NC State Recap:
A 86-76 revenge win over our not rivals NC State was our most complete game of the year. The second half was sloppier than the first, but we finally put two halves together. We scored 43 points in each half and shot 54.4% for the game. It won’t necessarily show up in the box score because we only had 11 fast break points, but that pace was the pace we are all more accustomed to seeing from a Carolina basketball team. That game seemed a lot more like Carolina basketball. It is great to see the light going off for both Love and Davis. They both pushed the ball and made a deliberate attempt to do so. Maybe the college game is finally starting to slow down for them. Both guards are also penetrating more especially Love. I thought the offense ran more smoothly when Love was in the game than when Davis was in the game, but that could have just been a circumstance of who they were in the game with. Love finished with 15 points and 5 assists, but also had 5 turnovers. Love’s decision making and passing has to continue to get better and maybe that will come with his newfound confidence. 5 turnovers is too much for our point guard to have. The Carolina system is based on the point guard distributing the basketball. 5 assists is a good number but he ended up with an even assist/turnover ratio. As a team we only had 13 turnovers to 18 assists, so it is good to see those numbers continue to trend in a positive direction. Davis also added 10 points off the bench. We had 5 players in double figures and 3 of them came off the bench (Davis, Sharpe, and Harris). Harris had 10 points in 11 minutes and it can’t be stated enough how big having him on the floor is. He has a high basketball IQ and a motor that doesn’t stop. A perfect example of this is with under 3 minutes to go in the game Love had to force up a 3 pointer near the end of the shot clock, and Harris recognized this. Harris got to the rim, caught the ball in the air and converted a lay up as the shot clock expired.
Sharpe looked soft at the beginning of the game, but that changed with about 4 minutes to go in the first half. He settled in and finished with a double double (16 points and 10 rebounds). Bacot did most of his damage in the first half, but he finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds. The highlight of his night arguably being that monstrous block in the second half. Come on Armado, that man has a family. Sharpe and Bacot were beneficiaries of our commitment to getting the ball downlow. As a team, we finished with 48 points in the paint and 17 second chance points. We won the rebounding battle 44-30. Sharpe along with Davis and Harris contributed to a season high 38 bench points. Walton added 8 points that all came in the second half including 2 big 3’s near the end of the game. Walton struggled in the first half as teams are now aware that he is our biggest threat from behind the arc. It was good to see him make adjustments on the offensive end even though he struggled defensively in my opinion.
As a team we had a much better showing on the defensively side of the ball. State did miss some open 3’s they hit in the previous game, but our guards did a much better job of keeping their man in front and stopping dribble penetration. Our bigs struggled to guard their bigs on the perimeter, but our size advantage downlow proved to be a bigger factor than our ability to guard their bigs on the perimeter. Daniels did have 21 points, but was held scoreless for 8 straight minutes when Roy finally put Black on him. But again overall a much better all around defensive performance. We added 10 points off of NC State turnovers. Kessler also gave us solid minutes despite only having 2 points. Brooks had an off night and we were without Johnson who was in street clothes and a boot. There will be a game where everyone is clicking and that is going to be scary for whoever our opponent might be.
SERIES:
Carolina is 14-5 against Pittsburgh, including 7-4 since the Panthers joined the ACC prior to the 2013-14 season.
Carolina is 5-2 at Pittsburgh.
Roy Williams is 7-4 against the Panthers as UNC's head coach and 8-4 overall.
Pittsburgh has won two in a row. The Panthers have never beaten UNC three straight games.
Garrison Brooks has 56 points (fifth most by a Tar Heel) and 33 rebounds (the most by any Tar Heel) in his career against the Panthers.
LAST MATCHUP:
The teams played twice in 10 days and, for the only time in series history, the Panthers won both games.
Pitt won 73-65 on 1/8/20 and 66-52 on 1/18/20.
Armando Bacot averaged 13.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals in the two games. He was 11 for 23 from the floor.
Garrison Brooks averaged 18.5 points and 11.5 rebounds and was 16 for 27 from the floor in the two games.
BY THE NUMBERS:
UNC is 10-5 (5-3 in the ACC) Coming off of a 86-76 win against NC State
Pitt is 8-3 (4-2 in the ACC) Coming off a 75-76 loss against Wake Forest
Coming off probably their best performance all year, the heels travel to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers. This is the first of a 3 game road trip and UNC tends to struggle on the road. The obvious question is how are the heels going to stop Pitt’s star forward Justin Champagnie. He averages a double double and poses a problem as we tend to struggle with smaller, quicker 4 position player. I would not be opposed to going small and letting Black guard him. Even though Champagnie is listed as a forward but he is only 6’6” and Black, although a guard, is bigger at 6’8”. Black is perhaps our best on ball defender and Champagnie has probably been able to use his quickness to his advantage when bigger, slower players guard him. Now if Harris wasn’t just coming back from injury with limited minutes I would start him, Love, Walton, Black and Bacot. Unfortunately that is not the case and Harris has proven to be crucial in minutes down the stretch. Roy could start Davis, but him and Love tend to play better when they don't have to share the floor. At this point I would say our starting line up is pretty much set at this point, Brooks is a wild card and I could see Harris taking Walton’s spot towards the end of the season but not right now. Our stats are surprisingly similar, considering our considerable size advantage. We tend to have the size advantage in every game but sometimes that is a defensive liability and we don't convert close to the basket. We did a significantly better job of this against State. There was definitely a more pointed effort at feeding the post and we seem to take less outside shots. I really liked how Love and Harris attacked the basket. If we can dominate the post, attack the basket and be as efficient at converting offensive rebounds then we set ourselves up pretty well. Once again we need take better care of the basket and improve on our free throw shooting. Our posts playing defense on the perimeter seemed to be a liability at times against State and will be key against, a smaller, quicker Pitt team. There is notable difference in the way Love and Davis are playing. You can tell they are more confident and sure of themselves and its translating on both sides of the floor. Playing defense can be fun when you get turnovers and run outs. Hopefully this continues on the road against a Pitt team that is coming off giving Wake Forest its first ACC win.
Pitt has had some rona issue this year and appears to be back to full strength. They play mainly an 8 man rotation. Champagnie and Coulibaly start in the backcourt and Horton, Toney, and Johnson start in the frontcourt. Pitt starts 2 forwards and 3 guards. Champagnie is the one freshmen alongside 2 sophomores and 2 juniors in the starting line up. Coulibaly stands at 6’8” so we have a massive size advantage down low. Brown subs in at forward. He is their tallest player at 6’10”. Odukale and Sibande sub in at guards. That has been the rotation the past 2 games against Duke and Wake. Pitt may be small, but they rebound the ball relatively well at just over 42 rebounds a game. They score in the paint at just under 32 points a game, but they don’t necessarily rely on second chance points. They don’t shoot the 3 at a much higher percentage than us and seem to rely on a combo of fast break points and points off turnovers. They have a lower free throw percentage than we do so I would look for us to be aggressive on the defensive end. I would rather us make them earn it at the free throw line than give up easy baskets. Pitt stated that lack of focus and mental preparation were factors in their loss to Wake Forest so look for Pitt to come out with an intense focus. We are 6-0 at home and 1-4 in road games. This would be a big road win if we could get it despite Pitt’s most recent loss to Wake Forest. As stated above, Limit Campagnie and that will make things tough for Pitt. Everything goes through him and he is the real deal.
On a side note, after this game we don’t play again for exactly a week, so it will be interesting to see if Roy tries to pick up a home game for Saturday or if he rolls with the current schedule.
Check the link below for more stats and info.
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