GAME INFO:
November 23, 2021
7pm Tip Off
Dean Smith Center (Capacity: 21,750)
Chapel Hill, NC
TV: ACCNX
UNC given a 89.6% chance to win by ESPN
Records:
#23 UNC: 3-2
UNC Asheville: 2-2
Last Time Out:
#23 UNC: Lost to Tennessee 72-89
UNCA: Beat Tennessee Tech 61-55
SERIES INFO:
Carolina is 8-0 all time against UNCA
Last game was in 2011, a 91-75 Tar Heel victory
Team Leaders
Points:
UNC: Love (17.4 PPG)
UNCA: D Pember (10.8 PPG)
Rebounds:
UNC: Bacot (9)
UNCA: D. Pember (5.3)
Assists:
UNC: Davis (4.6)
UNCA: Q. Kimble (2)
We couldn't come out of this weekend 0-2 and that is exactly what happened. 1-1 would have been ideal. Purdue is a more talented team than us, Tennessee is not.
Next up is UNC asheville and then a top 25 in michigan and then #2 UCLA before Christmas. Not to be pessimistic but if we play like we did this weekend we won't win either game against those ranked opponents. Can’t go 0-4 against ranked teams and expect to be able to compete in March.
We struggle on defense and with turnovers, a combination that is never a recipe for success. You hear the boys talking about wanting to build their own legacy and wanting to win their own championship and Love wanting to be the best defender in the ACC. The only legacy they are leaving is one of defensive mediocrity. In 4 of the last 8 halves UNC opponents have shot at least 60%. That's pathetic for a team and program the caliber of UNC. This is the exact same team as last year, a better shooting team but I would go as far to say they are worse defensively. Same mistakes as last year, but there are no excuses for it now. Year two for a lot of these guys and you can't claim they aren't experienced as they saw significant minutes last year. They are almost a mirror image of the football team. They can score, lack defense and are underwhelming as a team. I kept waiting for the football to hit that turning point and it never happened and I am afraid the basketball team is going down the same path. I had high hopes for this season but major adjustment needs to be made.
Let's get to a recap of the weekend. I admittedly didn't watch either game. Spent saturday spending time with family and sunday riding dirtbikes, but all one had to do was look at the stats and the story of the game became clear. The Purdue game honestly gave me a little bit of hope. Our best defender, Leaky black, didn't play and his absence was felt as Walton is a defensive liability and gave up 4 first half 3s to his man. No more Leaky slander will be tolerated. Our best player, Bacot, spent the whole game in foul trouble and only scored 2 points. We had double digit turnovers in the first half and ended up with a negative assist to turnover ratio for the game with 14 turnovers to only 13 assists. The boys did show a lot of fight but when you fail to play defense and turnover the ball over fight is about the only thing that prevents the game from being a blowout. Purdue shot 55.7% from the field and 43.5% from 3 and held a 42-18 advantage in the paint. UNC shot 44.9% from the field and 41.4% from 3, 83.3% from the free throw line. We gave Purdue all they could handle and with the above mentioned things I was feeling optimistic going into the game against Tennessee. Well that was short lived. I watched about 2 minutes of the second half on the way back from South Jersey and watched Tennessee get 3 easy layups off screens. Love refused to get back in front of his man which made our post player come up and cover his man longer. Result? Tennessee’s big men got easy layups.
Once again almost double digits turnovers in the first half with 9 and ended with a negative assist to turnover ratio with 13 turnovers and only 9 assists. Unc was down by 7 at half, but halftime deficits seem to be the norm with this team. The second half just got worse. Tennessee scored on 16 out of 17 possessions at one point and shot 65.6% in the second half. They finished shooting 54.3% from the field and 45% from 3 and held a 54-22 advantage in points in the paint. UNC shot 40% from the field and 43.5% from 3, 81.8% from the free throw line. Our shooting percentages are much improved from last year but when you allow teams to shoot over 50% from the field and over 40% from 3 you aren’t going to win very many games. Interior defense is definitely an issue as opposing teams seem to get whatever they want off the dribble. Might be time to try zone. Hubie has stated that defense has been a point of focus over the off season and continues to be, so you know that they practice these things. Do not really know where the disconnect is, but it needs to be figured out and figured out quickly. It just proves that this team's issues were not a coaching issue. For whatever reason the guys just aren’t buying into playing defense. This will be Hubert’s first big test. He needs to figure out the right buttons to push in order to get this team to show some heart and effort on the defensive end.
A few other things worth mentioning.... Our points in the paint dropped off significantly over the past 2 games (our only games against quality opponents). All our bench points against the Vols came from Manek and we only tallied 5 second chance points. Tennessee played on Saturday too ya’ll, so I'm selling the fatigued excuse. So is Hubert by the way. These guys have played in AAU tournaments where they may have played 4 games in a day. Playing games in back to back days should not fatigue you to the point where you offer literally no resistance on defense. Accountability ladies and gentlemen, hopefully this team steps up and owns the poor performance.
The first thing the Heels can do to right the ship is blowout UNC Asheville on Tuesday night. It’s a home game against a bad offensive team. Not to take anything awhile from UNCA, but anything less than a blowout will continue to leave us with more questions than answers.
UNCA has played in only one close game. It was their last game where they beat Tennessee Tech 61-55. They got blown out by UAB (77-102) and Chattanooga (45-75). They blew out Brevard 101-44. And again not to take anything away from Brevard, but it’s Brevard. Take away that game and they have scored 77, 45, and 61 points.
The starting lineup has been plug in play at the forward position. Jude, Marable, Battle, and Thorpe have all started games. Pember, Stephney, and Jones have started every game in the backcourt. Last game was probably the most representative of the type of team they are. The rotation for that game is as follows:
Started last game
F J. Battle (6-5 Junior)
F L. Thorpe (6-5 Senior)
G D. Pember (6-10 Junior)
G T. Stephney (6-2 Junior)
G T. Jones (6-5 Senior)
Bench:
F S. Mason (6-7 Sophomore)
F B. Marable (6-9 Sophomore)
F C. Jude (6-9 Sophomore)
F L Lawson (6-9 Senior)
G J. Hairston (6-0 Sophomore)
They only had 3 players in double figures. Battle had 10, Jones had 12, and they were led by Pember with 16. They have a 10-11 man rotation, but don’t get a ton of help off the bench. They had 3 guys (Battle, Stephney, and Jones) go over 30 minutes last game. Pember had 29 minutes. 4 guys were over 10 minutes (Thorpe, Jude, Lawson, and Hairston). 2 guys played under 10 minutes (Marable and Mason).
Asheville is a pretty experienced team with a starting lineup that features 3 juniors and 2 seniors. It isn’t a very tall lineup though. Both starting forwards are 6-5 and their tallest forward is 6-9.
Pember is a bit of an interesting case as he is a 6-10 guard. Everything seems to run through him and he leads the team in both points and rebounds. This matchup will probably be the most tricky. He could be guarded by a post player, but most likely will blow by our guys on the perimeter. Their starting forwards are 6-5 which also presents a matchup problem defensively as they probably play out on the perimeter with their lack of size. Honestly this game would be the perfect time to practice zone. It would neutralize Pember as we don’t really have a guard big enough to guard him, and would help us guard the perimeter as their post game isn’t really a threat. But with that being doubtful, I could see Leaky getting the assignment on Pember. Black is quicker and has a bigger body than Pember. There is a possibility of switching on him when he goes into the post with one of our post players, but I don’t think our defensive communication is ready for that yet. Love will probably get the assignment on Jones. Davis will probably start off on Stephney. Our post players will have to pick up their smaller forwards. I could see Mckoy guarding Pember, but he didn’t see any time last game so it’s hard to make that call.
This would also be a good game for Davis to get a better feel for the rotation. Offensively these guys shouldn’t be able to stop us even if Pember guards one of our post players. He can’t get in foul trouble and he doesn't have the body to bang with Bacot. UNCA will probably rotate frequently in the frontcourt to try to keep guys fresh, but our bigs will just be too much for them.
UNCA relies on getting points off turnovers, so we need to take care of the ball to put them away early. Honestly anything less than a 20 point victory will be a disappointment. The offense may have changed under Davis, but our most effective offense hasn’t changed. Our best offense is still dumping it down into the post. Bacot should have a monster game. Manek and Garcia should realistically reach double figures too. This game should get us biscuits.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
lineups /rotation (Mckoy didn’t see any time against Tennessee. Hubert has said the rotation is a work in process. When do the freshmen become a legitimate part of the rotation? This needs to get figured out)
Defense (Anything and everything related to defense needs to get better. Any sign of resistance and life on the defensive end of the ball will be a positive. Too many easy baskets for the opposing team.)
First half struggles (it’s no secret that this team starts slow. It hurt us this weekend. We can’t show up for one half especially with a matchup with Michigan looming. We need to figure out how to come out with energy in the first half)
Taking better care of the ball (turnovers are killing us specifically in the first half. Playing poor defense and turning the ball over are not a winning combination. We need to make better decisions on offense. Also throw in the fact that we had more turnovers than assists against Purdue and Tennessee. Also not a winning combo.)
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