Carmichael Comments: Howard Roundup

CARMICHAEL COMMENTS: Inside Carolina Women's Basketball — Edition 10

By: Matt Krause (@MattKrausePxP)

Officially, the halfway point of the 30-game regular season for Carolina Women's Basketball occurs after next Thursday's game at Louisville — 15 down, 15 to go. However, the theoretical halfway point is now. 14 non-conference games are in the rearview mirror and the 16-game gauntlet that is the ACC awaits the Tar Heels.

In a bit of added symbolism, the calendar flips to 2019 here in the days between the non-conference finale and the ACC opener. Carolina closed out 2018 and the non-conference slate with an 85-63 win over a pesky Howard Bison team on Friday afternoon in Carmichael Arena, a victory that provided plenty of positives but also gave the program an opportunity to identify ways to improve with the ACC on the horizon.

New Year's resolutions, if you will.

And for Carolina Assistant Coach Sylvia Crawley, resolution number one is to improve the team's defense. Carolina entered the game against Howard last in the ACC in scoring defense at 67.5 points per game and 12th of 15 in field goal percentage defense at 38.5%. Yes, some of those numbers can be skewed this time of year based on quality of opponent — and Carolina has CERTAINLY faced one of the ACC's toughest schedules — but there's obvious room for improvement. Carolina held Howard to 35.1% shooting, helped by a third quarter in which Howard was just 6-for-23 from the field. However, Carolina held only a 49-45 advantage in rebounding on Friday afternoon.

"We're still not happy with our performance," Crawley explained. "We feel like we can do much better, especially on the boards. Defense ends with a rebound. We gave up 17 offensive rebounds. Way too many offensive rebounds."

Among Howard's 63 points, 28 came in the paint, which provides the coaching staff with a focus point in practice.

"We're going to focus on post defense a little bit more," Crawley said. "We've switched up the way we play post defense. We used to front, we don't do that anymore because we want to be in better position to rebound."

Crawley was quick to point out that the switch has produced results in that rebounding department, as center Janelle Bailey pulled in 14 boards on Friday and Taylor Koenen had eight.

Koenen is part of a rotation at the no. 4 spot on the floor, splitting time with Jaelynn Murray and Jocelyn Jones, that has shown flashes in the scoring department (Jones' 10 points against Howard come to mind). Crawley identified a scoring increase from that trio as another potential key to success come ACC play.

But the conversation on a successful conference season begins and ends with that one resolution: defend.

"To be in the top four in the ACC, you've got to defend better because there's such good scorers in the ACC," Crawley said. "You've got to be able to get stops and end that with rebounds."

So why is it so important that the Tar Heels improve defensively? Because the other tools are there.

"We can score. We have some players here that are dynamic scorers," Crawley said. "Scoring-wise, we can do it, but defensively, we've got to get better."

Here's a few other takeaways from Friday's game:

Weight and See

The first game back from Christmas Break poses a challenge for any team. Carolina's players returned to campus on Wednesday (Dec. 26) and went through two practice sessions prior to taking the floor to battle the Bison on Friday. In trying to find an edge to offset that post-break slump, Carolina opted to have the players lift weights before Wednesday's practice rather than after like normal. Turns out, that led to some tired legs and might have been to blame for a bit of a slow start for the Tar Heels against the Bison.

"At halftime, they all had this little massaging buzzing machine," Crawley said with a laugh. "And they were all doing on their legs. When you have time off and come back and lift weights then have a conditioning practice, it took its toll."

Bailey's Bounce Back

Janelle Bailey saw a 23-game streak of scoring in double figures come to a close on Dec. 20 against Auburn, but bounced back from that with a 30-point, 14-rebound performance on Friday for her 21st career double-double. Bailey's 30 points matched a career high for the sophomore.

Kea Makes More History

Late in the game, Carolina Head Coach Sylvia Hatchell began subbing out her starters as it appeared Carolina had the game in hand. Oddly enough, with less than two minutes to go, she called timeout to allow Paris Kea to re-enter the game. There was a good reason for that: Kea was just two points shy of 1,500 for her career, and with a jumper just seconds later, the redshirt senior was able to achieve the milestone at home.

Up Next

Carolina opens 2019 and ACC play with a trip to Louisville to take on the No. 3 Cardinals, who will enter with a record of 12-0. The Tar Heels and Cardinals will tip off at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at the KFC Yum! Center in the Derby City, and you can join us on the full compliment of ways to listen to the Tar Heel Sports Network. Catch the call on WCHL 97.9 FM/1360 AM in the Triangle, GoHeels.com, the GoHeels app, or TuneIn (search "Tar Heel Sports Network").

Talk to you then! Go Heels!

-Matt