University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Communication Breakdown
January 9, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's 63-57 loss to Miami, Roy Williams first pointed to turnovers as one of the primary culprits in preventing the Tar Heels from establishing offensive momentum. It's true that those miscues, especially of the unforced variety, were a serious problem.
But equally concerning was Carolina's play on the defensive end, where the Tar Heels made both physical and mental errors in allowing Miami to build what eventually turned into a 13-point lead midway through the second half.
The Hurricanes--a team that had not shot better than 43 percent from the field in five previous halves against ACC opponents this year--shot 47.6% from the field for the half.
One four possession stretch in the second half crystallized the issues, along with the consequences that come with those problems. With 12:30 left in the half, Erik Swoope got around Brice Johnson on the baseline. He moved into the paint unobstructed and apparently with no communication from the Carolina defense. In fact, two of Johnson's teammates stood and watched Swoope take a free path to the hoop for a two-handed slam dunk.
On the very next possession, Manu Lecomte dribbled around until a high ball screen created confusion between a Carolina big man and a guard. There was more miscommunication (or lack of communication) about which defender was supposed to pick up which man, and Lecomte found Swoope inside for another easy dunk. Swoope didn't even cut to the basket; he just stood outside the paint and waited for the defense to drift away from him.
It might have been the first back-to-back dunks allowed to an opposing defense in the Roy Williams era. At most, the occurrences can be counted on one hand.
The problems continued after a timeout and a personnel change. Again, it was Lecomte keeping his dribble alive--a tactic that thwarted multiple intended Tar Heel traps--and going around a double team. That put him at the top of the key, where he proceeded to dribble down the middle of the lane while two Tar Heel defenders stepped towards the wing rather than in front of the ball. Carolina eventually had to foul Lecomte to prevent an easy layup.
The culmination of the four-possession series came when the Tar Heels forced Apex native Garrius Adams to pick up his dribble near midcourt, where he appeared to be caught in a double-team. But he simply stepped through the middle of the Tar Heel duo and found Tonye Jekiri at the top of the key.
After getting rid of the ball, Adams sliced to the basket, where again the communication appeared to break down. Jekiri, presented with multiple options, chose to hit Adams for another layup, Miami's fourth straight layup or dunk--not out of transition chances, but purely out of halfcourt offense.
Loose traps were a problem all night, including on one key possession with under five minutes left, as leaving too much space allowed Adams to find Jekiri for an easy dunk.
"They did a great job of getting out of traps and finding the open man," said James Michael McAdoo. "(The traps) weren't tight enough."
"Their guards did a good job of handling the ball," Nate Britt said. "They made some passes to the middle that broke down our defense."
Carolina's two ACC opponents, Wake Forest and Miami, have both done solid jobs against the Tar Heel trapping defense, which had created some running opportunities in previous games. Early in the year, it had been the 3-2 zone that was providing a defensive wrinkle, but lately Williams has used more pressure to change opponents' tempo.
It's true that the league teams are more proficient at scouting--Miami, especially, tends to have a good read on the Tar Heels under Jim Larranaga and his unique coordinator system of assistant coaches--but it's also true that Carolina's communication needs to be better.
Think about the defense the Tar Heels played when they've been at their best this year. It's loud, with players constantly talking and easy hoops scarce for the offense because a new defender is always rotating into a potential opening. The capability is there for this team to play that type of defense, but it hasn't been the case in the last couple outings.
It hasn't been one individual repeatedly getting beaten off the dribble. It's been a true breakdown of team defense, of a failure to see the big picture.
Britt found the defensive issues to be pretty simple: "We didn't do a good job of rotating and communicating," he said.
That's a fixable problem that doesn't require a change in athleticism or a personnel addition or subtraction. It just requires the Tar Heels doing more--starting Saturday at the Carrier Dome--of what they didn't do on Wednesday night.
Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.
