University of North Carolina Athletics
Whatever It Takes
January 28, 2014 | Men's Basketball
by Emily Fedewa, GoHeels.com
CHAPEL HILL -- It hasn't been an easy January for the North Carolina basketball team, but an 80-61 victory over Clemson on Sunday could be a step in the right direction.
Starting 1-4 in the ACC for just the second time in school history, Carolina has spent the first weeks of conference play searching for intensity and a more balanced offense.
So there were plenty of reasons to wonder if Clemson would finally have a chance to break the longest home winning streak against one opponent in Division I history with its first win in Chapel Hill on Sunday night.
Instead, the Tar Heels improved to 57-0 at home against Clemson by playing with the intensity they've been missing recently; they scrambled to the floor for 50/50 balls, controlled the boards and found shots against Clemson's top ranked defense.
"I'm going to try to keep emphasizing it—screaming, stomping, whatever it takes," head coach Roy Williams said. "But they've got to bring it. When they do that, we've got a chance to be a good team."
A lot of the newly rediscovered aggressiveness and intensity was made possible through a more balanced offense—specifically, more consistency from behind the arc.
After shooting less than 34 percent from three point range in its first five ACC games, UNC hit eight threes against Clemson, shooting 44.4 percent and creating more of a threat from three point range.
That scoring threat opened up junior James Michael McAdoo and his fellow big men, allowing them to be more aggressive and leading to the team's highest shooting percentage in ACC play this season at 55 percent.
"When guys are on the perimeter knocking down threes, guys can't really help off of them," McAdoo said. "It gives us more time and more room to operate, so it definitely helps."
McAdoo went 9-13 with 22 points and seven rebounds, and it was his intensity that the rest of the Tar Heels fed off of throughout the game.
Williams said some of his past teams have been able to win without as much energy, but this year's team needs to play with intensity at the maximum level to win games. McAdoo's more outward emotion in his recent games, and especially against Clemson, could be the key to spurring the level of passion this team needs.
"I think (McAdoo)'s one of the guys that even in our losses brought the heart and the energy, the sense of urgency Coach always talks about—and it was obvious tonight," sophomore Marcus Paige said of his teammate's intensity. "He was diving on the floor, getting extra possessions; he was really just a monster tonight...he's our consistent effort guy."
Now, of course, the question is whether or not the Tar Heels can sustain this level of effort through the rest of the season and into the postseason.
Both Paige and McAdoo believe that this team has the ability to maintain the sense of urgency that is so crucial to Carolina's success - so long as they keep being aggressive.
"I think that when we play with effort and a sense of urgency like Coach has been saying so much lately, as you see, we're a lot better team," McAdoo said. "At the end of the day no one's going to go out there and lay down; we have to go out there and take it from other teams.
"We've got to realize that we've got to do that on a night in, night out basis, especially if we want to compete and win games."
