Stats and stuff (Providence game - NCAAT)...

[gary-7]

...and I never thought I'd see Brice Johnson calmly lecturing a referee on how to call post play. But late in the second half he did just that. The same ref had lectured Brice earlier about his reactions but then after an awful sequence of muggings caused 2 TOs on our post entries Brice calmly let him know what's up. Maybe Roy added some of his own after halftime --- I dunno. All I know is it worked...

Anyway...
- Yeah, this was a tale of two halves, but here's the thing: we didn't play all that badly in the first half. The team D got a bit better but THE single biggest difference was in the second half the zebras just started calling the multitude of fouls they had to choose from.

- Speaking of which, our FT shooting came through for us again. 19/21. That's just over 90%! Hell, at one point I believe we hit 18 in a row. That'll win ya some ball games. But you can't do that unless you get the opportunities. In the second half we did (16 of our 21 FT attempts).

- We didn't shoot well from 3 (4/14), but we made enough to keep them honest, and made up for it by shooting 60% on 2 pt FGs.

- We started off on the wrong track blowing 4 Assists before the Under-16, but cleaned that up and only had 10 total for the game. In other words, we finished thru contact. Speaking of Assists, I don't know who was keeping the official numbers but that number of 12 credited is just wrong. The real number was 15 (and JB had 4, not 2).

- Speaking of oft-misreported numbers, we actually had 14 Fast Break and 25 Secondary Break points.

- A concern was the return of give-away TOs. We had an ugly jag in the first half, and Marcus inexplicably went brain-dead to start the second half --- but on the other hand in the first half some of those were aided by our Bigs being held.on lob entries (thus Brice's lecture).

- So... Providence has 2 legit future NBA players, and they scored 50 of their 66 points. Switching Buckets onto Dunn bothered him, and we got 4 TOs off him forcing things, so I can live with that. We defended Bentil better with our small lineups using Theo rather than having a Big on him.

- We owned the boards (42-24) and when we controlled the glass our transition game got going. Once they were gassed, it was game over.

- Yet another Brice game --- 21 and 10 w/ 2 Blocks and numerous altered shots, and nice second half adjustment in getting Hicks the ball in face-up mode and letting him go to work --- 13 and 7 with 2 nasty Blocks... and more good board help by JB with 6 to go with his 15 pts and making life miserable for whoever he was guarding.

- Finally, here's one more number for the NCAA and/or CBS: 9:40 pm. Ridiculous. What time are they gonna schedule us in Philly? After the Late Late Show with James Cordon?

Anyway --- back to the Sweet 16. Honestly (although I'm incapable of pulling for UK, I was hoping we would draw them --- because despite the nonsense the media blow-hards were pushing, UK's got nothing for us. Indiana, although we're still better, is a trickier match-up with all their shooters. Let's have a good week of prep and hope we play before midnight......

 

[Heelicious]

Great post Gary. I just don't get how officials can go so far on swinging how that call a game in the same game.

And THERE WERE PLENTY OF BAD CALLS BOTH WAYS but some of the times when we got steals there were some really bogus whistles.

Finally when they called Brice out of bounds on the sideline, at no point was he EVER out of bounds. I saw it right in front of me. Not w wn close. Probably 3 inches inbounds.

I know it's just one play and no big deal. And I can get not seeing something so not calling it. Bit how in the f do you clearly NOT SEE a guy out of bounds but call it anyway? So maddening.

 

[gary-7]

Great post Gary. I just don't get how officials can go so far on swinging how that call a game in the same game.

And THERE WERE PLENTY OF BAD CALLS BOTH WAYS but some of the times when we got steals there were some really bogus whistles.

Finally when they called Brice out of bounds on the sideline, at no point was he EVER out of bounds. I saw it right in front of me. Not w wn close. Probably 3 inches inbounds.

I know it's just one play and no big deal. And I can get not seeing something so not calling it. Bit how in the f do you clearly NOT SEE a guy out of bounds but call it anyway? So maddening.

I suspected as much. And yeah, the incompetence in some games is astounding. On a couple of those plays when we air-mailed passes out of bounds, they absolutely had a hold of Brice around the waist.

What I do like (and one thing I've been harping on) is that we started finishing thru contact. Speaking of contact, that Bentil flop against Hicks was a joke --- he was starting his fall before any contact --- and the charge they called on JB was just awful (then the other zebra called a make-up on the other end). And yeah, it speaks volumes about the impact of officiating that once we got to the line the game was quickly over.

 

[Archer2]

Roy really tightened the rotation with only 8 guys playing more than one minute and Kennedy only getting 10. We crushed them on the boards and shot 52.5% from the field.

The defense, in general, was very good. Roy putting JJ on Dunn in the second half was the adjustment of the game. Going small with JJ at the four and Theo at the three was another great move.

 

[BillyL]

Official Box Score


https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf9/4650509.pdf?DB_LANG=C&SITE=UNC&DB_OEM_ID=3350

 

[DSouthr]

Roy really tightened the rotation with only 8 guys playing more than one minute and Kennedy only getting 10. We crushed them on the boards and shot 52.5% from the field.

The defense, in general, was very good. Roy putting JJ on Dunn in the second half was the adjustment of the game. Going small with JJ at the four and Theo at the three was another great move.

For me I felt Theo on Bentyl was a great decision, got Theo's length on him but Theo's quickness and nasty streak really bothered him. Jackson's length did bother Dunn but Justin also got a lot of help on those drives by his mates. The real difference in this game was not Dunn nor Bentyl, it was Rodney Bullock being shut down. Those 2 fellas are not going to beat you by themselves, they need winning margin to come from others and Bullock was a key member of the others.

I really liked our game plan vs Prov, we forced Bentyl and Dunn to be out side jump shooters and got hands in their face. Now Dunn did hit a lot of tuff shots, his forte had not been jump shooting, he has been more a slasher but he was hitting those jump shots when he was not parked on the bench with fouls. I would rather Bentyl be outside shooting jumpers than being inside in rebounding position and drawing fouls on our bigs. I have not seen the box score but by their best big man camping outside we feasted on their misses, many times it was only 3 Tar Heels around the rebounds and not a friar in site.

I felt Cooley made a major mistake in leaving Bentyl in when he picked up his 4th and bringing Dunn back in with his 4th. They had 2 guys that could not defend strong and risk picking up #5. Guy with 4 fouls and especially on tired legs, bentyl had not been out for a good while, you never know what kind of scramble will get a kid in a bad position and he not be able to resist fouling. And that is what happened with bentyl, got in a bad position on tired legs and did something dumb. I think you have to try to save both of them until around the 4min mark and then roll the dice that they can finish the game. As it was we attacked Bentyl several times, I thought Issiah had hung #5 on him a couple other times before he finally got him.

 

[goheels653]

I felt Cooley made a major mistake in leaving Bentyl in when he picked up his 4th and bringing Dunn back in with his 4th.

There was nothing left to lose at that point. It was the right call to leave them in. Obviously, didn't make a difference. I thought there were a couple weak calls on Bentil also, but I'm sure they missed some as well. Again, wasn't going to make a difference at that point. Great win.

 

[DSouthr]

There was nothing left to lose at that point. It was the right call to leave them in. Obviously, didn't make a difference. I thought there were a couple weak calls on Bentil also, but I'm sure they missed some as well. Again, wasn't going to make a difference at that point. Great win.

Granted we were making a run at the time but IMO you take bentyl out and leave Dunn on the bench till about the 4 min mark. If a team is going on a run on ya then you really need to put defenders out that can defend hard and not have to back off because they have 4 fouls. You are not usually going to stop a run by having 2 guys on the floor with 4 fouls each, means at best you can only really defend with 3 guys, that played right in to our hands.

 

[SeaHawk98]

It is unbelievable how incompetent officials are at this level. Some really bad and blown calls last night, but we overcame. That Dunn kid is awesome, should have a great pro career. That Bentil kid should have gone to Duke. Could have easily fouled out in the first half, complained about every call and had the nerve to yell at the UNC bench after making a shot in the first half. Loved seeing him foul out, karma.

 

[BillyL]

Overall, I thought the officiating was pretty lousy at both ends of the court . .

 

[gary-7]

Roy really tightened the rotation with only 8 guys playing more than one minute and Kennedy only getting 10. We crushed them on the boards and shot 52.5% from the field.

The defense, in general, was very good. Roy putting JJ on Dunn in the second half was the adjustment of the game. Going small with JJ at the four and Theo at the three was another great move.

Actually Arch, anytime we go small, Theo plays the 4. It's subtle with that lineup, but that is always the case. But yeah, that was a great adjustment. Bentil couldn't get away with drifting outside the arc with Theo on him, and Buckets' length made it tougher in Dunn.

 

[gary-7]

Overall, I thought the officiating was pretty lousy at both ends of the court . .

It really was, Billy. As it often ironically happens with lousy zebras, once we got more physical in response to Providence we started getting more calls, and also started getting away with more on our defensive end. Go figure.

 

[TarHeelTroy]

Despite Dunn's 29 points I thought Justin did a good job bothering him in the 2nd half. Nice energy from Justin all game. The save by Isaiah on the airball three leading to the Justin score under the basket was BEAUTIFUL! We need that kind of hustle to win this whole thing. Brice was freaking beast, as per usual. Great win. These slow first halves we've so far been able to overcome are going to end up killing us. We were extremely fortunate they couldn't buy a three pointer except for Dunn and Bentil. Next game is going to be a HUGE challenge is an understatement.

 

[Tom79]

David, you mention the two in Bentil and Dunn but the problem for them became no other players for them were scoring...what this Heels team is doing, along with coach, is playing some terrific ball, look at the "numbers inside the numbers"...much of the non-box stuff is amazing.
In the second half on one call Nate got a bit into a kid on D and knocked the ball away and the kid sort of tackled Nate falling all on top of and against him...hard not to call that one. Our kids worked hard on defense which we all know wins championships.
Did anyone hear the Jet at half? When asked about the Heels in the second half coming up he closed with "play hard, play smart and play together"...
GO HEELS!

 

[Archer2]

It really was, Billy. As it often ironically happens with lousy zebras, once we got more physical in response to Providence we started getting more calls, and also started getting away with more on our defensive end. Go figure.

Yep, poor officiating both ways, pretty much the norm all year long. I guess it's not just ACC officials who need more training.

As for getting more aggressive and getting more calls, tentative defensive play will often draw more fouls than being assertive. See teams like dook and UofL for proof. They figure the zebras won't call all the fouls and they benefit from the advantage gained when those fouls aren't always called.

Ironically, those teams get a rep for playing tough defense which in turn, leads to them getting the benefit of the doubt on close calls.

Is there any doubt that our more aggressive defense after the loss to dook has fueled our late run? I don't think there is.

 

[gary-7]

Yep, poor officiating both ways, pretty much the norm all year long. I guess it's not just ACC officials who need more training.

As for getting more aggressive and getting more calls, tentative defensive play will often draw more fouls than being assertive. See teams like dook and UofL for proof. They figure the zebras won't call all the fouls and they benefit from the advantage gained when those fouls aren't always called.

Ironically, those teams get a rep for playing tough defense which in turn, leads to them getting the benefit of the doubt on close calls.

Is there any doubt that our more aggressive defense after the loss to dook has fueled our late run? I don't think there is.

I just posted a link to Adam's great article. Our guys never start off mouthy, but inevitably jackass opponents poke the bear once too often. They don't seem to realize that talking smack to Theo is like giving a 5-year-old a Red Bull, and needling JB just makes him nastier and as for Brice, well... you won't like Brice when he's angry.

As the Waco Kid said about Mongo: "No no... don't do that. If you shoot him you'll just make him mad."

 

[DSouthr]

David, you mention the two in Bentil and Dunn but the problem for them became no other players for them were scoring...what this Heels team is doing, along with coach, is playing some terrific ball, look at the "numbers inside the numbers"...much of the non-box stuff is amazing.
In the second half on one call Nate got a bit into a kid on D and knocked the ball away and the kid sort of tackled Nate falling all on top of and against him...hard not to call that one. Our kids worked hard on defense which we all know wins championships.
Did anyone hear the Jet at half? When asked about the Heels in the second half coming up he closed with "play hard, play smart and play together"...
GO HEELS!

Yaeh Tom, I actually talked abaout that on another thread, that bentyl and Dunn were not going to beat us by themselves. You are right, we did play really well on their mates, I thought especially Rodney Bullock was shut down and he is kinda their 3rd wheel.

Also totally agree, have not seen the box score but I doubt it shows the real story of this game and is reason I am not the biggest fan of stats. For example, I am not going to see a stat that shows me Theo played really well for us but he was a big time key in limiting bentyl. Issiah got nothing but a charging foul for putting pressure on Bentyl to force him to defend, Joel & Marcus did a great job of harassing dunn when he tried to drive against Justin. Folks could look at the box score and see Dunn had a lot of points and assume we did a poor job defending him but the exact opposite is the case. Dunn took and hit a lot of bad shots, many of those shots had good results for him but many others resulted in easy defensive rebounds and got us out running.

 

[soap - new and improved]

Sadly, the officiating, poor as it was, was considerably better than we got in many of our ACC games. Have we lost a single game this season where we were not outshot by a considerable number at the FT line? I dunno, it doesn't feel like it has been more than 1 if we have.

Great team effort vs Providence!