SERIES:
Carolina leads 162-67, including 78-18 in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels have won six straight against the Demon Deacons at home and are 23-5 all-time in the Smith Center.
Carolina has won seven of the last eight overall.
Roy Williams is 18-7 against Wake Forest (16-6 at UNC, 2-1 at Kansas).
The 162 wins against Wake Forest are the most by Carolina against an opponent.
LAST MATCHUP:
The teams split a pair of games last season, each winning on its home court.
Wake Forest won, 74-57, in Winston-Salem on 2/11/20.
On Senior Night in Chapel Hill, Carolina shot 50.8 percent from the floor in route to a 93-83 victory on 3/3/20
Unlike the game in Winston-Salem when UNC was 1 for 16 from three-point range, Carolina made 10 of 17 threes for a season-best 58.8%
Carolina committed a season-low seven turnovers (one in the second half).
Brooks scored 25 points.
BY THE NUMBERS:
UNC is 8-5 (3-3 in ACC)
Wake forest is 3-5 (0-5 in the acc)
They have played #22 Virginia (lost by 9), #21 Duke (lost by 11), #16 Louisville (lost by 12), #20 Virginia tech (lost by 4) and Georgia tech (lost by 16)
The Tar Heels battle the Demon Deacons at 7pm tomorrow night in the Smith Center. The game will be televised on the ACC Network. Wake Forest is 3-5 and 0-5 in the ACC. Don’t let that less than stellar record fool you, they have played the top of the ACC. 4 of their 5 losses have been against UVA, Virginia Tech, Duke, and Louisville. Their other loss is to Georgia Tech who is our lone common opponent and we all know how that game went for us. This game is a game that we must win along with the NC State game that may or may not happen on Saturday. I say these games are must wins because our schedule gets rough. We go to Pitt, Clemson, and Duke. Then play Miami at home before going to UVA and then we are at home against Virginia Tech and Louisville. We also still have to play FSU and Syracuse again as well. In a nut shell, we will have plenty of opportunities to build a tournament resume, but a loss to Wake Forest would severely hurt it. The Florida State game saw some bright spots. Anthony Harris returned and was great in limited minutes. He only played 9 minutes, but had 5 points on 2-2 FG and hit his only 3. He also added 3 assists and drew 2 offensive fouls. Love and Davis both had better shooting games, and Davis’ performance earned him ACC freshman of the week honors. Love went 3-6 from 3 and finished with 11 points. Davis had 16 points on 6-9 shooting which included going 2-3 from behind the arc. Walton added 14 points and went 4-10 from 3. As a team we went 10-24 from behind the arc with the 3 players mentioned above making 9 out of 10 3s made. It is nice to see Love and Davis find their shooting stroke, and I think we can put poor shooting from 3 to bed as to reasons as to why we are losing games. As a team we had 19 assists, Love had none of them. Our starting point guard had no assists and 4 turnovers. Again it’s great that he had a better shooting game, but we need our point guard to be a point guard. It is the reason Roy’s system seemingly isn’t running correctly. It’s simple… It’s because the system isn’t being run at all. 14 turnovers is below our season average, but still seems like too many especially when they happen on crucial possessions. I think Adam Lucas’ highlighted 9 different possessions where we could have tied or taken the lead and all those possessions ended in turnovers or missed put backs. Same old same old. Oh yeah we got out rebounded 29-30. We also let FSU shoot 50% from 3.
Wake Forest doesn’t have the size or physicality that FSU has. We should have a fairly big advantage on the boards, but unlike in the FSU game, we can’t miss put backs. Wake Forest usually starts 3 guards and 2 forwards with their forwards being in the 6’8”-6’9” range. It goes without needing to be said, but they are more experienced than us. They have 4 players that average in double figures and 2 more that average a little over 9 points a game. They have 10 players that average over 18 minutes a game, but only have 6 players that have played in every game. Wake Forest has had a number of games canceled or postponed due to rona issues within the program. They consistently play 9-10 guys and rely on their bench scoring somewhat like we do. That is a testament to just how many players each team plays. Wake Forest isn’t a great 3 point shooting team. Massoud shoots 39.5% from 3 and his teammate Antonio shoots 38.5%. As a team they shoot around 32% from behind the arc. They average 21 points off turnovers and almost 9 steals, but they don’t necessarily run. They average around 10 fast break points a game which is nearly even with us. They like to get in the paint and score, but don’t rely on second chance points the way we do. We average almost 12 more rebounds a game and dwarf them when it comes to total offensive rebounds. Again it's a potential huge advantage if we do indeed take advantage. They turn the ball over just about as much as we do at a little over 14 a game.
If the FSU game wasn’t obviously that Harris is a huge addition then I will say it… Harris is a huge addition to this team. His energy is unmatched and he has a high basketball IQ. His minutes will obviously go up as he gets more into game shape. I really wish Roy would let Harris run point, but he has made it clear that won’t happen. Harris went down last season after just 5 games, so Love and Davis technically have more experience than him, but Harris just looks like a more mature player. Hopefully he will push Love and Davis as Harris will be battling to take some of their minutes.
We need to start correcting some of the same old same old mistakes. Right now it seems big moments (crucial possessions) are too big for our freshmen. We are halfway into the season… that needs to change and change now. We are still weak on the defensive side of the ball. I don’t know if it is an unwillingness to communicate properly or an unwillingness to show some grit, but we have got to get tough on that side of the ball. Keeping our man in front is still a huge point of emphasis as is guarding the 3 point line. The latter will get easier if we do the former. It’s a game I expect us to win and it would be really nice if it wasn’t another down to the wire game. Tournament resume season starts now ladies and gents unless we are still on the “have patience they are young bandwagon.” I’m not even though I am resided to the fact that this is a rebuilding year. Anyway... Go Heels, Go America.
For more stats and info check out the article below from GoHeels.
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