University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
December 7, 2014 | Men's Basketball
By Adam Lucas
1. Welcome back, Brice Johnson. The junior big man has struggled lately, and missed his first couple shots against East Carolina. But he stayed active on the boards (he racked up 11 rebounds in the first half) and eventually the shots started falling. Johnson finished with a beastly 19 points and 17 rebounds, and just three days after he told the media he needed to "stop being a baby and dunk it," he had several emphatic slams.
Johnson was simply more engaged in Sunday's game than he has been recently. He dove on the floor twice for loose balls in the first half, and even when his shots weren't falling early, he was active and finding other ways to contribute.
2. J.P. Tokoto continues to be a delight to watch. He controlled the opening minutes of the game, when Carolina was struggling, and had five assists and zero turnovers in 16 minutes in the first half. It's interesting to watch Tokoto's eyes when he's on the floor. In the second half, when Marcus Paige threw him an outlet pass, Tokoto had to jump to receive the pass. While he was in the air, and before he caught the ball, he had already snuck a glance under the rim to see if anyone was available for a quick touch pass.
Tokoto finished with eight assists and just one turnover to go with his 19 points.
3. The Tar Heels scored a whopping 72 points in the paint, making 36 of their 49 shots in the lane. Kennedy Meeks joined Johnson with double-doubles, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
4. If the first eight games of the season have proven anything, it's that Carolina is capable of recovering from a disappointing effort. The Tar Heels struggled against Butler...but then played well against UCLA and Florida. The Tar Heels struggled against Iowa...but then played well against ECU.
The challenge now, of course, becomes eliminating those struggles in the first place, and not having to recover from them. The upcoming schedule presents plenty of opportunities for growth, with games at Kentucky and against Ohio State in Chicago over the next two weeks.
5. Good job by UNC sports marketing bringing in some unique halftime shows during the first month of the season. It's only early December, and we've already seen the Bouncing Bulldogs, Olate Dogs, and on Sunday, the Summerall Guards, a silent precision drill team from the Citadel. There's always a battle to make the at-game experience compete with the at-home experience. For the most part, it's been fun to be at the Smith Center this year.
6. This is a point where Roy Williams differs from Dean Smith, but it's fun to see Carolina bring some of the smaller in-state schools into the Smith Center during nonconference play, especially when there's a UNC connection, as there is with Jeff Lebo. Not every out-of-league game is going to be a marquee national showdown. So if you have to play some of those games, why not help a Tar Heel? Lebo got a nice hand during pregame introductions and was very appreciative of Williams putting the Pirates on the schedule again this year.
