University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: In The Column
November 25, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Carolina beat the College of Charleston in the opener.
By Adam Lucas
In practice earlier this week, a drill went poorly.
Roy Williams stopped practice. He corrected the mistake, and then he issued a reminder: "Guys, Wednesday goes in the column. It counts. Win or lose, it's going in the column."
It's been easy to forget that over the last weeks and months. Games were postponed and programs were paused and there was often more talk about whether games would be played rather than who might win those games.
And even inside the Smith Center on Wednesday, it didn't particularly feel like a game that actually counted. The crowd looked like a well-attended junior varsity game. There was only canned band music when the Tar Heels ran out of the tunnel. For the first time in his Carolina tenure, Roy Williams didn't toss t-shirts into the student section when he entered the court, because there were no students. As the Tar Heel starting lineup was introduced, players offered no-contact air high fives instead of the usual greetings.
But despite all the surroundings, it did go in the column. And, even better, in the positive column. This is a young team. There will be some nights when they make some inexplicable plays or appear to have not practiced since they arrived on campus.
Wednesday, though, was a win. And in a season when there is very little padding in the schedule—less than two weeks from now, the Tar Heels will be at presumptive Big Ten favorite Iowa, and less than a month from now, the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule opens with a road trip to NC State—every single notch in the win column is important.
"We had four freshmen in the top six or seven guys in the game," Roy Williams said after the game. That figure could have been even higher, but both Walker Kessler and Puff Johnson—both of whom showed promise in very limited minutes—are working their way back through COVID protocols.
When they return, Williams will have multiple pieces to choose from at virtually every spot on the court, which will create the competition every coach loves in practice in the race for those spots. Armando Bacot would be a presumptive starter in many other situations; this year, he's in a battle with Day'Ron Sharpe for the starting post spot alongside Garrison Brooks. Williams said the plan had been to start Bacot in the first half and Sharpe in the second half, but that strategy had to be scuttled when Sharpe accumulated two early fouls.
Bacot had a very solid 12-point, eight-rebound game against the Cougars, a solid way to start the season. His reward? Looking down the box score and finding Sharpe with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double in just 22 minutes. The performance made Sharpe one of just four Tar Heels in history with a double-double in their first college game, as he joined Cole Anthony, Sam Perkins and Lennie Rosenbluth.
There's a good chance the Carolina team you see in February will bear little resemblance to the one we watched on Wednesday night. Freshmen who might have been jittery in the opener—Kerwin Walton missed his first shot by more than he's missed any shot in the first 30 practices, the quintessential nervous first college shot—will find a niche, the sterile environment will start to feel a little more normal, and Anthony Harris and Sterling Manley could return from injury.
Until then, they'll try to improve a little each time they play. On his way to a game-high 17 points, Caleb Love hoisted an ill-advised three-pointer with two minutes remaining and a 16-point lead. When he went to the bench at the next dead ball, Williams slid in next to him on the socially distanced Carolina bench. The conversation ended with both individuals smiling and the head coach chucking his freshman point guard on the knee.
"On this team, I don't need to force anything," Love said. "I forced a few bad shots today. But I'm getting better. And as the games go on, I'm going to learn more and more and I'm going to get better."
Which should lead to even more entries in the correct column.
In practice earlier this week, a drill went poorly.
Roy Williams stopped practice. He corrected the mistake, and then he issued a reminder: "Guys, Wednesday goes in the column. It counts. Win or lose, it's going in the column."
It's been easy to forget that over the last weeks and months. Games were postponed and programs were paused and there was often more talk about whether games would be played rather than who might win those games.
And even inside the Smith Center on Wednesday, it didn't particularly feel like a game that actually counted. The crowd looked like a well-attended junior varsity game. There was only canned band music when the Tar Heels ran out of the tunnel. For the first time in his Carolina tenure, Roy Williams didn't toss t-shirts into the student section when he entered the court, because there were no students. As the Tar Heel starting lineup was introduced, players offered no-contact air high fives instead of the usual greetings.
But despite all the surroundings, it did go in the column. And, even better, in the positive column. This is a young team. There will be some nights when they make some inexplicable plays or appear to have not practiced since they arrived on campus.
Wednesday, though, was a win. And in a season when there is very little padding in the schedule—less than two weeks from now, the Tar Heels will be at presumptive Big Ten favorite Iowa, and less than a month from now, the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule opens with a road trip to NC State—every single notch in the win column is important.
"We had four freshmen in the top six or seven guys in the game," Roy Williams said after the game. That figure could have been even higher, but both Walker Kessler and Puff Johnson—both of whom showed promise in very limited minutes—are working their way back through COVID protocols.
When they return, Williams will have multiple pieces to choose from at virtually every spot on the court, which will create the competition every coach loves in practice in the race for those spots. Armando Bacot would be a presumptive starter in many other situations; this year, he's in a battle with Day'Ron Sharpe for the starting post spot alongside Garrison Brooks. Williams said the plan had been to start Bacot in the first half and Sharpe in the second half, but that strategy had to be scuttled when Sharpe accumulated two early fouls.
Bacot had a very solid 12-point, eight-rebound game against the Cougars, a solid way to start the season. His reward? Looking down the box score and finding Sharpe with a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double in just 22 minutes. The performance made Sharpe one of just four Tar Heels in history with a double-double in their first college game, as he joined Cole Anthony, Sam Perkins and Lennie Rosenbluth.
There's a good chance the Carolina team you see in February will bear little resemblance to the one we watched on Wednesday night. Freshmen who might have been jittery in the opener—Kerwin Walton missed his first shot by more than he's missed any shot in the first 30 practices, the quintessential nervous first college shot—will find a niche, the sterile environment will start to feel a little more normal, and Anthony Harris and Sterling Manley could return from injury.
Until then, they'll try to improve a little each time they play. On his way to a game-high 17 points, Caleb Love hoisted an ill-advised three-pointer with two minutes remaining and a 16-point lead. When he went to the bench at the next dead ball, Williams slid in next to him on the socially distanced Carolina bench. The conversation ended with both individuals smiling and the head coach chucking his freshman point guard on the knee.
"On this team, I don't need to force anything," Love said. "I forced a few bad shots today. But I'm getting better. And as the games go on, I'm going to learn more and more and I'm going to get better."
Which should lead to even more entries in the correct column.
Players Mentioned
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