Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. If you've seen much of the Carolina-Texas series, then you've seen this game before. Kerwin Roach was sensational for the Longhorns, scoring 32 points on 12 of 15 shooting, and the Tar Heels were carved up by dribble penetration on the way to a 92-89 defeat.

2. That was the first true Coby White-like performance we've seen from the impressive Carolina freshman. White was sensational in the first half, when he poured in 20 points. His previous college high had been 16 points. He warmed up again midway through the second half, including hitting a clutch pull-up three-pointer on the break that brought Carolina within two, the closest they got in the second half. The freshman finished with 33.

3. Both teams came into Thursday's game with the benches having played important roles. But Texas got the better of the reserve matchup in this game. Jaxson Hayes was very good off the bench (15 points and nine rebounds) and was the most consistently productive sub in the game, while Carolina's reserves struggled to get into the offensive flow. Texas won the bench points category, 21-18.

4. How complete was the Texas offensive domination in the second half, when the Longhorns shot over 60 percent from the field? Roy Williams even went zone for a handful of possessions. That didn't work, either, as the 'Horns just continued to score.

5. Shaka Smart's team was incredibly efficient with Carolina's 17 turnovers. Texas turned those miscues into 31 points.

6. There will doubtless be some discussion about the play Carolina ran with 30 seconds left when trailing by three points. With White hot, the Tar Heels instead ran a set for Luke Maye, whose three-point attempt was halfway down and then came out. Maye was just 5-for-15 in the game, but he's produced for four years--and again, his game-tying attempt very nearly went down.

7. In other news that will get Tar Heel fans chattering, the Tar Heels went small almost exclusively for the final 8:30 of the game, with Maye at the center spot and Nassir Little at the power forward spot. That group eventually went down by 11 points but clawed back to within two on two separate occasions. They struggled defensively against Texas, but it's hard to draw many conclusions from that result, since no combination effectively stopped the Longhorns. They were beaten on the boards for a couple of big offensive rebounds.

8. Carolina most definitely missed the steady hand of Seventh Woods, who missed the game due to a concussion suffered in practice this week and also will not play tomorrow. The Tar Heels were -7 when Coby White was off the court in the first half and then -1 without him in the second half.

9. Cameron Johnson hit a two-point jumper in the second half that put him over 1,000 career points. He's the 77th Tar Heel to surpass 1,000. 583 of Johnson's points came at Pitt.

10. Carolina connections abounded in Las Vegas. Mitch Kupchak and Justin Jackson were both on hand to watch the Tar Heels, and former Matt Doherty-era assistant Doug Wojcik is now at Michigan State and sat courtside scouting his former team.

11. One of the most unusual stats of the Roy Williams era is his 1-7 record against Texas while at UNC. Most of those defeats have come against top-25 type Longhorn teams, but of course, you could say the same about those Carolina squads. Six of those seven losses have come by three points or fewer. The Texas win on Thursday gives the Longhorns the best winning percentage against UNC among teams that have faced the Tar Heels at least ten times, and Texas has won four straight against Carolina.

12. The Las Vegas Invitational was the beneficiary of a fortunate scheduling break. This was supposed to be the year that Carolina, Michigan State and Texas participated in a "barnstorming" event with stops in three different cities across the country, with doubleheaders in each city. The event was the brainchild of former Spartans athletic director Mark Hollis, who has made a habit of coming up with creative matchups (recall that he helped create the Carrier Classic, in which the Tar Heels and Spartans squared off aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier). But when the barnstorming details couldn't come together, three high-profile teams were left looking for a Thanksgiving event in 2018, and all three landed in Las Vegas. Future Thanksgiving events for the Tar Heels include the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2019 (in a loaded field that reportedly includes Gonzaga and Michigan) and the Maui Invitational in 2020 (Indiana is reportedly part of that event).

13. Carolina has only played on Thanksgiving four times in program history, but three of those four have come in the past five years. The Tar Heels beat UCLA in the Great Alaska Shootout in 1997, beat UCLA in the Bahamas in 2014, and beat Portland in the PK80 last season.

14. Even 2,306 miles from campus, the Tar Heels had an excellent turnout at Orleans Arena. The Carolina contingent was noticeably bigger and rowdier than the Texas crowd. The Tar Heels have been a semi-regular in Las Vegas in recent seasons, and have consistently had excellent fan support--often from fans who are thrilled to get a rare chance to see their favorite team in person, even if it interrupts the holiday season.

15. Final thought: it's November. Everyone take a breath. What you saw on the court Thursday evening will bear very little resemblance to what you see in February and March. There's plenty to work on--and plenty of work will be done.

Players Mentioned

Cameron Johnson

Nassir Little

Luke Maye

Coby White

Seventh Woods

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