Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. That's a prototypical Carolina win when virtually nothing was going right, there was a good opponent, and the Tar Heels somehow defeated a top-15 squad in Oregon with a 78-74 victory.

2. The Tar Heel defense was unexpectedly stingy around the rim, piling up 12 blocked shots. Although Armando Bacot was the headliner with six rejections, it was Cole Anthony who will be on the highlight reel. The 6-foot-3 Anthony rejected a dunk attempt by Oregon's 6-foot-7 Shakur Juiston with two minutes left in the first half.

3. Less than 24 hours after struggling against Michigan's Jon Teske, Bacot was sensational. In addition to his defensive exploits, he had his fourth double-double in five games, finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

4. A trio of Tar Heels played through injuries. Garrison Brooks suffered an abrasion on his cornea in yesterday's loss to Michigan and wore goggles for the first part of the first half before tossing them aside midway through the half. Leaky Black attempted to play through a sprained right foot but wasn't able to confidently plant and cut and eventually went to the bench after playing nine first half minutes. Brandon Robinson suffered another tweak of his ankle in the second half, but was able to reenter and made the game-sealing free throws with 0.8 seconds on the clock.

5. Carolina got some solid reserve minutes from K.J. Smith in the first half after Cole Anthony briefly went to the bench after drawing a hard charge. Smith piloted the Tar Heels to a +2 mark while he was in the game during a key stretch of a close game. Smith was key again in the second half after Anthony picked up his fourth foul with 10:33 remaining in the game. Smith entered and had a nice assist to Armando Bacot that gave the Tar Heels a ten-point lead. Overall, the Tar Heels were just -1 during the 7:52 that Anthony sat with four fouls.

6. It was Oregon who came into the game well-known for their multiple defenses. But it was Carolina who used a defensive switch to force a quietly important moment. Oregon burned the use it or lose it timeout midway through the first half after a long stretch without a whistle. But then Roy Williams called for a trap off an Anthony free throw, which forced Payton Pritchard to burn another timeout near midcourt when he was trapped in the corner. That left the Ducks with just two timeouts for the final 20 minutes, including those tight final minutes when they probably could have used another break.

7. With the combination of injuries and widespread foul issues, Carolina had a very unusual mix of combinations on the court for most of the second half. The Tar Heels were helped by some significant Oregon shooting struggles (the Ducks hit just 35.3 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes) and got just enough big plays to earn a very important win.

8. When Anthony went out, the Tar Heels very consciously tried to use more clock to shorten the game. That slowed some of the offensive flow for a team that doesn't have that quality in abundance. But the feeling clearly at that juncture was that more possessions would favor Oregon rather than Carolina.

9. Carolina's second half defensive rebounding was much improved. Oregon piled up 14 offensive rebounds in the first half, but recovered just eight in the second half. The Ducks turned that into just seven second chance points. On a day when Oregon wasn't hitting many initial shots, limiting them to just one opportunity was key.

10. When Anthony reentered the game, Williams switched Brandon Robinson onto the slippery Payton Pritchard. Robinson did a good job chasing Pritchard around some screens, but his balky ankle made it difficult to stop Pritchard's penetration.

11. Huge plays by Anthony down the stretch. The freshman had a beautiful layup with a minute left, then went to the free throw line and knocked down both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity on two separate occasions. The Tar Heels were a stellar 18-for-19 at the charity stripe.

12. The win moves Williams into fourth place all-time in career victories. He now has 877 wins and has passed Adolph Rupp.

13. The victory also continues Tar Heel mastery of the Pac-12 under Williams. Carolina has won the last 14 games against Pac-12 opponents and Williams is 15-1 against that league at Carolina. The Tar Heels are 6-0 all-time against Oregon and 3-0 under Williams.

14. Carolina still hasn't broken 80 points this season, but no one in Carolina blue cares. The last time the Tar Heels didn't score 80 in the first seven games of the season was the 1949-50 campaign.

15. Another game with assists on fewer than 50 percent of Carolina's field goals. The Tar Heels had 12 assists on 26 baskets. Other trends that will need to improve over the next month: Carolina forced just seven Oregon turnovers, and the Tar Heels sent Oregon to the line 20 times (the Ducks made just 12).

University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Brandon Robinson

K.J. Smith

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