Lucas: Cajun Spiced Conch

By Adam Lucas

NASSAU—There's a reason why Roy Williams consistently emphasizes team bonding, chemistry and off-court experiences on August international trips like these. It's because in some ways you know exactly what you'll get when you come to the Bahamas for a preseason exhibition jaunt: warm weather, friendly people, lots of waterslides. What you don't know, however, is what kind of competition might show up on the other bench.

Sometimes the other team shows up in the back of a pickup truck a few minutes before tip. Sometimes the other team has a future NBA number-one draft pick on the roster. Both have happened to Carolina on previous Bahamas excursions. Saturday was closer to the former than the latter, and the Tar Heels rolled to a 130-45 victory.

If you get biscuits for cracking 100 points in the game, what do you get for passing 100 points after three quarters—cajun spiced conch?

"It's not the competition we wanted to get," Roy Williams admitted after the game, saying a couple of potential opponents for the trip had fallen through. "We had more bodies, we were bigger, and we were more gifted."

The head coach was realistic with his team after the game. Sophomore Brandon Huffman had 20 points and 20 rebounds, and Williams pointed him out in the locker room for the great performance. But then he pointed to Sean May, who is on the Tar Heel coaching staff.

"He had 26 and 24 against Duke," Williams said. "That wasn't Duke we were playing out there today."

The implication was clear. Twenty points and 20 rebounds is a good day against anybody, but the competition will be tougher the next time the Tar Heels take the court.

With that in mind, it was less noteworthy to watch the scoreboard (for example, Carolina won the third quarter, 41-9, with 24 of those 41 points coming on either dunks or layups) and more interesting to watch the way Williams coached his team and the way they responded. It's entirely likely that the trio of freshmen, all of whom made standout plays during the two games, have never been coached this hard before.

On Friday, Leaky Black had put together a solid couple minutes in the second half, getting a steal and a dunk and playing steadily. He capped the stretch by drawing a foul on the break.

"Leaky!" his coach called. The rookie looked over to the sideline, perhaps thinking he had earned some plaudits.

"Go up strong!" Williams said, pantomiming going hard to the rim. The Tar Heels led by 20 points at the time, but it wasn't enough that Black had drawn the foul. His coach wanted him to draw the foul, score the basket and make the free throw…and then, probably, sprint back on defense, lock down his man, play good help defense, and then finish the defensive possession with a good box out.

College basketball is a little different than high school.

During one stretch of Saturday's first half, Williams made multiple mentions to his team of getting the ball inbounds more quickly after an opposing made field goal or free throw. It's a little thing, but—ask Kentucky during the 2017 NCAA Tournament—it can decide an important game.

Now, unfortunately, we've all had our appetite whetted for the 2018-19 version of Carolina basketball…but now very little will happen publicly for almost two months. The Tar Heels start practice on Sept. 25.

"They have to get in the weight room and really do some work there," Williams said. "They have to get in the conditioning program and work harder. I'm anxious to coach this team. It's a group of young guys I really think I'll enjoy, but there's a lot of work to be done between now and September 25."

Players Mentioned

Brandon Huffman

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