University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
March 9, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By Adam Lucas
1. That was an impressive win against a quality Miami team. Carolina completely controlled the second half on the way to an 78-53 victory over the Hurricanes that advances UNC to what will be a--no matter which team wins the 2 p.m. quarterfinal--titanic Friday night semifinal against either Louisville or Duke.
2. The Tar Heels did it with a dominant second half performance, reversing a rough end to the first half and controlling all of the final 20 minutes, at one point outscoring the Canes 37-18 in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The Tar Heels shot well and defended nearly perfectly to shut down Jim Larranaga's club.
3. For the second straight meeting this season, Miami committed to keeping Carolina off the offensive glass, thereby cutting off a primary UNC offensive weapon. The Tar Heels did not have a second chance point in the first half, during which the Canes outrebounded them 13-12.
Think that was a topic of conversation in the halftime locker room? The Tar Heels came out and got the first five boards of the second half and eventually handily won the overall rebounding battle.
4. Carolina did a much better job against the Miami zone than they did in Coral Gables. As they did in the first meeting, the Canes started in man to man. After the Tar Heels hit six of 10 shots against that defense, they switched to zone midway through the first half, but UNC continued to be very efficient offensively.
5. The Tar Heels were also able to get the transition game going more crisply in this meeting. Miami outscored the Tar Heels 11-0 in the first game. This time, Carolina got a dozen points in that category, as the Canes' 13 turnovers created multiple live ball scoring chances.
6. That's two straight excellent games from Isaiah Hicks. After a great senior day against Duke, Hicks had 19 points and six rebounds and was once again a difference-maker. That's exactly the type of Hicks Carolina needs in the postseason, as most opponents simply don't have the type of post depth to compete with Hicks, Kennedy Meeks and Tony Bradley.
Carolina paired Hicks' performance with Meeks having the first double-digit scoring performance (10 points, seven boards) of his career in ACC Tournament play.
7. Unfortunate ending to the first half, as the Tar Heels had the ball and a seven-point lead trying to stem some Miami momentum. But Seventh Woods committed a turnover and the Canes scored right at the buzzer to cut their deficit to five points. If he had it to do over again, perhaps Roy Williams would have called his use-it-or-lose-it first half timeout to put either Nate Britt or Joel Berry (sitting with two fouls) in the game to run the final play of the period.
8. Sign of the times: Friday marked the first time in ACC history the top seed played an 8 or 9 seed that had a winning league record in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. That makes sense when you think about the history of the league, since that Friday quarterfinal for the top seed was usually a formality against a team at the bottom of the conference. Now, it was a game against a Hurricanes team that finished 10-8 in the conference. That also lends itself to the question of whether those Friday quarterfinals should be reseeded. It didn't happen this year, but when, for example, an 11 or 12 seed pulls off an upset on Thursday, it can change the complexion of Friday.
