University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: J.D. Lyon Jr.
Lucas: A Road Rout
January 5, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Carolina's win over Pitt might not seem memorable, but it's worth savoring.
By Adam Lucas
PITTSBURGH—Hang on. Enjoy this one for just a second.
Carolina earned a 25-point road victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't especially artful. The Panthers probably aren't an NCAA Tournament team. Roy Williams left the Petersen Events Center with plenty of details he'll want to improve before Tuesday night's trip to Raleigh.
But the most important detail is that third sentence. Carolina recorded an 85-60 road win, in the Atlantic Coast Conference, in the league opener, against a program hosting its first sellout in two years. You don't win many games like that in this fashion on the road in this league. You just don't. The margin of victory was Carolina's fifth-biggest in ACC road games under Roy Williams, and keep in mind that the Tar Heels have been easily the league's best program on the road under Williams' direction. Once every three years or so, you get a win like this. Don't be so quick to dismiss it.
The Tar Heels had lost two straight road league openers and four of the past six. Now they're sitting 1-0 for a couple of days. That's the only storyline you need from Saturday.
The victory enabled Cameron Johnson to enjoy his return home. Yes, Johnson played here, but more importantly, he's from here. This isn't just where he went to school. It's home.
In addition to serving as the team's de facto tour guide (including pointing out to diehard Steelers fan Kenny Williams where he might be able to spot Ryan Shazier), Johnson's 15 points and season-high nine rebounds were a key part of the win, which was a nice demonstration of how far he has progressed as a player. The Johnson who last played a game at the Petersen Events Center—as he pointed out to his teammates, the last time he played a game here was when his Panthers team hosted Luke Maye, Seventh Woods, Brandon Robinson and the eventual national champion Tar Heels during the 2016-17 season—was largely a standstill three-point shooter.
The older and wiser Johnson is more developed and more versatile, as he showed on a couple of impressive drives to the basket. It's still his perimeter shooting that gets the headlines—and Johnson sank three of his six three-point attempts, including one launched nearly from his driveway in Moon Township—but that shooting has also opened some driving lanes to the rim.
"I'm a lot different player than I was," Johnson said. "I feel like I'm a little better overall physically. As I keep getting older, I get better. And I've got more experience."
The Tar Heels overall had more experience than Pitt, and it showed. While Johnson was getting a near double-double—in the Carolina locker room after the game, he was still lamenting a near-miss tenth rebound that a teammate swiped from him—roommate Luke Maye was posting his own double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
And even Kenny Williams, who was limited by foul trouble throughout the game and played just 16 minutes, found a way to contribute. After an inability to play man to man defense without fouling forced the Tar Heels into a zone midway through the first half, it was Williams who was pulling aside Leaky Black and Coby White in the huddle on the UNC sideline, instructing them on the finer points of a defense they haven't played very much at all this season.
"Kenny was telling us where to go," said White, who finished with 22 points in his ACC debut and made more than half of his field goal attempts for the first time since Las Vegas. "We needed that, because we haven't played that zone much this year."
That's not to say that Carolina's youngsters aren't making progress. At one juncture in the first half, Pitt was (not surprisingly) on the free throw line. White sidled over to Roy Williams in front of the UNC bench and suggested a play. Williams wanted something else. "Coach," the point guard said, "they're going to be in a zone." The coach nodded his head. "You're right," he told his freshman, and the Tar Heels ran White's play—and scored.
Yes, White had five turnovers, but when your freshman point guard is thinking the same way as Roy Williams, that's a sign of maturation.
Eventually, as Johnson said, they all get older and better. That experienced depth was an asset the Tar Heels used throughout the blowout to counteract the foul trouble. Ten different players scored and 11 different players got a rebound. Pittsburgh only used eight players in the entire game. Carolina simply had too much, too often for the Panthers.
That led to the very unusual road afternoon in the ACC where the Tar Heels could cruise for most of the second half. The scattered boos for Johnson eventually subsided, and by the end, a near-majority of the fans left were wearing Carolina blue. Around 50 of them waited beside the Tar Heel locker room after the game. Johnson was one of the last players out, and when he emerged, he was greeted with a sound that signified just what kind of dominating afternoon it had been for his team: nothing but loud cheers.
PITTSBURGH—Hang on. Enjoy this one for just a second.
Carolina earned a 25-point road victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon. It wasn't especially artful. The Panthers probably aren't an NCAA Tournament team. Roy Williams left the Petersen Events Center with plenty of details he'll want to improve before Tuesday night's trip to Raleigh.
But the most important detail is that third sentence. Carolina recorded an 85-60 road win, in the Atlantic Coast Conference, in the league opener, against a program hosting its first sellout in two years. You don't win many games like that in this fashion on the road in this league. You just don't. The margin of victory was Carolina's fifth-biggest in ACC road games under Roy Williams, and keep in mind that the Tar Heels have been easily the league's best program on the road under Williams' direction. Once every three years or so, you get a win like this. Don't be so quick to dismiss it.
The Tar Heels had lost two straight road league openers and four of the past six. Now they're sitting 1-0 for a couple of days. That's the only storyline you need from Saturday.
The victory enabled Cameron Johnson to enjoy his return home. Yes, Johnson played here, but more importantly, he's from here. This isn't just where he went to school. It's home.
In addition to serving as the team's de facto tour guide (including pointing out to diehard Steelers fan Kenny Williams where he might be able to spot Ryan Shazier), Johnson's 15 points and season-high nine rebounds were a key part of the win, which was a nice demonstration of how far he has progressed as a player. The Johnson who last played a game at the Petersen Events Center—as he pointed out to his teammates, the last time he played a game here was when his Panthers team hosted Luke Maye, Seventh Woods, Brandon Robinson and the eventual national champion Tar Heels during the 2016-17 season—was largely a standstill three-point shooter.
The older and wiser Johnson is more developed and more versatile, as he showed on a couple of impressive drives to the basket. It's still his perimeter shooting that gets the headlines—and Johnson sank three of his six three-point attempts, including one launched nearly from his driveway in Moon Township—but that shooting has also opened some driving lanes to the rim.
"I'm a lot different player than I was," Johnson said. "I feel like I'm a little better overall physically. As I keep getting older, I get better. And I've got more experience."
The Tar Heels overall had more experience than Pitt, and it showed. While Johnson was getting a near double-double—in the Carolina locker room after the game, he was still lamenting a near-miss tenth rebound that a teammate swiped from him—roommate Luke Maye was posting his own double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
And even Kenny Williams, who was limited by foul trouble throughout the game and played just 16 minutes, found a way to contribute. After an inability to play man to man defense without fouling forced the Tar Heels into a zone midway through the first half, it was Williams who was pulling aside Leaky Black and Coby White in the huddle on the UNC sideline, instructing them on the finer points of a defense they haven't played very much at all this season.
"Kenny was telling us where to go," said White, who finished with 22 points in his ACC debut and made more than half of his field goal attempts for the first time since Las Vegas. "We needed that, because we haven't played that zone much this year."
That's not to say that Carolina's youngsters aren't making progress. At one juncture in the first half, Pitt was (not surprisingly) on the free throw line. White sidled over to Roy Williams in front of the UNC bench and suggested a play. Williams wanted something else. "Coach," the point guard said, "they're going to be in a zone." The coach nodded his head. "You're right," he told his freshman, and the Tar Heels ran White's play—and scored.
Yes, White had five turnovers, but when your freshman point guard is thinking the same way as Roy Williams, that's a sign of maturation.
Eventually, as Johnson said, they all get older and better. That experienced depth was an asset the Tar Heels used throughout the blowout to counteract the foul trouble. Ten different players scored and 11 different players got a rebound. Pittsburgh only used eight players in the entire game. Carolina simply had too much, too often for the Panthers.
That led to the very unusual road afternoon in the ACC where the Tar Heels could cruise for most of the second half. The scattered boos for Johnson eventually subsided, and by the end, a near-majority of the fans left were wearing Carolina blue. Around 50 of them waited beside the Tar Heel locker room after the game. Johnson was one of the last players out, and when he emerged, he was greeted with a sound that signified just what kind of dominating afternoon it had been for his team: nothing but loud cheers.
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