University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
March 9, 2014 | Men's Basketball
1. As you might have expected, offensive rebounding was a big storyline in Saturday night's game. As you might not have expected, it was Duke crashing the offensive glass and Carolina completely unable to get any second chances. The Blue Devils ended the game with 16 offensive rebounds, and since virtually every offensive board resulted in them tossing the ball back out near midcourt and squeezing at least 20 more seconds off the shot clock, there were some very, very long defensive possessions for Carolina.
The first inclination would be to say that the Tar Heels didn't rebound well out of the zone, but they didn't rebound well in man-to-man defense, either. Pretty simply, they just didn't rebound very well at all.
2. James Michael McAdoo's foul trouble hurt Carolina early in the second half. The junior picked up his fourth foul in the first minute of the second half, and Duke promptly went on a run. In fact, the Tar Heels played poorly at the outset of both the first and second halves, which set the tone for both halves. The Devils started the first half on a 17-4 sprint over the first seven minutes, and began the second half with a 29-14 run over the first ten minutes.
On the McAdoo front, it was really his third foul--which appeared dubious on the live viewing and probably should've been charged to J.P. Tokoto--that was the problem, not the fourth. He tends to play to contact, but he's also been the victim of some very difficult calls in important situations over the last month.
3. To beat Duke, especially at Duke, you need guards who play fearlessly. Carolina obviously had that with Marcus Paige, who not only made a lot of shots, but made them at important times.
Quietly, though, Nate Britt filled that role in the first half. Especially with Paige starting slowly, Britt created some plays with dribble penetration, and finished the first 20 minutes with two assists and--here's the key--zero turnovers. The freshman did commit a prototypical freshman foul with 2:55 left and the shot clock ticking down after Carolina cut it to 10, but otherwise, he showed some toughness in a difficult environment.
4. The Blue Devils were clearly more prepared for Carolina's defensive mix in this meeting. As soon as the Tar Heels tried the 1-3-1 in the first half, Duke moved the ball around and converted with an easy basket. Carolina was able to coax just four turnovers in the first half and 13 for the game, although it somehow seemed like less.
5. With the loss, Carolina will hold the fourth seed in next weekend's ACC Tournament (the format is available here) and will play Friday at 2 p.m. If the seeds hold, that game would be against Pitt, the fifth seed.
6. We'll never know, but it would be interesting to find out what would have happened if Brice Johnson hadn't touched the ball in the cylinder on Marcus Paige's three-pointer with under three minute left. The ball appeared to be going in--Paige asked official Mike Eades, "It was going in, wasn't it?" at the next stoppage--and would have cut the lead to five with the Blue Devils looking frazzled.
7. There will be more on this later tonight, but man, it is fun to watch Paige play basketball. He makes so many plays you see and so many that you don't, and 10 minutes after the game, he can go back and tell you every detail that happened--rare in a college player.
Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.
