their board attacks as witnessed by our 46-29 rebounding edge. We also scored 50 in the paint to their 28.
- Here's an odd one: In a game in which we scored 96 (and could easily made that 106) and hung 54 on em in the second half, we only scored 32 in our transition game (11 FB, 22 SB). Good news is it was obvious Roy hammered the guys about half-court execution. By my count we scored 44 in normal half-court O, and got 20 off set plays out of dead balls. That execution is very much a cause of 54.2% FGs in a game where we couldn't rely as much on easier transition baskets.
- Even with Marcus not having a good shooting day, we were 9/20 from 3 --- but more realistically we were 9/17 before garbage time. JB 2/3, JJ 3/4, Theo 1/2, Nate 2/3. here's the thing, folks --- that is not a fluke, that is more like these guys should shoot. It all comes down to belief on our own abilities. By all rights this team should be closer to 50% than 30% as 3-pt shooters.
- Kudos to Justin. 15 pts and 8 dimes (all in the flow of the game) by Walking Buckets.
- Kudos to Joel Berry. Only got 18 minutes due to foul trouble but came up with 10 pts and also caused 3 TOs that won't make the official stat sheets. More importantly, JB set the aggression tone and was the catalyst that launched our second half blitz right from the first possession.
- And of course kudos to the should-be ACC Player of the Year Brice Johnson for playing hard and 'playing through it' with another strong double-double (16 and 15).
- Final special kudos to CBS for their camera work (better than ESPN's) that showed what was really going on in the trenches.
- Here's what I want to close with: What we saw today was obviously pretty impressive, but it goes beyond that. We just dismantled the #11 team in the country, on a day when the style of play being allowed fit right into their briar-patch --- on a day when Miami shot twice as many FTs as we did (26-13). My message is that if some UNC fans don't understand how talented this bunch is, well ya might want to change channels to soccer or something. How we fare from here out is not a matter of talent, it is a matter of using it. And that comes down to consistent resolve and execution, responding to whatever conditions they are presented with and playing through them, and maybe most importantly, belief in that talent and playing and shooting with aggression, confidence and a chip on their proverbial shoulders.
We shall see...
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