University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
March 25, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By Adam Lucas
1. Solid win over a tough team for Carolina. It won't be one that's especially remembered--also because whoever the regional final opponent is, it promises to be a classic--but the Tar Heels were gritty against a precise, tough team in posting a 92-80 win over Butler.
2. Luuuuuuuuuuke. By halftime, this was already known as the Luke Maye game, as the sophomore posted a career-high 14 points in just 11 first-half minutes, and was only one rebound away from his first career double-double. How hot was Maye? When Roy Williams called (!) his use-it-or-lose-it timeout at the end of the first half, the Tar Heels came out and ran a play for Maye. Maye also had a big field goal in the second half when Butler was making a push, and his bucket stemmed the momentum. Maye finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
3. Butler had dominated the backboards in the previous two meetings against Carolina. That wasn't the case on Friday. The Bulldogs got a flurry of offensive rebounds late in the second half, but the Heels won the overall rebounding battle 37-25.
4. The Bulldogs had been one of the ten best teams in the country all season long at forcing opponents to play one-on-one offensively. Butler's defensive A/FGM ratio was just 45.3 percent entering the game. Carolina handed out 14 assists on 18 made field goals in the first half and racked up 22 for the game, by far the season high by a Butler opponent. The Bulldogs had allowed more than 15 just twice all season.
5. Maye managed to somewhat overshadow the ACC Player of the Year, as Justin Jackson returned to his midseason offensive form. Jackson made a wide variety of baskets, hitting from distance and inside the arc, showing a very difficult to defend offensive game.
6. The other offensive star was Joel Berry, who finished with 26 points and snapped out of what had been a 3-for-21 shooting slump in the NCAA Tournament. Butler's physical play miffed Berry on a couple of occasions, but he maintained his composure and simply responded with outstanding play. The worrisome factor to watch: Berry slipped on a wet spot late in the second half and may have re-tweaked his ankle. He never left the court, however.
7. The Tar Heels need a little more from Theo Pinson. The junior committed three turnovers and now has eight for the NCAA Tournament. He made one of four field goal attempts, but did hand out four assists. His biggest play of the night might have been a big offensive rebound with under three minutes left that extended a UNC possession and led to a Joel Berry field goal.
8. It was nice to see Carolina avoid the recent end of first half struggles. The Tar Heels teetered on letting Butler make a run late in the half, as the Bulldogs closed to within eight with 4:24 left in the half. But the Tar Heels quickly pushed the lead back out to 20 just over two minutes later and led 52-36 at halftime.
9. It goes without saying that one big reason why the game was close late was Carolina's troublesome free throw shooting. The Tar Heels were just 11-for-20 in the second half from the charity stripe. That was an uncharacteristic showing that will need to improve on Sunday (and a positive sign was that Carolina made six of its final six). Game time for that game against the winner of the UCLA-Kentucky game is not yet known and will be announced later Friday evening.
