Stats and stuff (Tenn game)...

[gary-7]

...last week I posted that good FT shooting and JJ's 3-pt heroics got us through some ugly stuff vs Davidson. We had neither this time.

Stats:
- Just horrific shooting --- 36% FGs in the first half and 39.7% for the game? Yikes. 54.2% FTs? Double Yikes!. 2/17 from 3? Good googly-moogly Yikes.

- Folks we got up 73 friggin shots...73!!! Good thing... we needed every last one of them!

- We got that many shots thanks largely to Offensive Rebounds (22). Plenty of opportunities for them.

- TN shot outta their minds in the first half, came back to earth in the second --- still finished 51.9% FGs. Contrast --- they made 28 FGs on 54 shots, we made 29 on 73. And they made 12 FTs in 15 attempts, we made 13 on 24.

Stuff
- Maybe the worst first half of basketball I've seen out of a Carolina team in a long time... at least until the last 4+ minutes when we woke up a little.

- Our poor start was from a variety of factors --- poor spacing, poor shooting, poor defense (especially on drives)... And as expected , being a Barnes team, they came out physical and fouled everyone but Eric Montross and we didn't play through it nearly strongly enough.

- We used no less that eight backcourt combos, including a couple we haven't seen before (BRob getting time at the 2) ---- Britt/Williams, Britt/7th, White/BRob, White/Williams, Britt/White, 7th/Brob, Britt/BRob and White/7th.

- On the good side, we came back by pushing tempo. After a Roy blistering late in the first half, we stepped it up and eventually it paid off (although I was beginning to think we'd never get over the hump and actually make a shot to get a damned lead)

- Nate was a combination of just awful and then brilliant --- and major props to him for playing the best defensive game of his career, and attacking in key late situations to help the comeback.

- Also, props to Stilman. His minutes at both the 1 and 2 were nothing but good.

- Props to Kennedy for that huge Offensive Rebound at the end, but he should've passed it out! And props to Roy for subbing in Tony for shot-blocking on their last possession. Paid off.

Once again, a W is a W. PLEASE get well, JB.

 

[Archer2]

We won ugly with a great 2nd half defensive effort. We got good minutes from all three Freshmen. Oh, and we didn't have our indispensable PG who is by far the most crucial Tar Heel.

I'll take it.

 

[heels05champs]

Everyone say a prayer tonight that JB is ready by Saturday and say a second prayer that JB comes back next year. Thank you.

 

[BillyL]

Everyone say a prayer tonight that JB is ready by Saturday and say a second prayer that JB comes back next year. Thank you.

Berry is not going anywhere . . I think he wants to be here for 4.

 

[gary-7]

We won ugly with a great 2nd half defensive effort. We got good minutes from all three Freshmen. Oh, and we didn't have our indispensable PG who is by far the most crucial Tar Heel.

I'll take it.

Tony - 10 pts, 10 Boards (7 Offensive) and BRob - 6 Pts, 3 Assists both deserve shoutouts

7th... well, he air-balled 2 layups and turned it over 3 times in 8 minutes. On the other hand he completed two highlight plays that showed what his potential is. Thing is, that potential will not likely be fulfilled at PG. Kid is an athletic slasher and scorer --- he's just not cut out to be a primary ball-handler and play-maker. Again, I totally understand the experiment and Roy trying to build future depth since we can theoretically lose all of our PGs after this season. But he's getting fewer and fewer minutes at Point for a reason.

 

[CarolinaBlue5]

Tony - 10 pts, 10 Boards (7 Offensive) and BRob - 6 Pts, 3 Assists both deserve shoutouts

7th... well, he air-balled 2 layups and turned it over 3 times in 8 minutes. On the other hand he completed two highlight plays that showed what his potential is. Thing is, that potential will not likely be fulfilled at PG. Kid is an athletic slasher and scorer --- he's just not cut out to be a primary ball-handler and play-maker. Again, I totally understand the experiment and Roy trying to build future depth since we can theoretically lose all of our PGs after this season. But he's getting fewer and fewer minutes at Point for a reason.

Whenever Berry gets back I'd like to see Seventh play with him off the ball! I think that would really help woods! That would be exciting to watch as well

 

[soap - new and improved]

I was pretty unhappy when Kennedy got that Off Reb and then put it right back up. Had it gone in, great - but the clock was a bigger priority than a possible 2 points in that particular moment of the game. I want/expect to see Srs. to play with more situational awareness than Meeks showed in that instance.

 

[Ozheelfan]

...

Once again, a W is a W. PLEASE get well, JB.

Thanks as always Gary.... your final line speaks volumes and I'd go as far to say in the previous 4-5 yrs the Heels would have lost these last two games... credit to the whole team and coaches for that not happening.

 

[DSouthr]

What a strange game, really ugly fist half, we at least the first 15mins of it, and then our back court began to defend. I think between the last 2 games we now have watched them build a 2 story brick home, is brick laying now an elective at UNC? LOL

We need to get a bolo out for a missing person, Issiah Hicks, 6'9" male, last seen in Maui, was supposed to be back in NC but has not shown up. He was suspected to be accompanied by a Kennedy Meeks, who was briefly spotted in Bloomington Indiana about a week ago but left before authorities could arrive. FOUL PLAY is highly suspected but neither are suspected to be armed or in any way dangerous..! Any information as to location will be greatly appreciated, please contact Mr Williams at 919-Tar-Heel, ext #1.

Note, both may be in the company of a Mr Nate Britt, a warrant was sworn out by a Mr Barnes yesterday for Mr Brit on the charge of theft, Mr Britt was seen by multiple reports in Maui as well as Indiana and was seen by many different witnesses in Chapel Hill yesterday, video evidence of Mr Britt's crimes spree in Chapel Hill was shown on national TV by multiple outlets yesterday and continue to be reviewed for evidence.

 

[Steat]

Survive and advance. UNC loses this game in prior years. Berry back in line-up for Kentucky.

 

[Archer2]

Great stuff, Dave.

Fact is we shot 37.7% and 39.7% in the two games that Joel has missed. Even when Joel doesn't shoot particularly well, he does so many other vital things for our team. We are ranked 22nd nationally in FG% Defense, and that against a tough schedule. The main reason is our Junk Yard Dawg, as Gary likes to call Joel. He plays so hard defensively that it inspires everyone else to do so. And because the PG serves as the coach on the floor, initiating offensive sets and calling defensive sets, Joel can be very disruptive when he locks in on the opposing PG, much like Phelps used to be for us.

There's a reason we've struggled offensively the last two games and that reason is called Joel Berry. We don't push the ball as well without him, which means less primary and secondary break points, which are generally very high percentage shots. We don't initiate or run our half court court offense as effectively without Joel either. He is the Dynamo that makes our team not 20% better, but 50% better on both sides of the ball, because of the synergistic effect he has on our whole team.

And while some of our younger guys are getting invaluable time in his absence, more time than they would have otherwise gotten, I'm sure the whole team can't wait to see him return. I think Kennedy and Isaiah really miss the Dynamo because they get better shots when he's running the offense. Their tailoff the last couple of games demonstrates that. I expect their play to pick back up when he returns.

 

[TarHeelTroy]

During the ESPN broadcast it was said that if this were a tournament game Berry would likely be playing. Hopefully that means with 6 more days by the time we face UK he will be back close to full strength. I hope Theo is getting closer to returning as well. We miss Theo in games like this where we really need fire in our belly.

 

[DSouthr]

Great stuff, Dave.

Fact is we shot 37.7% and 39.7% in the two games that Joel has missed. Even when Joel doesn't shoot particularly well, he does so many other vital things for our team. We are ranked 22nd nationally in FG% Defense, and that against a tough schedule. The main reason is our Junk Yard Dawg, as Gary likes to call Joel. He plays so hard defensively that it inspires everyone else to do so. And because the PG serves as the coach on the floor, initiating offensive sets and calling defensive sets, Joel can be very disruptive when he locks in on the opposing PG, much like Phelps used to be for us.

There's a reason we've struggled offensively the last two games and that reason is called Joel Berry. We don't push the ball as well without him, which means less primary and secondary break points, which are generally very high percentage shots. We don't initiate or run our half court court offense as effectively without Joel either. He is the Dynamo that makes our team not 20% better, but 50% better on both sides of the ball, because of the synergistic effect he has on our whole team.

And while some of our younger guys are getting invaluable time in his absence, more time than they would have otherwise gotten, I'm sure the whole team can't wait to see him return. I think Kennedy and Isaiah really miss the Dynamo because they get better shots when he's running the offense. Their tailoff the last couple of games demonstrates that. I expect their play to pick back up when he returns.

Arch, I think the effect Joel has on our floor spacing is maybe the biggest thing we have missed since he has been out. You back off on Joel to help tyour front court and Joel will splash an in your face trey, close up to him and he looks to drive the pressure, not most of the time but every time. When he does that most often he gets by him primary defender and forces help and whala he has a passing angle to a big man. He gives us inside outside floor balance with that, teams will back up on Nate because he is not a great shooter, they can help off him and still recover far to often. So you see things tend to stagnate inside, you see Justin taking contested treys because he is the guy you have to concern with, Kenny is not going to force a jumper, Nate will but that is not his shot, so it becomes stop Justin and clog the paint, just don't give Kenny or Nate a lot of catch and shoot ops.

But Joel doesn't allow that because he constantly looks to attack off the dribble to force you to back off him and when you do splash. One real issue with Justin and he has got to handle this, he puts up to many hard contested treys, dude, please pump fake that guy and make him fly by and drive! Do that and you create all kinds of stuff, you are going to draw a defender you can either take off the dribble or slip to who ever opened up from the help side. You are back to forcing jump shots and that just is not what you do best, you may hot one every now and then but you are much more a catch and shoot guy or a drive and finish with the floater or at the rim guy, you are not a Curry or a Klay.

Meeks and Hicks, do you 2 fellas know each other, have ya been introduced? Here is what I don't understand, one of the traits I loved about Meeks when he was still well over 300lbs was his passing ability and most of that was outside of the paint, lot of times out around the key. He would hit these pin point passes that guys seemed to be able to do something with. Everyone talked about his outlet passing and it was special but his half court passing really impressed me when he was a over weight frosh. Problem is he lost the weight and went inside, deep inside, under the basket deep. Down so deep made it much harder for him to use that great passing ability, made it harder for him to see the court. So the double comes at him and he can not see an outlet, he either turns away from the double and takes a jump shot or trying one of those dipsy do twists up and goes & gets his own rebound 2 or 3 times.

What I want to see him do is in that deep and you catch it and can not see the outlet, take it right to your defenders chest. That does 2 things, first it negates the defender's ability to block his shot and second it draws the foul on the defender. The second meeks can see his defenders feet inside the block charge circle, ATTACK THAT DEFENDER, force the foul call! Don't settle for some turn around fall away jump shot that takes you out of rebounding position if you miss, attack that defender and walk to the foul line.

Hicks, wow, this is not the same physical attacking big man I saw last season, I don't know if he has become shy because he does not want to pick up fouls or what but he has become so much more of a finesse guy this season. It is as if he just disappears in games for long stretches, all the sudden he will awaken for a few minutes and then he disappears again? If Hicks and Meeks are going to play together they really need to start setting multiple screens for each other, screen, roll screen again, roll set up ball side, nothing there roll off and set another screen. Constant consistent motion with a purpose, I don't see that unless Roy calls some sort of set play for it. I love when Justin makes those hard sharp cuts to the middle and either finds a lane or sets the screen that pops open one of our bigs, I think Hicks could be doing that constantly and either finish or draw the help side and slip to meeks. But rather than give the V cut he floats around the peremeter and if he gets inside seems way to easy to block out.

Now personally, would like to see meeks more up top, problem is he seems to be the best we have, at least as a starter in our front court, at getting block out position and holding it, both Hicks and Justin really need to work on that aspect, stop ball watching and get in to rebound position and do not allow yourself to be blocked out so easy and on the other end don't allow your guy to slip by your block out as easy. Bam will eat your freakin lunch if you do not get a physical block out on him, guarantee ya Bam would have pulled 20 rebounds on us yesterday.

 

[acarter0277]

...last week I posted that good FT shooting and JJ's 3-pt heroics got us through some ugly stuff vs Davidson. We had neither this time.

Stats:
- Just horrific shooting --- 36% FGs in the first half and 39.7% for the game? Yikes. 54.2% FTs? Double Yikes!. 2/17 from 3? Good googly-moogly Yikes.

- Folks we got up 73 friggin shots...73!!! Good thing... we needed every last one of them!

- We got that many shots thanks largely to Offensive Rebounds (22). Plenty of opportunities for them.

- TN shot outta their minds in the first half, came back to earth in the second --- still finished 51.9% FGs. Contrast --- they made 28 FGs on 54 shots, we made 29 on 73. And they made 12 FTs in 15 attempts, we made 13 on 24.

Stuff
- Maybe the worst first half of basketball I've seen out of a Carolina team in a long time... at least until the last 4+ minutes when we woke up a little.

- Our poor start was from a variety of factors --- poor spacing, poor shooting, poor defense (especially on drives)... And as expected , being a Barnes team, they came out physical and fouled everyone but Eric Montross and we didn't play through it nearly strongly enough.

- We used no less that eight backcourt combos, including a couple we haven't seen before (BRob getting time at the 2) ---- Britt/Williams, Britt/7th, White/BRob, White/Williams, Britt/White, 7th/Brob, Britt/BRob and White/7th.

- On the good side, we came back by pushing tempo. After a Roy blistering late in the first half, we stepped it up and eventually it paid off (although I was beginning to think we'd never get over the hump and actually make a shot to get a damned lead)

- Nate was a combination of just awful and then brilliant --- and major props to him for playing the best defensive game of his career, and attacking in key late situations to help the comeback.

- Also, props to Stilman. His minutes at both the 1 and 2 were nothing but good.

- Props to Kennedy for that huge Offensive Rebound at the end, but he should've passed it out! And props to Roy for subbing in Tony for shot-blocking on their last possession. Paid off.

Once again, a W is a W. PLEASE get well, JB.

I liked the Nate/BRob/JJ lineup. Reminded me of Theo Lite at the 2 spot. If I'm not mistaken, didn't we have a couple of possessions of small ball with Nate/Kenny/BRob/JJ all in at the same time???

 

[gary-7]

I liked the Nate/BRob/JJ lineup. Reminded me of Theo Lite at the 2 spot. If I'm not mistaken, didn't we have a couple of possessions of small ball with Nate/Kenny/BRob/JJ all in at the same time???

I believe there was one very brief interlude of ultra-small next to a time-out.
And yeah, I think that's a good description of what Roy was trying to do with BRob playing some 2.

 

[Archer2]

I liked the Nate/BRob/JJ lineup. Reminded me of Theo Lite at the 2 spot. If I'm not mistaken, didn't we have a couple of possessions of small ball with Nate/Kenny/BRob/JJ all in at the same time???

Substitute Joel for Nate and I think we could steal a few possessions with that lineup. Small ball just doesn't work without Joel running the show, and it's not nearly as effective without Theo at the four. Hopefully, we'll get that option back soon.