University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Peyton Williams
Lucas: Carolina Basketball Notebook
December 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Hitting the road against a top-20 opponent is nothing new for the Tar Heels.
By Adam Lucas
The Tar Heels will be on the road this weekend against Tennessee, but they'll be in familiar territory.
Sunday's game at Thompson-Boling Arena marks the 12th time in the Roy Williams era that Carolina has played a top-20 nonconference foe in a true road game. Just four of those games were mandated by the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, meaning the Tar Heels intentionally sought out eight of the top-20 road tests.
To put that into perspective, the five other Atlantic Coast Conference teams currently ranked in the Associated Press top 20 have averaged 3.5 such non-mandated games over that same stretch of time.
Carolina's record in the previous 11 games is just 4-7, but three of the defeats came to the top-ranked team in the country. And the true benefit of the Tar Heels' road experience probably isn't felt until later in the season. Under Williams, UNC is 75-42 in ACC road games. That's a road league winning percentage of .641, the second-best in conference history.
Defense: Williams continues to express concern about the defensive production of his big men. "I'm scared about the defensive play of our big guys," the head coach told Jones Angell on his radio show this week. "Particularly protecting the rim and playing big guys inside. Right now, we don't do that worth a darn. We have to get better at that."
Under the direction of Rick Barnes, Tennessee will play an aggressive, attacking style that will force Carolina to defend all five positions. The Vols' have the best assist/made field goal ratio in the country, handing out an assist on nearly 71 percent of their baskets.
Tennessee's offensive rebounding percentage of 35.9 percent is higher than any opponent Carolina has faced this season other than Michigan State—in that game, the Spartans outscored the Heels 11-7 on second chance points, just the second time this year the Heels have lost that category.
"We will face a challenge Sunday," Williams said of the overall effort required to compete with Tennessee's intensity. "It will hit them right in the mouth from the start of the game. Are we going to lay down on the floor in the fetal position and start yelling for mama, or are we going to play basketball?"
On guard: Despite the defensive concerns in the paint, the Tar Heels have played relatively well defensively on the perimeter.
"We've done a better job as guys drive baseline," said Joel Berry. "The last couple of years, we haven't done a great job of stopping people on the baseline when they drive. We're doing a better job of getting people inside the ball and stopping either the big man getting it or a skip pass for a corner three-pointer. We have veterans who know what Coach wants on the defensive end."
One of those things Williams wants is to play defense without fouling. Carolina's current FTA/FGA ratio is just 21.1, the eighth-best mark in the country. That's a big improvement over 2014 and 2015, when that figure averaged around 40 percent and was a constant source of frustration for Williams.
One area where the UNC guards can still make progress—defending the three-pointer. The Tar Heels have played some three-point happy opponents already this year, which shows in some of the numbers—foes are hitting 38.2 percent from the three-point line, a figure which would be the highest mark of the Williams era but that is likely to normalize as more opponents than just the highly proficient shooting clubs of (for example) Davidson and Michigan are added to the stats.
Briefly: Carolina's practice schedule during this final stretch of exams included a full practice Wednesday morning, an off day Thursday, and practices Friday and Saturday before leaving for Knoxville…For those curious about how Carolina scouts, Williams explained the routine on the radio show this week. Every player receives a one-page front and back scouting report. "The front page gives the personnel and tendencies of the top eight or nine guys," Williams said. "It has three things we think are the keys, and then on the back we give them three plays we think they will run most often. We show them an eight-minute tape that shows them those plays and gives them some idea about personnel. So it's eight minutes of personnel, eight minutes of clips, and an eight-minute walk through."…
Over the last three games, Carolina holds a 58-19 edge in second chance points and 150-68 in points in the paint. Those are numbers that strongly appeal to Williams. "That's the way I believe you have to play," he said. "We also got some of those (opposing) guys in foul trouble. I've always felt you want to get fouled, and you don't get fouled very often on three-point shots. If you want to be playing against guys who are not necessarily the other team's best five, you need to dominate the paint. I love those kinds of stats." As the coach pointed out, that advantage is also why Carolina has had some openings around the perimeter, which played a role in the Heels' 16-22 performance from the arc against Western Carolina.
The Tar Heels will be on the road this weekend against Tennessee, but they'll be in familiar territory.
Sunday's game at Thompson-Boling Arena marks the 12th time in the Roy Williams era that Carolina has played a top-20 nonconference foe in a true road game. Just four of those games were mandated by the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, meaning the Tar Heels intentionally sought out eight of the top-20 road tests.
To put that into perspective, the five other Atlantic Coast Conference teams currently ranked in the Associated Press top 20 have averaged 3.5 such non-mandated games over that same stretch of time.
Carolina's record in the previous 11 games is just 4-7, but three of the defeats came to the top-ranked team in the country. And the true benefit of the Tar Heels' road experience probably isn't felt until later in the season. Under Williams, UNC is 75-42 in ACC road games. That's a road league winning percentage of .641, the second-best in conference history.
Defense: Williams continues to express concern about the defensive production of his big men. "I'm scared about the defensive play of our big guys," the head coach told Jones Angell on his radio show this week. "Particularly protecting the rim and playing big guys inside. Right now, we don't do that worth a darn. We have to get better at that."
Under the direction of Rick Barnes, Tennessee will play an aggressive, attacking style that will force Carolina to defend all five positions. The Vols' have the best assist/made field goal ratio in the country, handing out an assist on nearly 71 percent of their baskets.
Tennessee's offensive rebounding percentage of 35.9 percent is higher than any opponent Carolina has faced this season other than Michigan State—in that game, the Spartans outscored the Heels 11-7 on second chance points, just the second time this year the Heels have lost that category.
"We will face a challenge Sunday," Williams said of the overall effort required to compete with Tennessee's intensity. "It will hit them right in the mouth from the start of the game. Are we going to lay down on the floor in the fetal position and start yelling for mama, or are we going to play basketball?"
On guard: Despite the defensive concerns in the paint, the Tar Heels have played relatively well defensively on the perimeter.
"We've done a better job as guys drive baseline," said Joel Berry. "The last couple of years, we haven't done a great job of stopping people on the baseline when they drive. We're doing a better job of getting people inside the ball and stopping either the big man getting it or a skip pass for a corner three-pointer. We have veterans who know what Coach wants on the defensive end."
One of those things Williams wants is to play defense without fouling. Carolina's current FTA/FGA ratio is just 21.1, the eighth-best mark in the country. That's a big improvement over 2014 and 2015, when that figure averaged around 40 percent and was a constant source of frustration for Williams.
One area where the UNC guards can still make progress—defending the three-pointer. The Tar Heels have played some three-point happy opponents already this year, which shows in some of the numbers—foes are hitting 38.2 percent from the three-point line, a figure which would be the highest mark of the Williams era but that is likely to normalize as more opponents than just the highly proficient shooting clubs of (for example) Davidson and Michigan are added to the stats.
Briefly: Carolina's practice schedule during this final stretch of exams included a full practice Wednesday morning, an off day Thursday, and practices Friday and Saturday before leaving for Knoxville…For those curious about how Carolina scouts, Williams explained the routine on the radio show this week. Every player receives a one-page front and back scouting report. "The front page gives the personnel and tendencies of the top eight or nine guys," Williams said. "It has three things we think are the keys, and then on the back we give them three plays we think they will run most often. We show them an eight-minute tape that shows them those plays and gives them some idea about personnel. So it's eight minutes of personnel, eight minutes of clips, and an eight-minute walk through."…
Over the last three games, Carolina holds a 58-19 edge in second chance points and 150-68 in points in the paint. Those are numbers that strongly appeal to Williams. "That's the way I believe you have to play," he said. "We also got some of those (opposing) guys in foul trouble. I've always felt you want to get fouled, and you don't get fouled very often on three-point shots. If you want to be playing against guys who are not necessarily the other team's best five, you need to dominate the paint. I love those kinds of stats." As the coach pointed out, that advantage is also why Carolina has had some openings around the perimeter, which played a role in the Heels' 16-22 performance from the arc against Western Carolina.
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