Stats and stuff (UCLA game)...

[gary-7]

Obviously, a quality early win and BIG win for the season. UCLA is legit. They are pretty (quality not quantity) deep and can put points in the board. Parker's a load, the other Big can shoot, and their bench guys are active. Alford of course is good, as is Holiday, and Hamilton really impressed me.

NOTE: I kept very detailed stats on this one, and they may differ slightly from whoever was keeping the officials on the neutral court. If we're looking for reality, mine are correct!

- UCLA got very "physical" with us early --- hit us in the mouth (literally in some cases) and got away with it. When we finally woke up and responded with some toughness of our own after the Under-8 in the first half, things started going better. To their credit they were unconscious early, often when well-defended. Again, Hamilton is tough --- got early looks off high-lo switches, we did better on him in the second half.

- We missed Kennedy early, as I said we would. We were just inert offensively in the paint and on post D early and Parker made our guys look bad. Roy benched Brice to send a message, and it worked. Brice came back and played like a damned All-American the rest of the way.

- Hicks is a force on offense. but his paint D is still not quite there, especially blocking out his man after a shot. Luke Maye did some nice things, as well as some Freshman things. He was, however, tough. Big Joel was, well, Big Joel --- some good and some bad. But hey, who'd a-thunk we'd ever see Joel James get a 3-point play on a fast break?

- We hung 51 on em in the second half and could have been more if we could have shot at all from deep. Think what we could have done to them... we were friggin' 4-19 from 3... wow.

- They were trying to shut down Marcus but that just opened up passing looks. It's really cool to have two PGs and a good-passing 3-man. Even thought JJ struggled with his shot he dropped some sweet dimes. We actually had 20 (not 19) Assists on 36 made FGs, and that's while we also had 10 Blown Assists. That's some good passin' right there. I loved it when in the second half Raftery said, "that's Dean-Bill-Roy basketball!"

- Good on Roy for scrambling more on D. It changes the game, takes advantage of our quickness, gets our transition game going, makes guys who struggle in straight man like Nate and Isiah more effective on D, and is a nightmare for opposing teams. 24 pts off TOs is good stuff. My one issue with Roy was declining to call his use-it-or-lose-it Timeout before the half to set something up and ideally getting Berry back in the game. He didn't and we came up empty.

- We also went "small" for stretches in both halves and looked good scrambling.

*Kudos obviously to Brice: 11-12 FGs, 27 pts 9 boards, 2 blocks and played aggressively and with toughness after his early benching.
*Kudos to Marcus for a really good all-around game, on and off the ball, on both ends, despite having an off shooting night. Played like a true leader!
*Kudos to Joel Berry. Tough, strong all-around game: 17 pts, 5 boards, 5 (not 4) assists (and 4 more blown), 2 steals and caused 2 more TOs --- and for his 2 official TOs, one should have been on Brice for being lazy on a post-up and allowing a good pass to be poked away from behind, and the other was actually a kicked ball that the refs ignored when the game was functionally over. Moreover, JB commanded the floor, made some great pitch-aheads on the Secondary Break, and took it to the rack like a man.

Speaking of which, we actually had 39 transition points - 11 true FB, and 28 SB

With Berry at PG: 29 min. UNC 71 - UCLA 58 2.45PPM
Without Berry: 11 min. UNC 18 - UCLA 18 1.64 PPM

 

[HeelFan58]

Obviously, a quality early win and BIG win for the season. UCLA is legit. They are pretty deep and can put points in the board. Parker's a load, the other Big can shoot, and their bench guys are active. Alford of course is good, as is Holiday, and Hamilton really impressed me.

NOTE: I kept very detailed stats on this one, and they may differ slightly form whoever was keeping the officials on the neutral court. If we're looking for reality, mine are correct!

- UCLA got very "physical" with us early --- hit us in the mouth (literally in some cases) and got away with it. When we finally woke up and responded with some toughness of our own after the Under-8 in the first half, things started going better. Top their credit they were unconscious early, often when well-defended. Again, Hamilton is tough --- got early looks off high-lo switches, we did better on him in the second half.

- We missed Kennedy early, as I said we would. We were just inert offensively in the paint and on post D early and Parker made our guys look bad. Roy benched Brice to send a message, and it worked. Brice came back and played like a damned All-American the rest of the way.

- Hicks is a force on offense. but his paint D is still not quite there, especially blocking out his man after a shot. Luke Maye did some nice things, as well as some Freshman things. He was, however, tough. Big Joel was, well, Big Joel --- some good and some bad. But hey, who'd a-thunk we'd ever see Joel James get a 3-point play on a fast break?

- We hung 51 on em in the second half and could have been more if we could have shot at all from deep. Think what we could have done to them... we were friggin' 4-19 from 3... wow.

- They were trying to shut down Marcus but that just opened up passing looks. It's really cool to have two PGs and a good-passing 3-man. Even thought JJ struggled with his shot he dropped some sweet dimes. We actually had 20 (not 19) Assists on 36 made FGs, and that's while we also had 10 Blown Assists. That's some good passin' right there. I loved it when in the second half Raftery said, "that's Dean-Bill-Roy basketball!"

- Good on Roy for scrambling more on D. It changes the game, takes advantage of our quickness, gets our transition game going, makes guys who struggle in straight man like Nate and Isiah more effective on D, and is a nightmare for opposing teams. 24 pts off TOs is good stuff. My one issue with Roy was declining to call his use-it-or-lose-it Timeout before the half to set something up and ideally getting Berry back in the game. He didn't and we came up empty.

- We also went "small" for stretches in both halves and looked good scrambling.

*Kudos obviously to Brice: 11-12 FGs, 27 pts 9 boards, 2 blocks and played aggressively and with toughness after his early benching.
*Kudos to Marcus for a really good all-around game, on and off the ball, on both ends, despite having an off shooting night. Played like a true leader!
*Kudos to Joel Berry. Tough, strong all-around game: 17 pts, 5 boards, 5 (not 4) assists (and 4 more blown), 2 steals and caused 2 more TOs --- and for his 2 official TOs, one should have been on Brice for being lazy on a post-up and allowing a good pass to be poked away from behind, and the other was actually a kicked ball that the refs ignored when the game was functionally over. Moreover, JB commanded the floor, made some great pitch-aheads on the Secondary Break, and took it to the rack like a man.

Speaking of which, we actually had 39 transition points - 11 true FB, and 28 SB

With Berry at PG: 29 min. UNC 71 - UCLA 58 2.45PPM
Without Berry: 11 min. UNC 18 - UCLA 18 1.64 PPM

Roy benched Brice for cussing loudly as he came off the floor,

 

[gary-7]

Roy benched Brice for cussing loudly as he came off the floor,

That too, huh? It was also effort.
Either way, it worked

 

[Ozheelfan]

That too, huh? It was also effort.
Either way, it worked

Yeah, Lucas' article spells it out. Very good individual coaching by Roy and great maturity from Brice to cop the punishment, lick his wounds and then dominate.

 

[gary-7]

Yeah, Lucas' article spells it out. Very good individual coaching by Roy and great maturity from Brice to cop the punishment, lick his wounds and then dominate.

Yep, Adam nailed it. Brice is Brice. Glad he showed out in front of the scouts.
And think about this, how many have known or even played for coaches who would get pissed at you and just shun you out of pique. Roy used it as a teachable moment.
I know this for a fact: it took Brice about half his freshman year realize Roy was coaching him up, not down, and that he wanted Brice to be the best he could be. And yeah, Adam is spot on about his dad.

 

[Heelicious]

Justin Jackson has a 12:1 Assist:TO ratio last two games.
Marcus Paige ratio is 25:5 since he's been back.

So those are good, right? I LOVE that even when these guys aren't dialed in from a shooting accuracy standpoint, they don't pout, they keep their heads "right" and feed others to drive the offense.

 

[gary-7]

Justin Jackson has a 12:1 Assist:TO ratio last two games.
Marcus Paige ratio is 25:5 since he's been back.

So those are good, right? I LOVE that even when these guys aren't dialed in from a shooting accuracy standpoint, they don't pout, they keep their heads "right" and feed others to drive the offense.

This is potentially the best passing group as a team that I can think of.
We have two Lead PGs in the starting backcourt, Nate's taking better care of the rock this season, both our 3-men can thread it, Kennedy is an excellent passing Big, and Hicks has improved markedly, and Brice ain't bad.
Plus, I know it's basketball esoterica to some, but it's hard to overstate how JB taking over the PG burden has freed up SO much for our 2 and 3-men. The spacing is miles better than it was last season and there are open passing lanes galore. Marcus isn't getting beat up and JJ and/or Theo are free to move without the ball, and the initial pass that gets to the Wings has in many cases already set up the next pass.

 

[DSouthr]

This is potentially the best passing group as a team that I can think of.
We have two Lead PGs in the starting backcourt, Nate's taking better care of the rock this season, both our 3-men can thread it, Kennedy is an excellent passing Big, and Hicks has improved markedly, and Brice ain't bad.
Plus, I know it's basketball esoterica to some, but it's hard to overstate how JB taking over the PG burden has freed up SO much for our 2 and 3-men. The spacing is miles better than it was last season and there are open passing lanes galore. Marcus isn't getting beat up and JJ and/or Theo are free to move without the ball, and the initial pass that gets to the Wings has in many cases already set up the next pass.

You said a mouthful there boss, our passing as compared to last season is night & day vastly improved. Last season we had a wing, who was trying to play the 2 but in truth many times was ending up acting more like a PG out of his element. While a hobbled Marcus was our only real jump shooting threat from distance, he had to try to find spots to get his shots off, JP gravitated to more of a PG role far to often. Flash forward to this season with both Joel & Nate showing some jump shooting chops Marcus is able to not only move to his best college position at the 2 but you can't run away from his back court mates and dare a Tokoto like jump shooter to hurt ya. As you say gary, it allows us to space the court so much better, it opens those lanes for those passes and those passes are coming from PGs, 2 guards, and wings playing their natural positions. AND, those passes are not so much high risk, they are solid and set up by the offense.

I don't think we talk enough about how solid both Jackson and Theo are as passing wings, they are both long and able to see over most of their defenders and they don't either rush their passing or take the high risk pass on a regular basis, unlike what we watched last season. Both have struggled a bit as jump shooters, I do think Jackson will settle down in time as a solid jump shooter and watch out when he does, he is still rushing his jump shots right now, slow it down a little bit, don't take it if it isn't clean, in other words, shoot more like ya pass. But that Jackson floater is a weapon few have and maybe none as solid as Jackson.

Guy I really want to mention is Luke Maye, pretty clear Luke is not a hugely athletic power forward, he is not a scoring threat kind of guy yet, in the future maybe some pick & pop but for now no. Matter of fact, unless you watch him off the ball you may see him as a liability. But man off the ball that kid works hard, he just seems to understand how to play, it isn't a thing that you will see in the box scores, it is stepping out and recovering back so solid, it is getting a body on a man, it is playing solid with his feet and not reaching, this kid is a freshman walk on folks. On a team with bigs that do not always pay attention to the little things, those little things that combined together make up a HUGE component of the over all game itself, Luke is a guy that does work on those little things, that pays attention to them, that understands that is what his team needs from him and something he can give them. He doesn't try to be something he isn't, he does those things he can do as best as he can do them and for a walk on freshman that is something that deserves some talk, that deserves some kudos, that deserves some appreciation. God job young man, good job, you keep taking your lunch pail to work and wearing that blue collar!

Also gary, kudos as well to ya for discussing the pass that sets up the assist pass, reckon maybe our PG and our 2 guard ignite our offensive sets more than many realize? LOL

And how dang good was that rebound by Berry 3/4 court pass to Marcus who hit ahead the jump pass to Jackson for the finish! All that needed was ballet music piped in !

Oh and can't leave this without speaking to the game Marcus had, I hope folks don't just look at the box score and determine Marcus had a off game, that kid was dynamic all over the court, he and Joel were masterful and especially defensively. Their hands are so active, especially Marcus, he gets his hands on so many balls, not all of them end up strips but they effect the shooters, he throws them off their rythem.

 

[gary-7]

Also gary, kudos as well to ya for discussing the pass that sets up the assist pass, reckon maybe our PG and our 2 guard ignite our offensive sets more than many realize? LOL
And how dang good was that rebound by Berry 3/4 court pass to Marcus who hit ahead the jump pass to Jackson for the finish! All that needed was ballet music piped in !
Oh and can't leave this without speaking to the game Marcus had, I hope folks don't just look at the box score and determine Marcus had a off game, that kid was dynamic all over the court, he and Joel were masterful and especially defensively. Their hands are so active, especially Marcus, he gets his hands on so many balls, not all of them end up strips but they effect the shooters, he throws them off their rythem.

Dave, I'm gonna take your post to exemplify how fans should watch our games, and basketball in general (and it's fortunate that CBS got a couple of choice camera angles on some of those gorgeous breaks). Raftery is not my favorite announcer with his "let em play" shtick and such, but he's a coach who's been around the block, and he was audibly marveling at our transition game --- not just the Assist or finish, but the whole animal --- from the defense/rebound that allows it, to the outlet pass that triggers it, to the pitch-ahead that sets up the assist, to filling the proper lane with practiced precision, i.e., "Dean/Bill/Roy basketball". That, as I know you know, is "Carolina basketball" --- and why I hope to never see anyone outside that family/philosophy coach in Chapel Hill.

 

[Archer2]

This is why you two are among my favorite posters. I appreciate the subtleties of the game myself. Basketball can be a thing of beauty if properly played. The last 26 minutes of the game were poetry in motion. Carolina basketball indeed.

ETA: is there a replay available?

 

[Realfreedom]

Very good thread going here. I enjoyed the game yesterday. I thought the announcers were great. So glad this was not an ESPN game. Loved seeing Roy send the message to Brice and I loved Brice receiving the message. Great team win. Fell behind early, but showed no panic. Proud of the way Joel James played and Luke May is so stinking smart on the court. This team is fun to watch and I hope by March we can end with a 9 game winning streak.