Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Good PK80 win, 87-68, over an Arkansas team that had pointed to this game all summer. Carolina wilted a little bit late, but mostly played a terrific defensive game to get the win.

2. There is absolutely no way to watch that game and not be extremely excited about watching this Carolina team play over the next four months. The Tar Heels were terrific defensively against a team that clearly believed the Heels would back down if the Hogs put their head down and drove right at them. Instead, Carolina held its ground, including limiting Daryl Macon to 1-of-9 in the first half and 2-for-11 before he left with an injury.

3. As we've already seen this year, the intensity with which Carolina plays starts at the top with the attitude set by Joel Berry II, Luke Maye, Theo Pinson and Kenny Williams. If you ever wondered what kind of tone that sets, just watch the way the Tar Heels played in the first half. Brandon Robinson tried to draw a charge on a 265-pounder, Seventh Woods hurled himself into the courtside seats chasing a loose ball that he had knocked away, and a well-timed Roy Williams called trap out of a timeout eventually led to a shot clock violation.

4. At some point Luke Maye will stop being a cute story and will start being treated as one of the emerging players in the country. Maye was sensational all over the court on Friday, hitting from the perimeter, creating space in the paint, and rebounding. The hardworking junior finished with a career-high 28 points and career-high 16 rebounds in 34 minutes.

5. Roy Williams mentioned yesterday that he has asked the Carolina wings to rebound the ball more to make up for the post presence that is missing from last year's club. Kenny Williams (8) and Brandon Robinson (6) did that against the Razorbacks, which enabled the head coach to frequently play smaller for long stretches of the game.

6. Arkansas had outscored opponents by 42 points in the paint during the team's first four games. That changed against the Tar Heels, as Carolina won that category handily, 38-28.

7. Carolina did a great job taking care of the ball for a big chunk of the decisive part of the game. The Tar Heels did not commit a turnover for nearly 18 straight minutes of game action, during which time they stretched the lead to 14 points. That forced Arkansas to play offense in the halfcourt, and Carolina was able to limit them to mostly one-on-one play when they weren't able to get out in transition.

8. Arkansas players and coaches did a good job prior to the game of downplaying the NCAA Tournament rematch angle. This tweet and video, however, suggests it had a significant impact on their offseason:

We've got some unfinished business to take care of.

See you tomorrow, @UNC_Basketball pic.twitter.com/ZBWTbUPLS9
— Razorback Basketball (@RazorbackMBB) November 24, 2017

9. Sunday's championship game of the Victory bracket will take place at 8:30 Eastern time, and could be a mammoth showdown against a very good Michigan State team. The general thinking before departure for the west coast was that a 3-1 trip would be very good. Now it's time to get greedy and try for 4-0.

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

Luke Maye

Theo Pinson

Brandon Robinson

Kenny Williams

Seventh Woods

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