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By Adam Lucas
1. Miami simply had more shooters than Carolina and won 80-72 at the Smith Center. The Hurricanes went 6-for-13 from three; Carolina was 5-for-31. This is your ball game.
2. It takes a good shot to beat Miami, as Jim Larranaga’s teams traditionally place a high value on defending without fouls. The Tar Heels only got 15 turns, and to complicate matters, they only did eight of them. That’s not good enough to beat a good Hurricane team. Four heels were double digits (Davis, Love, Black and Bacot)… all others combined scored four points.
3. A big part of Miami’s defensive success was limiting Armando Bacot’s influence. The Tar Heel big man, hampered by foul problems for most of the game (he sat out a long stretch in the second half with four fouls), went 5-on-6 off the field and had just four rebounds. It’s honestly quite remarkable that the game was so close, with Bacot making six shots and the Tar Heels going 5-on-29 from three. And why could the Canes pack it up near Bacot? That’s right – the Tar Heels didn’t convert from the outside.
4. Miami won the rebound fight 36-31. Leaky Black led the Tar Heels with nine. Black also played a solid defense against Isaiah Wong, who finished 3-on-8 for eight points.
5. A lackluster stretch midway through the second half essentially decided the game. By that point, Miami was building a double-digit lead, and that was enough buffer to hold them when Carolina woke up.
6. After the Tar Heels hoisted seven three-pointers in their first 11 attempts (making only one), they made some much-needed shot selection adjustments and played much better offensively. The Tar Heels finished the first 20 minutes 1:10 from three-point range but 14:18 from two. Many of those 14 were layups created by drives by RJ Davis and Caleb Love. In the second half, however, the Canes were much better at cutting lanes as the Heels weren’t nearly as successful toward the basket.
7. Miami was extremely efficient with their offensive rebounds. The Hurricanes came into play as the second best offensive rebounding team in the league by percentage in ACC games. They grabbed five offensive boards in the first half and scored on each of them, resulting in 11 points.
8. You start to see the results when Hubert Davis keeps telling Seth Trimble to attack in practice. Trimble, who went six games without attempting a field goal earlier this season, drove hard and made a layup for himself in the first half; he missed it, but those are the types of plays he can make — and the types of shots that will eventually land for him. Combine that with his defensive aggressiveness and you have a very capable piece of the reserve rotation and a key piece of Carolina’s future.
9. Carolina has a really hard time making anything work in transition. Miami always emphasizes the transitional defense against UNC; They limited heels to just two quick break points in play. It was most noticeable with 4:07 to go when Miami flipped it coming from a time-out. Instead of attacking, the Heels let it trickle into a half-possession where they didn’t convert.
10. It’s entirely true and fair to say that Pete Nance has been having problems lately. It’s also true to say that nobody is more aware of this than Nance. Remember he also contributed a big blocked shot at the 9:45 mark and had six rebounds. Do the heels need more points from him (or from this position)? Yes. He knows it.
11. In a related stat, the Tar Heels had just six assists on 29 field goals.
12. Hubert Davis appeared to be actively trying to score a technical foul midway through the second half after some dubious calls and no-calls. But the whistle never blew. It’s been as lively as Davis has been in his two seasons as head coach — for good reason.
13. There is only one shed. Rasheed Wallace was at the game Monday wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey and a giant Chiefs necklace. Among others: Shammond Williams, Larry Brown, Dave Hanners.
14. The Saturday through Monday turnarounds are traditionally the most difficult part of the ACC schedule. This was the first loss at the back end of these setups in the Hubert Davis era. Carolina is now 3-1 in the back half of those quick turnarounds. The Heels have another Saturday-Monday weekend in two weeks as they will host Virginia on Saturday, February 25 and travel to FSU on Monday, February 27. The Tar Heels must now prepare for an all-important road trip to NC State on Sunday (expect the local media to glee at this game).