GAME INFO:
January 5, 2021
9:00pm pm Tip Off
Purcell Pavilion (Capacity: 9,149)
South Bend, IN
TV: ESPN2
UNC is given a 54% chance to win by ESPN
Records:
UNC: 10-3 (2-0 in ACC)
Notre Dame: 7-5 (1-1 in ACC)
Last Time Out:
UNC: Beat Boston College 91-65
Notre Dame: Beat Pitt 68-67
SERIES INFO:
• Carolina leads the series, 27-8.
• Carolina has won nine of the last 10 games.
• The Tar Heels are 11-4 since the Irish joined the ACC in 2013-14.
• Carolina is 5-3 at Notre Dame. This is UNC's first game at Purcell Pavilion since 2/17/2020, when Nate Laszewski hit a game-winning three with 2.4 seconds to play to give Notre Dame a 77-76 win.
• The Tar Heels won both games against the Irish last season.
Team Leaders
Points:
UNC: Love (15.6 PPG)
Notre Dame: D. Goodwin (14.9 PPG)
Rebounds:
UNC: Bacot (9.9)
Notre Dame: N. Laszewski (7.2)
Assists:
UNC: Love (3.5)
Notre Dame: P. Hubb (3.0)
Boston College Notes
Caleb Love had 22 points on 7-11 shooting, 4-6 from 3, 4-4 FT, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Armando Bacot had 18 points on 6-9 shooting, 1-1 from 3, 5-5 FT, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3 steals, 1 TO
RJ Davis had 17 points on 5-5 shooting, 2-2 from 3, 5-5 FT, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 TOs
Brady Manek had 17 points on 7-14 shooting, 2-7 from 3, 1-1 FT, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 TO
D”Marco Dunn had 6 points on 2-4 shooting, 1-1 from 3, 1-2 FT, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
Kerwin Walton had 5 points on 2-7 shooting, 1-4 from 3, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Dontrez Styles had 4 points on 2-5 shooting, 0-1 from 3, 0-2 FT, 3 rebounds, 1 TO
Leaky Black had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 TO
TEAM STATS:
52.5% FG (32-61)
47.8% 3PT (11-23)
84.2% FT (16-19)
42 rebounds
17 assists
9 turnovers
6 steals
2 blocks
The Heels are back on the road Wednesday night, this time to face the fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The Irish barely got by Pitt in their previous game, and Carolina is coming off of a blowout win at Boston College. Now Boston College is not a good team and they were coming off a multiple week layoff due to covid, but it was still an impressive win when you take a couple of things into consideration. One, the heels have had trouble putting away lesser opponents than the Eagles. Two, Our rotation was thinner than usual. Mckoy missed the game because of covid protocols, and Garcia left the game just a couple of minutes in due to an awkward collision that left him with a Eagles’ butt to the head. Bacot and Manek stepped up. These 2 have the most chemistry in terms of post player rotation. Manek should start but I digress. A shorthanded rotation and a sizable lead led to the freshmen seeing the most minutes of the season so far. Styles and Dunn did some good things which is apparent in their respective stat lines above, but we also saw why they aren’t a part of the rotation this year. Styles entered the game at the end of the first half. Those minutes turned into a turnover, a foul and a missed box out. These things happen. It’s a learning curve, but those mistakes are “okay” in a game that isn’t close. You can’t afford those mistakes in a close game.
If you haven’t read Adam Lucas’ “Learning Process” article then you should. It sums up the freshmen situation beautifully by someone who is close to the program and has opportunities to watch practice. Styles and Dunn are not consistently better than anyone ahead of them in the rotation at this time. They have had flashes in practice, but Hubert has to be able to trust them to consistently perform to put them in the game. It’s not to that point yet. Take this quote from Dunn into consideration:
"It's been a work in progress every day in practice," Dunn said. "It's not about skill. It's about the little things. It's about learning the plays and being in defensive rotation. Dontrez and I have the skill set to be here. The more the year progresses and we see good teams and see how our team plays at a high level against good teams, we're going to learn from that."
That’s a very mature response from someone that the fan base thinks is going to transfer if he doesn’t get playing time. Let’s give these guys a little more credit. Dunn knows his time is coming. He seems to have a good mindset about it, so let’s follow.
Now I highly doubt we blow out Notre Dame like we blew out the Eagles, but our rotation could be short handed again. Neither Garcia nor Mckoy practiced on Monday. Garcia was complaining of headaches. If neither one of those guys can go then that might open up a few minutes for the freshmen just to give some guys a breather. Luckily it’s not necessarily a game where we need a bunch of post players. I would love to play at full strength because that gives us the best option to win, but we aren’t suffering matchup wise. Notre Dame starts 2 forwards, but only has a 7 man rotation. The 2 guys coming off the bench are guards. This means Notre Dame will probably have 1 forward out on the floor for a lot of the game. We had to play some smaller lineups against Boston College and may have to do so against Notre Dame which again won’t hurt us. Notre Dame is experienced. Wesley is a freshman and he starts, but he is the only lower classmen that sees playing time. Their rotation is as follows:
STARTERS:
N. Laszewski F (JR 6-10)
P. Atkinson Jr. F (SR 6-9)
B. Wesley G (FR 6-5)
D. Goodwin G (JR 6-6)
P. Hubb G (JR 6-3)
BENCH:
T. Wertz G (JR 6-5)
C. Ryan G (JR 6-5)
They are well coached and they know who they are. Playing against Mike Brey is never a gimme. The Irish beat Kentucky who destroyed us but lost by double digits to Boston College who we just blew out. But that’s college basketball. And they just barely got by Pitt who is another lower tier ACC team. They also have losses to St. Mary’s, Texas A&M, Illinois, and Indiana. The Irish come in at 59 in the latest KENPOM ratings. UNC is 30th.
The Irish have shuffled their guards around in the rotation throughout the year. Wesley, Ryan and Hubb have all shuffled in and out of the starting lineup. Hubb has struggled at times this year. He started the year off starting before being taken out of the starting lineup. He has returned to that starting lineup in the last 3 games. Don’t let his struggles fool you though. He can go off during any game and is still a very real threat to score from anywhere on the court.
Goodwin currently leads the team in scoring and 3 point percentage. Goodwin has scored in double figures in all 12 games. Atkinson and Wesley both have 10 double figure scoring games. Hubb has 5 and Laszewski has 3 to round out the starters. Ryan has 5 and Wertz has 1 off the bench. Goodwin also leads the team in minutes per game at 33.7. Despite Ryan being in and out of the starting lineup he is still second on the team in minutes (31.3). Hubb isn’t far behind at 29.9. The other rotational players average between 20-30.
All but one member of the Irish’s rotation is a threat from 3. That player would be Atkinson. Goodwin shoots 49.2% from 3. Laszewski is the next best 3 point shooter at 37.8%. He has shot 45 3’s on the season, so it is a huge part of his game. The rest of the 3 point percentages are as follows:
Goodwin 47.3% (26-55)
Wesley 34.5% (19-55)
Ryan 33.3% (15.45)
Laszewski 37.8% (17-45)
Hubb 26.9% (14-52)
Wertz 24.1% (7-29)
Laszewski presents a matchup problem due to his shooting abilities. He has created issues for us in years past. I’m going to take a shot in the dark here and say Manek starts and gets the assignment. Bacot will get to bang in the post with Atkinson Jr. They have larger guards which again, with RJ, could present some problems. Black probably gets the assignment on Goodwin. Love will probably get Wesley just due to size. That leaves RJ on Hubb purely because Hubb is their smallest guard. Hubb stands at 6’3” so he still has a sizable advantage over RJ Davis. RJ will have to fight to keep Hubb in front and out of the lane. The team has run through Hubb in previous years, and he still sees a ton of minutes despite his early season struggles. We don’t need this to be the game that Hubb gets going.
This game is another opportunity for Bacot to have a monster game. He has the average over Atkinson Jr and Laszewski is not a great defender. Both of the Irish’s post players will have to be careful banging inside with such a short rotation. If we are without Garcia and Mckoy then our guys will have to be smart as well.
Playing at Notre Dame is going to be a lot tougher than playing at Boston College, but if the team that showed up in Chestnut Hill shows up in South Bend then the Heels should move to 3-0 in conference play.
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