University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Notebook
March 18, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
JACKSONVILLE--Tempo could be the key storyline on Thursday night when Carolina faces Harvard (7:20 p.m., TNT) in Jacksonville. The Crimson have one of the slowest adjusted tempo ratings in the nation according to KenPom.com; the only ACC teams that rank below them are Pittsburgh and Virginia.
Carolina, of course, perennially is near the top of those rankings, and currently stands tenth. Harvard coach Tommy Amaker believes his team taking care of the ball will be the key to playing at a slower pace.
“We'll try to take care of the basketball,” he said. “The tempo can change based on turnovers and bad shots. If we can be efficient offensively, we like our chances of doing a better job of managing the game.”
The Tar Heels have been at their best in recent weeks when creating steals and easy baskets.
“We want to extend our defensive pressure,” Marcus Paige said. “Harvard will run, but they want to run when they have the opportunity. We want this game to have more possessions so we can start the break and get the ball inside.”
Roy Williams says that although his team has run more effectively lately, they haven't yet reached the level of proficiency he would like.
“We've had some teams in the past good enough to make them play our way,” he said. “We haven't been able to do that very often at all. We haven't been assertive in establishing the tempo ourselves.”
Midwest ties: Marcus Paige and Harvard guard Siyani Chambers have some history. Chambers is from Golden Valley, Minn., which put him about a four-hour drive from Paige's home in Marion, Iowa.
“He's a great point guard,” Chambers said. “I've played against him for a long time. He's a great playmaker and shotmaker. He runs his team very well.”
Paige, meanwhile, has seen the evolution in Chambers' game as they've faced each other approximately once per year since the sixth grade.
“He's become a lot better shooter,” Paige said. “He's really comfortable shooting the three. Back in the day, he would just use his speed to drive past people.”
The Duke angle: Harvard coach Tommy Amaker wasn't particularly interested in reliving any of his Duke playing days against North Carolina. He brushed off that question with a quick, “It's not about me. It's about what these kids have accomplished these last few years.”
Amaker also downplayed any conversations he might have had with Mike Krzyzewski in the past couple of days. “They have their own agenda,” he said. “They are swamped with their thoughts of trying to do well in the tournament. They have their scouting to do and we have ours. Our staff will do its job in trying to prepare for Carolina.”
Paige also dismissed any attempts to use the Carolina-Duke angle. “I don't think Duke has a lot to do with this game,” he said.
Pinson update: The last of the injured Tar Heels who could potentially return is freshman Theo Pinson. Williams indicated Pinson almost played in the ACC championship game against Notre Dame, but felt uncomfortable warming up and chose to sit out.
“It's been hard, but he hasn't been back and forth,” Williams said. “He's been trying to get to a certain point where he can do something. He hasn't been to that point since the Duke game.”
In addition to their mostly for show open practice on Wednesday afternoon at the arena, Carolina had a more serious practice at The Bolles School earlier in the day.
