University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Puzzled
January 21, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--It was a simple question, but it made both James Michael McAdoo and Marcus Paige pause.
What is the difference between the Carolina team that lost to Virginia 76-61 on Monday night and the Tar Heel team that played in East Lansing on Dec. 4. Or, for that matter, the difference between the Carolina team that has played in January, and the Tar Heel squad that played most any time in December?
"Up in East Lansing, that was Carolina basketball," McAdoo said. "Everyone played together and everything worked so smoothly."
"Sense of urgency is the easy answer," Paige said. "But with that team, everyone bought in. We knew those teams were better than us on paper and we decided that if we did everything together, we would be OK. We've strayed from that."
The offensive struggles--Carolina shot just 41.3 percent from the field and had only one player in the rotation who made more than half his field goals (Kennedy Meeks)--are going to get plenty of attention. The Tar Heels simply don't have very many go-to scoring threats right now, and when Paige struggles from the field (4-of-14), the offense struggles. That's especially true against a team like Virginia, which is very adept at executing a specific defensive system.
But that's the offense this team has. It's unlikely that it's going to make marked improvements over the next two months. It's very difficult to take someone from an average shooter to a deadeye shooter during the course of the season. Carolina doesn't get to the free throw line very often, and when they do, they've struggled to convert. In three of the first five ACC games, opponents have made more free throws than UNC has attempted, which used to be a Tar Heel hallmark.
So that means there's only one area where the Tar Heels can decide games: on defense. Right now, they're unable to do that. Midway through the second half, Carolina had back-to-back stops just one time in the game. At a couple junctures of the second half, it felt like the visitors were on the verge of putting together a run, of getting the deficit into single digits for the first time since the first minute of the second half, but then Virginia would probe the defense until a breakdown occurred and toss in a wide open shot.
Michigan State shot 35.9 percent from the field against Carolina. Louisville just 38.8 percent. Kentucky a relatively whopping 40.7 percent.
"We were better defensively then," Paige said. "If a guy got beat off the dribble earlier in the year, he knew there would be someone in the help spot. Now, we're giving up layups at the rim because we're not getting defensive rotations. Our offense is not going to be the 2009 team or the 2012 team. But defensively, we can be just as good as any of the teams Coach has had. That's where we have to hang our hats and make that determine every single game we play."
In a partial effort to get back to that type of effort, Williams dusted off the 3-2 zone for a long stretch of the second half. But, as Paige observed, it just didn't seem to move quite as fluidly as it did when Carolina was playing very effectively. There wasn't quite as much talking, and Virginia did an excellent job of attacking the weak points with players who were capable of exploiting it.
As Williams observed about the Wahoos, they are a team where everyone seems completely comfortable and confident in their role. It's possible that Carolina could again be that kind of team, because they have been that kind of team this year. Now they have a week to figure out what they can do to make that happen again.
"I'm sure it's a puzzle to the coaches why we have the same players and aren't playing the same way," McAdoo said. "And it's a puzzle to me."
Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.
