University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: Room For Improvement
December 6, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Carolina's defense needs work, but won't get much in the next ten days.
By Adam Lucas
Wednesday night won't go on C.B. McGrath's season highlight tape. The second-year UNC-Wilmington head coach's team competed hard in the first half and was within 44-35 at the break, but fell victim to too many missed shots in the second half—partially caused by better Carolina defense, but also somewhat self-inflicted with some easy missed shots—on the way to a 97-69 defeat.
McGrath is incredibly competitive; the fact that his team wasn't supposed to win this game won't matter to him. He'll stew over the lack of competitiveness in the second half and allowing Carolina to shoot 18-for-28 (64.3%) from two-point range in the second half.
But his brief stay in Chapel Hill also provided a helpful window into what's troubling the Tar Heels right now, and how it can be improved in the weeks to come.
As he relaxed in the unfamiliar visitors' locker room an hour before Wednesday's game, McGrath was talking about defense. Specifically, he was talking about how to force a team to get better at it. This is what he said:
"You have to do a lot of drilling. You have to do a lot of 5-on-5 stuff."
Stop right there. Carolina has some technical issues on defense right now, but they also have simply a lack of time. When you look at the schedule, you probably see a 10-day break before the Gonzaga game and think it'll be chock full of defensive slides and shell drills. Roy Williams looks at the calendar and sees…very little practice time.
Remember, it's exam time in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels are off tomorrow and then have a run-and-shoot practice—a very light practice with a prescribed amount of conditioning and shooting work—on Friday. They're off again Saturday.
The next actual full practice will be Sunday, and then they practice just once in the three days after that.
"If we can get through the 15th," Williams said, "after that we'll have some more practice time that will really help us."
After the 15th, in other words, means after the Gonzaga game. And since the Bulldogs are currently the nation's top-ranked team, it's likely that game will also require some defense.
With that in mind, let's return to McGrath's description of how a team makes in-season defensive improvements.
"Guys have to have the trust that their teammates are in the right position behind them," the former UNC assistant said. "When you're guarding the ball, you feel like you're on an island. If a screen comes, you want your teammate to talk and let you know a screen is coming. You have to build that trust that the four guys behind you have your back and will be in a spot to help you if you get beat."
Perhaps a tiny bit of that trust was built in the second half on Wednesday night. With Coby White out nursing an ankle injury, it was left mostly to Seventh Woods, with some relief from Leaky Black, to set the defensive tone guarding the ball. Carolina was not particularly good in that department in the first half. But for a significant stretch of the second half, the Seahawks had more turnovers than made field goals.
The Tar Heels deployed more traps to force the tempo and UNCW complied by shooting below 20 percent from the field in the first ten minutes of the period. Even with some unfamiliar combinations on the court, Carolina's rotations were better, with more communication and just a better awareness of what was happening on the court.
"Look," Sterling Manley said frankly, "Michigan was running dummy offense against us last week." He's not insulting Michigan. He's saying the Wolverines were basically running five-on-zero offense because the Tar Heels were providing so little resistance.
Wednesday, for at least half the game, Carolina showed some potential to be a capable defensive squad. And if he needs to squeeze a little more defensive effort out of his club, Williams has a new idea. After observing the intensity with which his team hunted a three-pointer in the game's final minute while sitting on 97 points, the head coach came up with his latest innovation.
"Let's see," he said, "if we can get biscuits for everybody if we play defense one possession a game."
Wednesday night won't go on C.B. McGrath's season highlight tape. The second-year UNC-Wilmington head coach's team competed hard in the first half and was within 44-35 at the break, but fell victim to too many missed shots in the second half—partially caused by better Carolina defense, but also somewhat self-inflicted with some easy missed shots—on the way to a 97-69 defeat.
McGrath is incredibly competitive; the fact that his team wasn't supposed to win this game won't matter to him. He'll stew over the lack of competitiveness in the second half and allowing Carolina to shoot 18-for-28 (64.3%) from two-point range in the second half.
But his brief stay in Chapel Hill also provided a helpful window into what's troubling the Tar Heels right now, and how it can be improved in the weeks to come.
As he relaxed in the unfamiliar visitors' locker room an hour before Wednesday's game, McGrath was talking about defense. Specifically, he was talking about how to force a team to get better at it. This is what he said:
"You have to do a lot of drilling. You have to do a lot of 5-on-5 stuff."
Stop right there. Carolina has some technical issues on defense right now, but they also have simply a lack of time. When you look at the schedule, you probably see a 10-day break before the Gonzaga game and think it'll be chock full of defensive slides and shell drills. Roy Williams looks at the calendar and sees…very little practice time.
Remember, it's exam time in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels are off tomorrow and then have a run-and-shoot practice—a very light practice with a prescribed amount of conditioning and shooting work—on Friday. They're off again Saturday.
The next actual full practice will be Sunday, and then they practice just once in the three days after that.
"If we can get through the 15th," Williams said, "after that we'll have some more practice time that will really help us."
After the 15th, in other words, means after the Gonzaga game. And since the Bulldogs are currently the nation's top-ranked team, it's likely that game will also require some defense.
With that in mind, let's return to McGrath's description of how a team makes in-season defensive improvements.
"Guys have to have the trust that their teammates are in the right position behind them," the former UNC assistant said. "When you're guarding the ball, you feel like you're on an island. If a screen comes, you want your teammate to talk and let you know a screen is coming. You have to build that trust that the four guys behind you have your back and will be in a spot to help you if you get beat."
Perhaps a tiny bit of that trust was built in the second half on Wednesday night. With Coby White out nursing an ankle injury, it was left mostly to Seventh Woods, with some relief from Leaky Black, to set the defensive tone guarding the ball. Carolina was not particularly good in that department in the first half. But for a significant stretch of the second half, the Seahawks had more turnovers than made field goals.
The Tar Heels deployed more traps to force the tempo and UNCW complied by shooting below 20 percent from the field in the first ten minutes of the period. Even with some unfamiliar combinations on the court, Carolina's rotations were better, with more communication and just a better awareness of what was happening on the court.
"Look," Sterling Manley said frankly, "Michigan was running dummy offense against us last week." He's not insulting Michigan. He's saying the Wolverines were basically running five-on-zero offense because the Tar Heels were providing so little resistance.
Wednesday, for at least half the game, Carolina showed some potential to be a capable defensive squad. And if he needs to squeeze a little more defensive effort out of his club, Williams has a new idea. After observing the intensity with which his team hunted a three-pointer in the game's final minute while sitting on 97 points, the head coach came up with his latest innovation.
"Let's see," he said, "if we can get biscuits for everybody if we play defense one possession a game."
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballBlue Heaven: 2025 UNC Field Hockey, Episode 5
Wednesday, December 17
MBB: Hubert Davis Post-ETSU Press Conference
Wednesday, December 17
Carolina Insider: Rapid Reactions pres. by Modelo – Men’s Basketball vs. ETSU – December 16, 2025
Wednesday, December 17
UNC Men's Basketball: Veesaar's Career High Leads 77-58 Win Over ETSU
Wednesday, December 17