University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tar Heel Basketball Notebook
January 7, 2014 | Men's Basketball
With the 15th game of the season approaching, the Tar Heels may finally put their complete 2013-14 team on the floor for the first time on Wednesday night against Miami.
Leslie McDonald missed the first nine games of the season. Then, as soon as he returned against Texas, Joel James left with an injury in the opening minutes. But James is on schedule to return against the Hurricanes.
"We made the decision to hold him out for a certain number of days and see how he felt," Roy Williams said Monday night on his radio show. "Friday's practice was the decision maker (for the Wake game), because we asked him to do a little more and he was sore afterwards. We put his name in the scorebook in case of emergency. But he was full go at practice (Monday) with no limitations. He will be able to play."
Williams had said last week that James was likely to return to the starting lineup once he was healthy, and since no one has seized the starting center spot in his absence, it seems likely that he'll start against the Hurricanes. While the Tar Heels have rebounded fairly effectively in his absence, his presence has been missed defensively. Opponents have shot 39.6% against Carolina in his absence, compared to 37.8% when he was in the lineup.
Most tellingly, Williams said film review by the Tar Heel coaches concluded that 20 of Wake Forest's 26 made field goals were layups. It seems reasonable to assume that James' physical presence would have made a difference on some of those layups.
James and his teammates got to see those easy field goals on Monday. The team had been scheduled to have a day off, but with classes still out, the coaches brought them in for an hour of on-court work and an hour of film study. "We showed them all 20 layups on tape," Williams said. "That way the players don't have to take our word for it."
Post conversions: Williams was pleased with the way his team rebounded against Wake. The Tar Heels posted an offensive rebounding percentage of 48.0% against the Demon Deacons, meaning they grabbed the rebound on almost half of their missed shots. That compares very favorably to Wake's offensive rebounding percentage of 21.6%.
But the Deacons turned their eight offensive rebounds into ten second chance points, while Carolina's 24 offensive rebounds turned into just 17 second-chance points. While at first glance the 17 second-chance points sounds like a big number, the Tar Heels weren't very efficient with their opportunities.
The Carolina big men spent most of the hour practice working on finishing plays and being aggressive around the rim. "It was the most physical practice we've had for an hour all year long," Williams said. "They were beating each other up. We've got to be more forceful around the basket and finish plays."
Veteran wisdom: Interesting quote from the head coach on yesterday's ACC teleconference about the ability of an older, wiser team to withstand some of the struggles the Tar Heels have faced this year. "An older team knows how to handle it and has a trust factor with each other and the staff," Williams said. "They understand there are just a couple of things they have to change. A young team questions everything. They're questioning their own commitment, they're questioning if their shot is working, is the defense working, are we eating the right things for the pregame meal."
Briefly: Stilman White has returned from his Mormon mission, and Williams provided the following update on his status: "I talked to Stilman's dad today and we're looking at some possibilities. Stilman got hurt on his mission and had surgery on his ankle, so we're looking at a lot of things right now as to whether he can come back right now or if it's the best thing for him."...Miami head coach Jim Larranaga on Carolina's inconsistent season: "(In their losses) They missed free throws. Some nights, guys miss. Teams don't play the same way every night. They don't shoot the ball the same way."
Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.
