University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tar Heel Basketball Notebook
November 12, 2013 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
The most common theme you usually hear from players jumping up a level--high school to college, or college to NBA--is that the speed of the game is a challenge. That doesn't seem to be a problem for freshman point guard Nate Britt, who has plenty of quickness.
Instead, Britt said his main adjustment has been scrapping the principles he was accustomed to in high school and incorporating the Carolina defensive strategy. "Guarding the ball on the sideline here, there's a lot of emphasis on being parallel to the sideline," he said. "I'm used to playing the guy to the sideline and opening it up a little more. We help a whole lot more here than what I'm used to. Those are the two biggest things that are different."
Paige on point (or not): There was a strange juxtaposition after the game on Friday when Marcus Paige was asked about James Michael McAdoo playing out of position last year as Carolina's only post threat. "It's a huge difference," Paige said. "You don't realize how big a difference it makes for somebody to play their natural position."
Wait a minute. Isn't Paige somewhat playing out of position this year as a shooting guard rather than a point guard? "I thought about that when I was saying that," he said with a grin. "The difference is that last year James Michael was the focal point of our offense and he was a guy coming into a new role. That's a lot to ask. I established myself towards the end of last year, and I've had a lot of reps at the two-guard. I'm doing it to help Nate. Instead of him learning multiple positions, it's easier for me to slide over."
The rebounding numbers: Roy Williams put a major emphasis on rebounding during his radio show on Monday night. "We have to make rebounds a factor that determines the outcome of the game," he said. "We don't have a great three-point shooting team right now, so we have to find something else that gives us an advantage. We have to make rebounding one of the factors that determines whether you win or lose, and right now we're doing it by committee."
With the importance of rebounding in mind, here are the rebounding numbers from that committee Williams mentioned based on a per-minute basis from the Oakland game: Joel James one rebound every 1.8 minutes, Isaiah Hicks one rebound every 2.2 minutes, Kennedy Meeks one rebound every 2.6 minutes, Brice Johnson one rebound every 3.4 minutes, and Desmond Hubert did not have a rebound in his five minutes.
Ball movement: One of the stories of the first half was Carolina's ball movement, as the Tar Heels piled up 17 assists on 23 field goals. "It was a matter of effort and playing together," said freshman Kennedy Meeks. "It was knowing where the right spots were, and attacking the basket."
Roy Williams agreed, at least partially, describing those first 20 minutes as simply "fun." But after watching the tape, he also saw some passes that he might not want to be a regular feature of the Carolina offense.
"We have five things on the board that will stay there all year," the head coach said. "One of them is to be unselfish, and we want them to do it instinctively. If a teammate is open, throw them the ball. In the first half there were a couple of marginal passes that got through. In the second half, those things didn't work. But we did share the ball, and we have good kids and they will be unselfish."
Notes: After making four of his seven three-point attempts on Friday night, Paige is now shooting 56.8% from the three-point line over his last 11 games as a Tar Heel...Interesting quote from Williams: "There are certain things as an individual you have to do if you want to be a big time player. You have to guard the ball, shoot the ball, play with a sense of urgency and play without turning it over."...The most notable connection between Carolina and Friday's opponent, Holy Cross, is the transfer of 7-foot-7 Neil Fingleton from the Tar Heels to the Crusaders in 2002. Fingleton is now an actor and owns a clothing company.
Adam Lucas is a GoHeels columnist and the editor of CAROLINA.
