Lucas: Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. A cathartic Saturday afternoon in the Smith Center, as Carolina completely dominated the game from start to finish in a 94-71 victory over a depleted Miami squad.

2. You have to feel a little for Miami, which played without two of their best players, Chris Lykes and Kameron McGusty. But honestly, given all that Carolina has been through this year, you only have to feel a little for them. At this point, you take the wins however you can get them, and the Hurricanes provided a ripe opponent on Saturday. Carolina's 23-point halftime lead was--at that point--the biggest lead the Tar Heels had enjoyed in any game this season.

3. Because of their significant depth issues, Miami sagged back in a 2-3 zone for most of the game. Carolina absolutely carved up that defense, distributing 17 assists on 22 field goals in the first half. That's the same number they handed out in the entire double-overtime game in Blacksburg on Wednesday night and is as many or more than the Tar Heels had in the entirety of five of the previous seven ACC games. For the game, the Tar Heels handed out a season-high 32 assists on 40 field goals, which tied the most in a single game in the Roy Williams era.

4. As Roy Williams says regularly, it all looks better when the ball is going in the basket. And the ball went in the basket for much of the afternoon Saturday. Brandon Robinson was the headliner with a career high of 29 points, but everyone wearing the home white jerseys shot the ball well (and was the beneficiary of very good ball movement that created those shots). Robinson was an amazing 11-for-15 from the field and 6-for-10 from the three-point line.

5. The Tar Heels shot over 50 percent in a game for the first time this year, blistering the nets at a rate of 58.2 percent. It got to the point that you were a little surprised when a shot didn't go in.

6. Another individual with a very good performance: Armando Bacot had his seventh double-double of the season, finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds. That gives him one more double-double as a freshman than Tyler Hansbrough had during the 2005-06 season. The Carolina freshman record is Antawn Jamison during the 1995-96 season, as he had 13 double-doubles. Bacot also had a career-high seven assists to go with his double-double.

7. Another positive development due to the margin of victory: the Tar Heels were able to limit the minutes played by some of the regulars. Roy Williams likely would've liked to get them even more rest, but the personnel issues wouldn't allow it. Even Robbie O'Han got some backup point guard minutes in the second half. Garrison Brooks played just 27 minutes and Leaky Black was needed for just 26. That's a huge development after both players played extensively on Wednesday night and will have to turn around and play again on Monday night against NC State.

8. Christian Keeling was used sparingly after halftime at Virginia Tech, but the graduate transfer quietly had a nice performance against Miami. Keeling didn't try to do too much and knocked down shots when given the opportunity. He finished with nine points.

9. Carolina dominated the backboards, holding a 39-21 rebounding advantage. Miami is undersized against virtually every ACC opponent and was no match for Carolina's commitment to the boards.

10. Carolina also did a better job taking care of the basketball, committing just two turnovers in the first half. Things got a little sloppier in the second half, as you would expect, and Carolina finished with a dozen.

11. The win, of course, marked Roy Williams' 880th as a head coach, putting him all alone in fourth place in college basketball history. As you would expect, there was no direct on-court recognition of the mark.

12. How about a little credit for the Smith Center crowd? Even riding a five-game losing streak, the Tar Heel crowd was loud and into the game from the tip-off. There aren't many teams that had one win in the league coming into the day who would have enjoyed a home court advantage like what Carolina had against Miami.

13. Did Saturday's win solve everything for the 2019-20 Tar Heels? No, but it didn't have to. It was just a welcome way for everyone involved with Carolina basketball to feel good for one afternoon. It's been a long time since the Dec. 30 win over Yale.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Christian Keeling

Robbie O'Han

Brandon Robinson

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