Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. A sloppy start, as usual, to the new season in Carolina's 96-61 win over Winston-Salem State in exhibition play on Friday night.

2. Needless to say, the most pressing news out of Friday's game will be the status of Brandon Robinson. The senior went down after blocking a shot with 12:19 left in the first half with an apparent ankle injury and did not return. Robinson hit 46 percent of his three-point shots this year and is an important part of Carolina's perimeter attack. He was on crutches after the game. Justin Pierce started the second half in Robinson's place.

3. Carolina committed 12 first half turnovers, with eight different players coughing up the ball at least once. Some of those issues are the product of having unfamiliar lineups on the court as Roy Williams tries to decide how he wants to deploy his rotations. The Tar Heels finished with 23 turnovers in an area Williams is certain to emphasize in upcoming practices.

4. As will likely be a familiar sight throughout the season, Cole Anthony and Garrison Brooks had the most minutes played. Anthony's talent (11 points and seven assists) is evident, and his outside shot is more effective than he showed with two bad first half three-point misses. Most impressively, he already seems to understand the tempo Williams requires, and never seems flustered. Brooks quickly racked up a double-double and finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

5. With Sterling Manley out with an injury, there's an opportunity for Walker Miller or Brandon Huffman to earn some backup post minutes. Miller played a solid six first half minutes against the Rams and had three offensive rebounds. Huffman finished with eight points and five rebounds.

6. The Tar Heels had too much pace (32 fast break points to nine) and too much size (56 rebounds to 33) for Winston-Salem State. The Rams did not lead in the game.

7. A storyline to watch, though, is who among the Tar Heels collects most of those rebounds other than Brooks and Armando Bacot (who had ten). With places in the rotation up for grabs, anyone who establishes the ability to get to the offensive glass is likely to see more minutes. The Tar Heel wing with the most boards was Andrew Platek, who had four.

8. The Tar Heels went through a dismal stretch midway through the first half, which first prompted a five-for-five Williams substitution, and then a frustrated timeout. The Rams had good success breaking Carolina down off the dribble, prompting the head coach to bark, "Guard somebody!" at his team.

9. Very nice minutes for Leaky Black off the bench. The sophomore had nine points, seven assists and five rebounds, and had a very good second half stretch when he fed Christian Keeling for a three-pointer and then fed Keeling again for an old-fashioned three-point play.

10. Rules changes you're going to want to know for the 2019-20 season: the longer three-point line is the most obvious, as it's moved from 20-9 to 22-1 3/4 at the top of the key and 21-7/8 in the corners. That rule likely won't have much of an impact on the game's best shooters, who may not even notice the difference (but it likely will prevent an occasional big man from straying to the perimeter). Coaches can now call a timeout in the final two minutes of the game or the final two minutes of overtime. And the shot clock will now be reset to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound that doesn't go into the backcourt.

11. The bottom line: no one was fantastic and clearly moved up in the rotation. But no one played themselves out of any playing time, either.

12. Carolina is going to need to be much, much more crisp on Wednesday night against a veteran Notre Dame team at the Smith Center. Opening the season with a conference game will be different for everyone involved (all but one ACC team will open with a league game), but a 20-game league season requires some concessions. Is this team ready to play a conference game? It doesn't look like it...but no one else is, either.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Brandon Huffman

Christian Keeling

Sterling Manley

Walker Miller

Justin Pierce

Andrew Platek

Brandon Robinson

Related Videos