Stats and stuff (UTC game)...

[gary-7]

...and the story starts right here: We got off to a sluggish start against a very good, senior-ladened mid-major power with confident scorer Guards --- the type of team we have struggled against in past years. And sure enough, they started out hot and fearless. Well, Joel Berry decided "not today". When he re-entered at the 8:06 mark in the first half, JB turned up the defensive heat and was an absolute disruptor. The guys followed the lead and picked up the intensity and the transition game got in gear. We closed the half on a 21-10 run and that was pretty much that (despite another all-too-typical opponent buzzer-beater ).

Stats:
The Good
- 7/15 from 3. That'll work.

- 53 second-half points. That's more like it!

- 26 Assists on 34 made baskets. Very nice. This is an unselfish team --- we had three guys with 5 dimes today. JJ countered a bad shooting day with some excellent passes.

- 15 Fast Break, 29 Secondary Break pts.

- Very nice game by big Mr. Meeks --- 14 and 12, plus 3 Blocks and 2 Steals

- Terrific all-around game from KW --- 11 pts, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals

- And JB. 18 pts, 5 Assists, 4 Rebounds against 1 TO. But here's the stat that won't make the box score but it's one I keep track of: JB had 1 Steal, but he was also responsible for no less than 9 other caused TOs in a variety of ways --- deflections to teammates, drawing offensive fouls, forced travels, etc, etc.

The Not So Good
- We shot 48.6% and were under 50% from 2, which is still a bit of a concern considering all the paint ops we get. We were somewhat better today with 14 Blown Assists that didn't lead to FTs.

- 68% FT shooting is a concern (22/32). The good news is that our 6 "starters" were 13/14

- Still want to see JJ finish stronger inside when it's called for. That contributed to his uncharacteristic 4/13 shooting day, as he was only 2/11 from 2.

Stuff:
- kudos to Kennedy for his defense. When healthy he's sneaky-good on-ball, can block shots because of long arms, strength and anticipation, and has gotten adept at help and 2-man D and having a Guard's back.

- Speaking of 2-man D and other examples of team-D, Tony is still struggling there as a frosh. But that's a very tough skill to teach young Bigs and I'm sure he'll grow into it as our Bigs traditionally do as they gain experience.

- Now, let me brag on Tony some. As a coach I LOVE the way he keeps that ball high, even after offensive boards. That's another thing that's tough to teach young Bigs and he walked in the door with that skill. #TimDuncan #BradDaugherty

- we actually went "small" in the last 1:39 of the first half, with Nate joining JB at Guard and KW sliding to the 3 and JJ to the 4... and did it again before the under-4 in second half.

- just past the under-16 in the second half, Luke got a feed and could have taken a contested jump-hook (which would've been a good shot) but spotted an open JJ in the corner and delivered a perfect pass for the Buckets 3 #CarolinaBasketball. I noticed that Luke limped off in the second half. Hope all is well.

- I love me some Kenny Williams. Y'all really need to watch him off the ball on defense and his sense of spacing and fitting in transition. All the young fella needs is to get a tad more aggressive with the ball in his hands and watch out.

- good to see Nate knock down that first open 3 early in the second half... It was also good to see 7th get his first 3-ball as a Heel. He and BRob are nothing if not aggressive... but they both have a ways to go to learn when to give up the ball in transition. I do however like it when we scramble when the young guys are in --- that covers some of the green in team-D.

- On a non-basketball note I thought Jason Capel did a nice job on color today for ESPN 2

- Finally, I mentioned Joel's nasty dog defense. It set the tone for the dominant last 28 minutes of the game, and Pryor, who is a helluva player and started off hot was visably frustrated in the second half with JB constantly up in his grille, and got baited into frustration fouls and 5 TOs. As a team we forced this very experienced Chattanooga bunch into 26 TOs.

Really nice win against an opponent that went into Knoxville and beat Barnes & Co. by double digits!

 

[dadika13]

We just beat a very good team by 40. After watching Kansas and UK, I think we're easily a top 3 team.

 

[Butterbutt44]

We just beat a very good team by 40. After watching Kansas and UK, I think we're easily a top 3 team.

Impressive win.. Chattanooga is a tournament team. If we get Theo back in time for early conference play where he can get rhythm back we may be looking at another final four.. We may even be a bit more dynamic than last year but Im still wanting to see us in Maui that will definitely tell a lot here early.

 

[Archer2]

Saw an example of the all around player Kenny can be. He's going to blossom this year.

Kennedy with a great game, offensively, defensively, and on the boards.

7 OR for Tony? That kid can play and is only going to get better.

This team has a lot of able and willing passers, very unselfish.

ETA: love the rebound effort by Kennedy and Tony, they had 12 OR between them, Kennedy with 5 and Tony with 7. But Kenny also had 6 boards, 4 of them offensive. Now we need to shore up our defensive rebounding. Isaiah and especially JJ, need to go to the boards harder, period. There is no excuse for them not rebounding better.

 

[Ozheelfan]

Thanks as always for the update and stats Gary.

There was a "fun" spell, early in the second half where Roy went 'young' - 7th running the show with Kenny, Brandon, Tony and I think Luke......... it was a bit helter-skelter, but really enjoyable to watch and I think they stretched the lead too.

I'm also glad you mentioned Kenny, esp his defense in the 'wing' spot - he disrupted a lot down there. Adding to his resume, he even ran the break off a steal with a very nice dime to Justin.

 

[HeelFan58]

Maye went to locker room early and I think it was an ankle. Sparse crowd tonight maybe because it was Sunday night. We got to our seats just before the tip. Bradley and Woods both struggled from the line. A few defensive lapses but everything else pretty darn good.

 

[gary-7]

Maye went to locker room early and I think it was an ankle. Sparse crowd tonight maybe because it was Sunday night. We got to our seats just before the tip. Bradley and Woods both struggled from the line. A few defensive lapses but everything else pretty darn good.

Did Luke come back to the bench?

 

[gary-7]

We just beat a very good team by 40. After watching Kansas and UK, I think we're easily a top 3 team.

Yep. And BTW, as if on cue, from Adam Lucas:
http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=211294689

"What happened is that Berry essentially decided what he would and wouldn’t allow the Mocs to run offensively. Think you’re going to start the offense 30 feet from the rim? Nah, he doesn’t feel like you doing that today. Try 40, or maybe 50. He thoroughly discombobulated a veteran, senior-laden team that shouldn’t rattle.
They shouldn’t, but in the Smith Center, tweaked by Berry, they unraveled, giving up 26 turnovers. It started two minutes into the game, when Berry denied Jonathan Cook-Burroughs on dribble penetration, forcing him back out to the key. Not content to have stifled the drive, he then drew an offensive foul."​

 

[HeelFan58]

Did Luke come back to the bench?

I don't think so.

 

[imajericho]

I was impressed by what I saw from Kenny Williams in transition and defensively. like to see him shoot more abd hopefully hit more.


Almost seems like Berry has a jitter in his FT form. he swished just about everything last year but seems to have missed more or is rattling in more.

I hate KW's FT form lol. Bradley is prettt bad at the line too.

7th needs to calm down and just play. Missing tons of stuff right at the rim from easy layups to dunks. It will come. New to college nerves it def seems.

Liked what I saw from a lot of players tonight and the D was suffocating. Our D might be the best I have seen it in awhile.

 

[soap - new and improved]

I sure hope Luke is ok.

What I loved most about this team today is that I saw NO LETUP even when we had a massive lead! Add that to excellent hustle, outstanding unselfishness and lots of team speed and these guys killed today. IF they keep up this type of play they are going to put the hurt on a number of teams.

I want to see UNC be that team that puts their collective foot on the throat of the opponent and then GRINDS IT! No letup, no taking plays off, NO lead big enough to ease up! Take No Prisoners!

 

[gary-7]

I sure hope Luke is ok.

What I loved most about this team today is that I saw NO LETUP even when we had a massive lead! Add that to excellent hustle, outstanding unselfishness and lots of team speed and these guys killed today. IF they keep up this type of play they are going to put the hurt on a number of teams.

I want to see UNC be that team that puts their collective foot on the throat of the opponent and then GRINDS IT! No letup, no taking plays off, NO lead big enough to ease up! Take No Prisoners!

Saw where Roy said Luke had a sprain and was being evaluated. Hoping it's mild. We cannot afford any more injuries to our top rotation players.

 

[coryfly]

There are going to a number of guys who have really big games this year. There is a ton of balance.

The defense was great and that all starts with Berry. He is going to have some big time battles with some good guards this year. He is just a really good player.

Seventh is definitely a freshman but his vision and understanding of passing angles is elite level stuff. Could eventually be the best passer we have had in a while.

I love all the aggressiveness. They may make some mistakes but none of our guys look scared to want to do something out there.

Bradley is legit. He is an extremely bright future.

Still need to rebound better on the defensive boards but I thought that was better this game. Many of the ORs in this one were a little more fluky than the Tulane game where we flat out got worked at times. Love what Kennedy is doing on the boards this year though.

 

[carolinablue34]

Tony Bradley has got some serious game. Joel looks all-ACC right now.

Free throws definitely need work, Syracuse is known for that not us lol.

Overall, solid all around game. I like that this team will be more balanced, rather than just relying on Brice and Marcus like last year. I think JB or JJ definitely need to become the go to guys when the game is on the line though.

 

[Jafo4444]

Nice write up as always. Thanks.

I can't say enough about Joel Berry. His tenacity will carry this team deep. He just has that IT factor that you can't teach. The kid wants it really bad and I can't wait to see him take over in crunch time of close games. I believe he's a true college closer.

I think this team will be even better than last year IF Theo can come back and get back to where he was to close out last season. None of our Bigs are going to replicate what Brice did last year and that's ok. We have 3 really good bigs and another in Maye that won't hurt us. Where I think we will be better is by having Berry as the unquestioned leader of this team. I believe he took the back seat to Marcus last year our of respect (even though he was clearly the better player last year). This year, he's going to take the reins and lead us to what we couldn't accomplish this season. As good as duke and the other powerhouses may be, I don't think they'll be able to outlast Joel Berry. Lead us

 

[Archer2]

Joel, IMO, may be the best PG defensively in the country. We haven't had a PG that could disrupt opposing PG's like that since Phelps. And Kenny is becoming a lockdown defender as well. If we get Theo back at 90+ % of his pre-injury form, they would form as good a defensive backcourt as there is in college ball.

The Freshmen all appear to buy in on the defensive end of the floor, and look as if they want to be good defenders, something uncommon with a lot of first year guys. I think 7th will be great defensively when fully healthy. Our practices must be something to behold.

 

[Tom79]

A couple of points, love the team, Tony, hit the gym and practice those FT's big fella. Love the TV guys, like Jason, commenting on how he looks and plays a bit like Brad Daugherty.
Seventh is going to be okay, he just needs to slow down a bit. It will come. Don't be Brian Morrison okay?

 

[IDUNK4HEELS]

Most impressive thing that I took from the game was how the team came out in the 2nd half and just played locked down defense and frustrated all of the Chattanooga players to where a fairly close contest turned into a blow out early.

 

[DSouthr]

First, I am really itching to see Joel Berry face off with Ky Fox, that should be fun!

This was the total destruction of a good team and this game show cases why big men should be flocking to UNC, we fed the post, we fed the post some more and just in case that wasn't enough, we fed the post even more. And our bigs, after being fed in the post so much did what ya want your bigs to do, they stayed big. They front our bigs our guards passed it over the top, they play behind our bigs our guards gave them the easy pass in and our big men finished. The zones will be coming !

Joel has done something for the last 2 games that I love and have wanted us to do more of forever, he harasses the guard bringing the ball up the court on every made basket, he just gets in to his head, he never backs off and all the sudden we wil jump in to a zone trap. Most of the time it is just token pressure but it takes its toll, that guard has to worry about simply getting the ball up court and one simple mistake Joel is on you like a cat. And when Joel was out and 7th was in, 7th did the same thing, ya think maybe those 2 fellas have that dance in practice daily or what!

Joel, Kenny, 7th in those 3 fellas what really stood out to me more this game than the last is just their shear passion to defend! Theo has that same passion and I see some of it budding in BRob as well. Where most players live to be on offense, those guys seem to at least enjoy defending as much as scoring and it darn sure showed out to me yesterday.

 

[Steat]

The real test will be playing teams with two outstanding quick guards like Kentucky (Briscoe and Fox). I watched a part of the Kentucky game last night and Briscoe got to the basket whenever he wanted to. Fox is very quick. Not really concerned about Kentucky's frontline. Thus, Kenny defense in that game will be a key.

Think about this if:

Michigan State beats Kentucky
Kansas beats Duke
The Heels win all their games this week

Guess who is #1 next week? Either the Heels or Nova.....

 

[DSouthr]

Loved this game but trying to temper my thoughts of this game by the fact that we had a big time size advantage but the truth is we absolutely destroyed what I think will be a good NCAA tourney team again this season. I need to see how we play against a team that can match or exceed our size and we have not yet seen much zone throw at us.

I don't need to talk about Joel, yall saw it, he was amazing, yall fill in the rest, I want to talk about some other guys. First Meeks played hard and played big, not sure what Roy told him at the half vs Tulsa but don't forget that speech cause our big man went to another level. Of all Meeks did well this game one play for some reason sticks in my mind, I think it was kenny on the right side thru a pass to Meeks and not sure how that pass snaked in but he fired it hard from rather close range, no one catches that pass fired that hot from that angle with a defender between them and meeks locks those vice grips on the ball, does not fumble at all and in 1 motion simple finishes, he made what should not have even been a catch look easy.

Hicks, he is like a Jag that gets 80 miles to the gallon and never breaks down, economical, efficient, and everybody wants one. And when he steps to the free throw line the kid is cash money!

Tony Bradley, love his potential and will agree with all the good stuff folks will say about him today so I am going in the other direction for balance and talk about what I see he needs to work on. Bottom line young man, got to move those puppies a lil better, got to get out of the lane or the refs will show you again they will call you for being in there to long. hedges out off the high screen a bit to long and struggles to recover back to the rolling big man, been caught on that a couple times now and future opposing coaches wil see that. On the good side, I just can't get over how calm he is when the ball comes in to him, does not rush it at all, takes his time and just uses that crazy length, freshmen are not supposed to be that calm. Kid was well coached before coming to us.

BRob, OK, needs a sammich or 3 but that kid reminds me of a skinny Theo that can shoot it. It is the same thing I saw in Theo early on, he just sticks his nose in there, he gets involved and does not seem to worry if what he does is OK or not, he is just out there to play, when this kid gets a year or 2 in our S/C program, watch out!

7th, got to tell ya, I am not as worried about him as many seem to be, he has shown some really nice passing, Brob has to, but his working on the defensive end is showing up. he and Kenny, look a bit like bookends physically, seemed much more in to the game this time out than vs Tulsa, really liked his progress, started to play more and think less to me.

Speaking of Kenny, talked a lot about him as all know but the one theme I have tried to consistently hit was that folks expected kenny to come in as a great shooter and were disappointed at his poor shooting last season. I have tried to make the point that yeah, kenny can shoot and not to worry about that but that kenny is much more than just a shooter, he is an all around player and I think we got to see what I have been trying to get across about him, by far IMO the best game he has played as a Tar Heel. He defended, he rebounded, he passed, and yeah, he scored some to. He and Joel seem to have really solid chemistry, that is a hawking back court duo and I think folks can see why I like him to start for us at the 2.

 

[goheels653]

Lots to like... I'll pick 5 things I like so far.

1) Kenny Williams looks ready to go. He'll probably be up and down in terms of stat lines like last night, but I don't think he'll be up and down on defense at all. He showed signs of that defensive ability last year, but he's put it together very nicely this offseason.

2) The freshmen class as a whole looks as comfortable on the floor in Roy's offense as any freshmen class I can remember since Hansbrough and Lawson's years, respectively. And, the best part is, they won't be asked to do nearly as much as those 2 classes, given that they aren't replacing 4 lottery picks. Bradley is going to be a beast, I think by the end of this year, but especially next season when he puts on 15 pounds. He's already very well built for a freshmen compared to some of our recent freshmen bigs, but I'm excited to see him grow. Woods and Robinson probably aren't quite the talent Bradley is, but I like their games a lot, and mostly, I like that they don't appear to be scared of the pace/stage at all.

3) Starting Bigs: Hicks appears to have his foul issues under control. I know it's 2 games, but he seems focused on sliding his feet, and he's bulked up a bit to the point where I think he's not going to be overmatched by a little additional size inside. His offense is what it always was, which is great. Meeks is really doing a great job filling the void on the boards lost by Brice. I'd still like to see him be a little more explosive offensively, but he probably is what he is there too, which is fine. Consistency and health will be key with him, as always. Needless to say, if he puts up 15/12 every night, that really helps put the team over the top.

4) Jackson... I like what I'm seeing from him so far in terms of confidence. He's firing like he knows he's going to make it, which I don't think we can say he's done in the past. Obviously, he's been working hard and that's paying off. Glad to see he's not going to accept mediocrity this year from himself. If he can keep shooting well, it allows Theo to come back and play the "2" without the pressure of having to be a shooter. That will be huge in the end.

5) Joel Berry is the best point guard in the country. I haven't watched any others, and I don't care. I'm right about this, and everyone on here knows it.

 

[Tom79]

As others point out JBII is fun to watch, his "D" is very good, when the screen comes in the full courts he glides past it and to the point/position of the ball handler.
Also, among the things Kennedy brings is a little "D" too, love to see him stretch out and get the steal, and he does it well, without fouling. He just waits on the expected pass and slips by his opponents side and gets 6"10" 260 to the ball (and floor)...
This team seems to grasp their collective "D" earns everyone time and their offense is often created by their "D".
Just love this team. 10 deep. Dang.

 

[dadika13]

Joel looks all-American right now.

FIFY

 

[acarter0277]

...and the story starts right here: We got off to a sluggish start against a very good, senior-ladened mid-major power with confident scorer Guards --- the type of team we have struggled against in past years. And sure enough, they started out hot and fearless. Well, Joel Berry decided "not today". When he re-entered at the 8:06 mark in the first half, JB turned up the defensive heat and was an absolute disruptor. The guys followed the lead and picked up the intensity and the transition game got in gear. We closed the half on a 21-10 run and that was pretty much that (despite another all-too-typical opponent buzzer-beater ).

Stats:
The Good
- 7/15 from 3. That'll work.

- 53 second-half points. That's more like it!

- 26 Assists on 34 made baskets. Very nice. This is an unselfish team --- we had three guys with 5 dimes today. JJ countered a bad shooting day with some excellent passes.

- 15 Fast Break, 29 Secondary Break pts.

- Very nice game by big Mr. Meeks --- 14 and 12, plus 3 Blocks and 2 Steals

- Terrific all-around game from KW --- 11 pts, 6 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 3 Steals

- And JB. 18 pts, 5 Assists, 4 Rebounds against 1 TO. But here's the stat that won't make the box score but it's one I keep track of: JB had 1 Steal, but he was also responsible for no less than 9 other caused TOs in a variety of ways --- deflections to teammates, drawing offensive fouls, forced travels, etc, etc.

The Not So Good
- We shot 48.6% and were under 50% from 2, which is still a bit of a concern considering all the paint ops we get. We were somewhat better today with 14 Blown Assists that didn't lead to FTs.

- 68% FT shooting is a concern (22/32). The good news is that our 6 "starters" were 13/14

- Still want to see JJ finish stronger inside when it's called for. That contributed to his uncharacteristic 4/13 shooting day, as he was only 2/11 from 2.

Stuff:
- kudos to Kennedy for his defense. When healthy he's sneaky-good on-ball, can block shots because of long arms, strength and anticipation, and has gotten adept at help and 2-man D and having a Guard's back.

- Speaking of 2-man D and other examples of team-D, Tony is still struggling there as a frosh. But that's a very tough skill to teach young Bigs and I'm sure he'll grow into it as our Bigs traditionally do as they gain experience.

- Now, let me brag on Tony some. As a coach I LOVE the way he keeps that ball high, even after offensive boards. That's another thing that's tough to teach young Bigs and he walked in the door with that skill. #TimDuncan #BradDaugherty

- we actually went "small" in the last 1:39 of the first half, with Nate joining JB at Guard and KW sliding to the 3 and JJ to the 4... and did it again before the under-4 in second half.

- just past the under-16 in the second half, Luke got a feed and could have taken a contested jump-hook (which would've been a good shot) but spotted an open JJ in the corner and delivered a perfect pass for the Buckets 3 #CarolinaBasketball. I noticed that Luke limped off in the second half. Hope all is well.

- I love me some Kenny Williams. Y'all really need to watch him off the ball on defense and his sense of spacing and fitting in transition. All the young fella needs is to get a tad more aggressive with the ball in his hands and watch out.

- good to see Nate knock down that first open 3 early in the second half... It was also good to see 7th get his first 3-ball as a Heel. He and BRob are nothing if not aggressive... but they both have a ways to go to learn when to give up the ball in transition. I do however like it when we scramble when the young guys are in --- that covers some of the green in team-D.

- On a non-basketball note I thought Jason Capel did a nice job on color today for ESPN 2

- Finally, I mentioned Joel's nasty dog defense. It set the tone for the dominant last 28 minutes of the game, and Pryor, who is a helluva player and started off hot was visably frustrated in the second half with JB constantly up in his grille, and got baited into frustration fouls and 5 TOs. As a team we forced this very experienced Chattanooga bunch into 26 TOs.

Really nice win against an opponent that went into Knoxville and beat Barnes & Co. by double digits!

Very good analysis...Some things I saw as well...

1) We still need to rebound better. Roy preaches that fast pace and it looks as though we're trying to start the break before we secure the rebound

2) Tony will be a STUD!!! If he can consistently knock down FTs (like Tyler and Brice) his numbers will really jump. He's going to get fouled a TON. His shot at the line is so flat right now.

3) The small ball lineup with JB, Nate, and KW at the guard spots has tons of defensive potential. All 3 of those guys can really ball hawk out on the perimeter.

 

[gary-7]

Very good analysis...Some things I saw as well...

1) We still need to rebound better. Roy preaches that fast pace and it looks as though we're trying to start the break before we secure the rebound
.

Spot on. There's a burden on the 3-man to not peel out until the ball is secured. Hell, our PG is averaging 5 boards thus far... gotta get those wings helping a bit more.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Thanks for the write up!

Our 10 peeps are better than almost any other top 10 so....I expect big things. All we need is to do what Roy's teams always do and steadily improve our efficiency and work on our weaknesses. Tweak the rebounding, improve FT shooting, stay healthy and POW NCAA better watch out!

 

[Archer2]

Isaiah and JJ both need to hit the boards much harder, especially JJ. Both possess the ability to be significantly better rebounders than they have shown so far. We simply must have more boards from our forwards, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

Giving up OR's and the subsequent high percentage shots/And-1 opportunities, allows less talented teams to hang around with a chance to win.

Roy has an 11th commandment which says"thou shalt rebound". That's how important he thinks it is.

 

[trestyles]

Berry my #2 PG. That PG at UCLA ball looks very very good.

 

[dadika13]

Berry my #2 PG. That PG at UCLA ball looks very very good.

You didn't watch Fultz the other night did you?

 

[trestyles]

You didn't watch Fultz the other night did you?

I saw his stat line against Yale, but I couldn't find any video on Youtube. Do you got a link?

 

[dadika13]

I saw his stat line against Yale, but I couldn't find any video on Youtube. Do you got a link?

It's a crap highlight video but Fultz is an absolute monster.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

I agree that JB is the best PG we could hope for this year! His combination of refuse to lose, shooting, D, vocal leadership, taking care of the ball, nurturing peeps who are down, and on the floor coaching is second to NONE! Those other PGs give you flashy numbers, but none are the total package like JB. I couldn't care less without being dead about pro potential!

 

[gary-7]

View embedded media

It's a crap highlight video but Fultz is an absolute monster.

He is a terrific talent, but he's a 2.

 

[DSouthr]

Thing about Joel Berry is you can find guys that have more talent, you can find guys with better individual stats. What Joel does that is so special is he leads his team, he makes his team better and that is more his focus than individual stats or show casing for NBA scouts.

You just don't see PGs like Joel change the tone of a game like I have watched him do in back to back games on the defensive end and still remain just as solid on the offensive end. Usually kids looking to change the tone of the game look to do so by scoring and they tend to give some back on the defensive end. Joel in back to back games not only changed the tone of the game totally defensively if anything his offense went up a notch as well. Kind of an amazing thing to witness.