University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
November 12, 2016 | Men's Basketball
By Adam Lucas
1. It sure is nice to have basketball back.
2. Isaiah Hicks foul tracker: three, and played a large portion of the game with zero. Hicks shot seven-for-eight from the floor and finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
3. Let's talk again in a month or so, but based purely off Friday night's win, is it possible Carolina is a little better from the perimeter than anyone expected? Joel Berry (four of seven from three on the way to a career-high 23 points) and Justin Jackson (four of five from three on the way to a career high 27 points) give the Tar Heels a pair of capable outside threats. If Carolina can rotate getting contributions from a mix of Kenny Williams, Nate Britt and Brandon Robinson, they're a formidable perimeter team.
4. Allowing offensive rebounds was a problem in the exhibition game, and it wasn't completely fixed in the regular season opener. Tulane picked off 18 offensive rebounds for an offensive rebounding rate of 38.3 percent, well above the 29.9 percent that Carolina allowed last year.
5. To answer a very popular question: the series with Tulane came about because Shammond Williams was formerly a member of the Green Wave coaching staff. That staff left after last season, but the game stayed on the books, giving Roy Williams a chance to let his team open the year on the road and play in an NBA arena.
6. There's never been much doubt that Justin Jackson can score in a variety of ways, and his trademark floater was on full display in the opener. The one missing piece has been a consistent three-point shot. The junior had made three or more three-pointers in just five of his previous 78 games in his Carolina career before sinking four (tying his career high, which came against Virginia in the 2015 ACC Tournament) against Tulane. Now the question is whether he can do it consistently. In the games following those five games, Jackson is a combined 3-for-17 from the three-point line.
7. Leave it to Theo Pinson to be the one injured player in recent memory who sits next to the coaches rather than at the far end of the bench.
8. Speaking of the coaches, Steve Robinson missed the game and will miss next week's Hawaii trip because he has been advised by doctors not to travel due to a blood clot in his leg. Roy Williams told Jones Angell on the Tar Heel Sports Network before the game that the bench duties would shift slightly. "Brad Frederick will take over his opportunity to give us some advice and opinions," Williams said. "He will keep the fouls on each individual player and timeouts for both teams, so Brad will take over some of the things Steve does."
9. Most of the UNC freshman talk will deservedly be about Tony Bradley in the wake of his 10-point, five-rebound performance. But one of the savviest plays of the night came from fellow freshman Brandon Robinson, who had a beautiful tip-out that gave Seventh Woods an uncontested layup opportunity in the second half. Woods missed it (before Luke Maye cleaned it up), but it was a great example of Robinson's court awareness.
