Carmichael Comments: Elon Roundup

CARMICHAEL COMMENTS: Inside Carolina Women's Basketball — Edition 3

By: Matt Krause (Twitter: @MattKrausePxP)

For the 39^th time in 45 seasons, the Tar Heels are 1-0.

Carolina overcame a slow start to blow past Elon 100-69 on Tuesday night in the Tar Heels' first true road game season opener since 2000. In case you missed our broadcast on the Tar Heel Sports Network, highlights are available here. The Heels looked awfully impressive in the exhibition win against Carson-Newman, but folks in the media (me included) knew that the next litmus test for Carolina would be a true road game against the two-time defending Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) champions, coached by a Carolina legend in Charlotte Smith. While there are things to work on, it's safe to say the Heels passed the first test.

Elon fed off the energy of opening its new 5,100-seat Schar Center (Tuesday's game was the first regular season basketball game in the facility) to build an early 11-5 lead, but the Tar Heels quickly organized themselves to surge ahead 18-17 after a quarter, and a 15-2 run helped build a 40-29 halftime lead. The Heels then outscored the Phoenix 60-40 in the second 20 minutes to pull away for the big win.

Here's what stood out to me…

Shayla Bennett's Big Debut
One of the biggest Carolina storylines into the 2018-19 season is the returning talent — names like Kea, Bailey, or Watts. However, the lone loss due to graduation, guard Jamie Cherry, was a major one for Carolina. Luckily for Coach Hatchell and Carolina fans, Shayla Bennett is certainly a capable replacement. The 2018 WBCA Junior College Player of the Year, Bennett has shown off her athleticism on both ends of the court with aggressive drives offensively and a knack for clogging passing lanes on the defensive end.

Bennett poured in a team-high 19 points by scoring in multiple ways. Of her six made field goals, three were from beyond the arc, and she went 4-for-5 at the foul stripe. Additionally, Bennett added seven assists, five steals, and four rebounds over a team-high 35 minutes. Talk about stuffing the stat sheet! I'm excited to watch Bennett continue to shine and grow throughout the year.

Balanced Scoring
For the second game in a row (counting the exhibition), Carolina saw six players reach double figures in the scoring column. While Carolina had the best three-player scoring average in the ACC last season in the trio of Paris Kea, Cherry, and Janelle Bailey (50.1 PPG), the more scoring options, the better. The Tar Heels have shown unselfish ball movement to ensure the ball gets in the hands of an open player, and it has paid off. All five starters and reserve Jocelyn Jones scored at least 10 points in Tuesday's win, a feat which comes on the Heels (pun intended) of four Carolina starters, plus reserves Naomi Van Nes and Jaelynn Murray scoring in double digits in the exhibition win.

Sharing The Basketball
This kind of feeds off of my last point. The Heels were not afraid to share the ball on Tuesday night, dishing out 22 assists on 35 made field goals. At one point during the height of the Carolina run in the second quarter, there were 14 made Tar Heel shots with 10 assists. Even more impressively, five different Tar Heels recorded an assist during the game. Carolina did a good job of passing the ball on fast breaks, and took smart shots as the second half progressed (after all, the Heels shot 75% after the intermission, and made 13 of their 14 two-point shots). If there's something to work on, it's cleaning up the assist to turnover ratio. Carolina did have 21 turnovers to go with its 22 made shots.

Up Next…
The Tar Heels play a pair of home games in the coming days, which serve as the only chances to catch the team at Carmichael Arena in the entire month of November. Carolina will host Kent State on Friday at 6 p.m. and VCU on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. Our Tar Heel Sports Network broadcasts will be available on GoHeels.com and the GoHeels app for both games, and you can also listen to Wednesday's game on TuneIn (search "Tar Heel Learfield"). Talk to you then! Go Heels!