Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

Game two in the Bahamas featured significantly less competition than the first game, as Carolina breezed to a 130-45 victory over Starsports Basketball that wasn't as close as the score indicated.
The frenetic scoring caused some confusion with the statistics, so don't expect to see a final box score for this game. If there was a box score, you'd see some eye-popping numbers from Brandon Huffman, who unofficially had 20 points and 20 rebounds. At least 14 of those points came on dunks, as the sophomore had a significant height advantage in the paint.
Seventh Woods was limited by a stiff back after taking a hard fall on his game-ending thunder dunk on Friday. He played just a couple of minutes, which allowed Roy Williams to go deeper into his backcourt rotation. And, of course, Cam Johnson didn't play as he continues his progress from offseason surgery.
The standout during the portion of the game that was competitive might have been Leaky Black. After committing 27 turnovers on Friday, the Tar Heels came out and coughed it up four times in the first three minutes on Saturday, and then Kenny Williams and Coby White both backed off a potential offensive rebound, each thinking the other was going to snag it. It wasn't a very efficient start.
But Black entered the game at point guard and helped settle things down a little, throwing a couple very nice entry passes to Huffman, getting a steal, and moving the ball downcourt quickly with the pass and the dribble. Again keeping in mind that the stats are speculative, Black tied for the team-high with six assists and also had three steals. He was charged with four turnovers, but at least one of those was actually the responsibility of a teammate. Carolina finished with an unofficial 17 turnovers for the game, a marked improvement over Friday's performance.
The player who tied Black with six assists was Andrew Platek, who had a solid two-game performance in the Bahamas. It's not hard to imagine ways that he can carve out a role at Carolina, both this season and in the future.
A day after not shooting well in the Bahamas opener, Coby White made two of his three three-pointers. White also had four assists and four steals.
Luke Maye played with more energy in the first two minutes of Saturday's game than he exhibited in all of his ten minutes of action yesterday. Maye dictated the start of Saturday's game in every possible way, from scoring to rebounding to defending. He also made all three of his free throw attempts, despite shooting two of them into a blinding glare from the sun. Maye had 16 points and nine rebounds in the first half and finished with 18 and ten.
Always fun to watch the progress of the young Carolina big men. Sterling Manley knocked down a foul line jumper that bodes well for his effectiveness in the UNC secondary break, and on a later possession he smoothly caught a pass at the foul line, took one dribble and launched a 15-footer that was errant—but the entire move was smooth enough to show he's been working on it.
If you're trying to understand how the game got out of hand, consider that it was 65-26 at halftime. That was the competitive part of the game. Then, the following is Carolina's shot chart during the final seven minutes of the third quarter: Kenny Williams scored on the break, White scored on the break, Williams scored on the break, Williams scored on a drive, Huffman dunked, Huffman dunked, Brandon Robinson dunked, Huffman dunked (changing it up for a one-handed power jam on this occasion), Black dunked, Huffman dunked, Platek hit a three-pointer for some variety, Nassir Little dunked, Little scored on a tip-in, Black hit a three-pointer, and Little hit two free throws. Carolina held a 41-9 edge in the third period.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Brandon Huffman

Nassir Little

Sterling Manley

Luke Maye

Andrew Platek

Brandon Robinson

Coby White

Kenny Williams

Seventh Woods

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