University of North Carolina Athletics
Jacobs: Home Respite For Road Warriors
November 21, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers
Nov. 21, 2011
by Barry Jacobs, TarHeelBlue.com
Two contingents of wanderers crossed paths on a warm November afternoon at Chapel Hill. For the victors, the day's pleasure was compounded by playing before the home fans, knowing they could spend the night in their own beds.
The November 20 game against Mississippi Valley State was North Carolina's latest Smith Center opener since 2005, when Roy Williams' eventual NCAA champions played four games before enjoying a home crowd. Those Tar Heels lost their opener without star playmaker Raymond Felton - suspended by the NCAA for participating in a non-sanctioned summer league contest - then won 14 in a row.
This year's UNC unit, the preseason No. 1 selection, played just twice before returning to the building with all the banners and memories, familiar faces and Carolina blue accouterments. Among ACC schools only the Tar Heels started the season on the road, facing Michigan State on an aircraft carrier with the president and a national TV audience watching, then going to UNC Asheville to help a sister school christen a new arena.
The Tar Heels get to play at home on Tuesday against Tennessee State, then travel to Las Vegas to play two games on Thanksgiving weekend. "We might as well just stay over there, man," forward Harrison Barnes said of his team's westward orientation. "It'll make our lives so much easier."
After visiting Nevada, UNC returns home to face Wisconsin in the headliner of the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Then comes another, shorter western sojourn, this one to Rupp Arena, home court of No. 2 Kentucky.
The early wanders provide a degree of difficulty useful in keeping a powerful, veteran Carolina squad fully engaged as it pursues the program's third national championship in eight seasons. No one means to take victory for granted. But when leading scorers Tyler Zeller, Harrison Barnes and John Henson can rack up 52 points and 31 rebounds essentially playing half the game against visiting Mississippi Valley State, keeping their attention may require extraordinary measures.
Should the early time on the road prove wearing, there's a ready tonic in the longest homestand of Williams' tenure, nine consecutive games between Dec. 6 and Jan. 10. Talk about home cooking; among ACC squads only Maryland plays as many times in a row before sympathetic crowds, and that includes a short trip from College Park to D.C. to face Notre Dame.
No such luck for Mississippi Valley State, which plays eight games at home all season, the first on Jan. 3. UNC has the luxury of picking and choosing where it will play; the Delta Devils of the world make bargains sacrificing short-term competitiveness to pursue other ends.
Mississippi Valley State is located in Itta Bena, home of blues legend B.B. King and former D.C. mayor Marion Barry. The town, not far from the Mississippi River, lost population from 2000 to 2010 and was itty bitty to begin with. Here's how small: nine times as many fans attended UNC's 101-75 victory over the Delta Devils (18,000) as live in Itta Bena.
Even if the green-clad SWAC squad can fill its 4500-seat home arena, it's doubtless more lucrative to travel to major venues, take a large guarantee, and reinvest the money in building a stronger, more competitive program.
That's the route taken by Presbyterian in 2010, when it visited Chapel Hill and played 21 of its 31 games away from its home in Clinton, S.C. The other day the Blue Hose, 5-26 that year, finally saw a payoff for those sacrifices, when they shocked Cincinnati of the Big East on its home court.
Certainly the Presbyterian example should provide solace for the Delta Devils, who start the 2011-12 season on the road against the likes of Notre Dame, DePaul, UNC, South Carolina, Arkansas, Northwestern, Mississippi, Florida, Wisconsin, and Iowa State. The only power conference not represented in that lineup is the Pac-10.
The current North Carolina squad is strong enough to win anywhere. It most certainly can be expected to win at home; the three previous groups of Tar Heels that Williams led to the Final Four were a combined 43-3 at the Smith Center, including 15-0 in 2005.
Mississippi Valley State found out the hard way - by showing up - that such prowess is apt to continue this season. While no UNC starter played more than 25 minutes, the Heels held a 62-39 edge on the boards, made 46 percent of their shots while holding the Delta Devils to 38.2, and forced 21 turnovers compared to 13 assists.
The Heels have made half their shots and more than held their own on the boards in the first three games. Their defense has been good -- opponents are hitting 36.0 percent from the floor while committing nearly 1.6 turnovers per assist.
UNC's most glaring area of concern is 3-point shooting, a weakness last season when it still won 29 times and reached the NCAA regional finals. Freshman P.J. Hairston has made four of 10 from long range; the rest of the 2011-12 squad has hit a quarter of its threes.
Having a prominent weakness to address is apt to focus attention and give the coaching staff an especially effective goad to improvement, not a bad thing under the circumstances.
