Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Not a pretty win, but the third win in five days--so it doesn't matter how pretty it is. Carolina's 83-66 win over Notre Dame completes a terrific stretch for the Tar Heels and lets them sit back this week and watch some of the other ACC contenders beat up on each other.

2. Balanced scoring effort for the Tar Heels with four players in double figures. Joel Berry led the Heels with 21, and Kenny Williams continued his offensive surge with three three-pointers and 14 points.

3. Notre Dame outrebounded Carolina in the first meeting, winning the overall battle 45-37 and holding a 20-13 edge on the offensive glass. The story changed this time, as Carolina outrebounded the Irish 42-29 and 12-10 on the offensive glass (14-6 in second chance points). There's a very simple way Roy Williams has ensured that emphasis remains at the forefront of Tar Heel minds: when the Irish grabbed a first half offensive rebound, Williams gritted his teeth and shouted, "Five guys rebound the ball!" during the ensuing stoppage. Rebounding, as Williams has often said, is something Carolina practices every single day, and he expects execution for all 40 minutes.

4. It's been interesting to watch the evolution of Cameron Johnson's game during his first year as a Tar Heel. Monday night, he scored on a little half-hook and on a drive to the basket. He's become much more than just a standstill three-point shooter. That's also enabled him to get to the free throw line more often, where he is a weapon. After getting to the line just 12 times in the first nine ACC games, Johnson has attempted 14 free throws in his last five games (although he didn't make a trip in this game). Johnson had a nice baseline drive and dunk through some contact in the second half.

5. A couple days after playing fast and loose with the ball in Raleigh, the Tar Heels turned it over just six times.

6. What a very Theo Pinson-like game for Theo Pinson. In other words, he did everything. He scored, of course, finishing with 16 points on a variety of midrange jumpers (!) and drives to the rim. But he also had a team-high 10 rebounds and a team-high five assists.

7. After Luke Maye went 4-for-8 from the line against NC State in Chapel Hill, Maye said he needed to be a little more focused at the charity stripe. Since then, he's 9-for-10 at the line. Maye had just eight points in the game, which means Louisville should beware. Maye has been terrific in the games following his rare single-digit scoring games. Even on an "off" night scoring-wise, Maye had an assist on a key possession with 5:30 remaining when the Irish went zone.

8. Realistically, going into the three games in five days stretch, winning a pair seemed like a reasonable goal--not just because of the opposition, but because this is a grueling stretch against Atlantic Coast Conference competition. Taking all three has now firmly put the Tar Heels in contention for one of the four coveted double byes in the ACC Tournament and back in the discussion for a Charlotte assignment in the NCAA Tournament. Carolina is now 9-5 in the league and has games remaining against a couple of the other double bye competitors (Duke, Louisville and Miami).

9. Carolina has now won 20 games for the 14th time in Roy Williams' 15 seasons in Chapel Hill (the lone exception was 19 wins in his first year). Overall, this is the program's 60th 20-win season.

10. Unusual statistic: Roy Williams has now won 418 games at Kansas and 418 at UNC.

11. Games to watch this week include Virginia at Miami tomorrow night (Miami is in the jumble of teams with the Tar Heels in the middle of the league battling for one of the four double byes at the ACC Tournament), and then a pair of games in which all four teams are competing with the Tar Heels for one of those spots: Virginia Tech at Duke on Wednesday night and Clemson at Florida State that same evening.

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cameron Johnson

Luke Maye

Theo Pinson

Kenny Williams

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