University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Get Ready To Run
March 25, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
By Adam Lucas
The Carolina-Indiana matchup tonight might have a late tip-off time, but should have plenty of action to keep viewers awake.
The game is one of only two Sweet 16 matchup between teams both ranked in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted offensive efficiency top ten (Virginia-Iowa State is the other). Carolina ranks fifth in that category, while the Hoosiers are tenth. But unlnike the Cavaliers, who reach peak efficiency by valuing every single possession and slowing the tempo, the Tar Heels and Hoosiers have spent most of the season trying to maximize the possessions in every game.
On Thursday, Indiana coach Tom Crean compared Carolina's transition game to that of Iowa, a frequent opponent for the Hoosiers in the Big Ten. “Carolina just keeps putting more forwards out there that continue to run,” he said. “They do such a great job with their first three steps of getting out on the break in every area and throwing the ball ahead. You can't be in the middle of the court. You can't be wondering who you have. You can't be thinking about who is going to get to the rim.”
There have been times in the past when Carolina has encountered an NCAA Tournament foe who has expressed the desire to run with the Tar Heels, and then quickly overwhelmed that opponent with a tempo for which it is very difficult to prepare. Iowa State in 2005, whose players proudly announced their intentions to play just as fast as UNC, is the prime example—the Tar Heels thumped them, 92-65.
Indiana is different. Their two games against Iowa—the Big Ten team Crean held up as the closest comparison to Carolina—have been two of their best offensive performances of the season. The Hoosiers made 11 of 22 three-pointers against the Hawkeyes and shot 50.8% from the field for the game in the most recent meeting.
The Carolina seniors have some experience against the Indiana brand of basketball; they were part of an 83-59 IU shellacking at Assembly Hall in November of 2012.
“We talked about how when we played them up there, they ran the ball back at us,” Marcus Paige said. “Not a lot of teams like to run with us. So that's something we'll look forward to tomorrow is having a team that's not afraid to push the tempo.”
The tempo will be established by more than just which team can get the ball out of the basket the fastest. Carolina's defense—which has had some of its best games in the last month—will try to force Indiana into live ball turnovers that allow the Tar Heels to get out and run, create some easy baskets, and speed up the game.
In conference games, Indiana ranked dead last in the Big Ten in offensive turnover percentage, coughing up the basketball on 19.1 percent of its possessions. Nationally, they have the highest turnover percentage of any team left in the NCAA Tournament with a year-long mark of 19.6 percent.
The Hoosiers shoot the ball better than Carolina from the perimeter, but the best way for the Tar Heels to combat that attack might be to use their height advantage—the ranginess of players like Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson could be important—to get into the passing lanes and prevent those shots from ever being attempted.
“You can't give them live ball turnovers,” Crean said. “They do as good a job as anybody in the country at turning your turnover into a dunk or layup. They have a lot of length, and they try to really shrink the court, because of the way they come off the wings and because of the length of the forwards.”
