University of North Carolina Athletics
Caleb Love
Photo by: Peyton Williams
Lucas: NC Central Rapid Reactions
December 12, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from Carolina's final home game before ACC play.
By Adam Lucas
1. Not an artistic win, but still a win, as Carolina beats North Carolina Central, 73-67. Now the Tar Heels get a week of practice with no classes to get ready for Ohio State. Given what's in the immediate future, this is an important week for the development of the 20-21 Tar Heels.
2. Coming into this season, you knew there would be some games when the outside shots weren't falling, so the Tar Heels continued to pound away inside with their quartet of big men. That's what happened on Tuesday, as the Tar Heels simply had too much muscle in the paint for the Eagles. Armando Bacot had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Carolina held a 37-25 rebounding edge and 36-26 on points in the paint.
3. Carolina continues to find itself in first half holes. For the fourth time in six games, the Tar Heels trailed by double digits in the first half. This time, though, they fought back to lead at halftime, 30-28. They were overall better in the second half, but a frenetic final couple of minutes isn't going to make Roy Williams happy. Central ended the game with a timeout left and elected not to foul even after drawing within six points with approximately 15 seconds left to play.
"If I had a good answer, I'd tell you," Andrew Platek said. "We didn't play well. Our effort was terrible. We weren't hitting outside shots. We weren't getting the ball inside to our bigs...We're not coming in with enough energy. We're not getting up for games."
4. During that struggle of a first 20 minutes, Bacot carried Carolina. The sophomore big man was relentless in the paint, as he made all four of his field goal attempts and converted seven of his 10 free throw chances. The rest of his teammates in the first half were 5-19 from the field and 5-8 from the free throw line. Bacot also had seven of the team's 20 first half rebounds. It easily could have been a double-digit deficit at halftime without his contributions. "In the first half, Armando was the only offense," Roy Williams said.Â
5. But give the Tar Heels credit for weathering another uncharacteristically hot start from an opponent. After a torrid opening to the game, Central went into halftime having missed seven straight shots and without a point in the final 5:09 of the first period.
6. Turnovers continue to plague the Tar Heels. Carolina turned it over nine times in the first half, which in a low-possession game meant they were coughing it up roughly a third of the trips down the court. As he continues to adjust to the speed of the college game, Caleb Love had six turnovers. Carolina had 18 miscues in the game, which led to 18 Central points. "You can't win big games if you turn the basketball over," Roy Williams said. "The two ways to stay on the court are guard the ball and don't turn it over. He's going to get better, and he has to get better."
7. But, Love also experienced the reason why these games are so valuable. In a 30-second stretch in the second half, Love notched an assist to Andrew Platek, then dove on the floor to recover a loose ball and fed Platek for another assist. The effort drew a boisterous reaction from Roy Williams, who greeted his point guard with a big cheer when Central called timeout to stop the run. That's the kind of sequence that can be transformative for a freshman. Love was better in the second half than he was in the first, and all four of his assists came in the final 20 minutes.
8. Sharpe's savvy continues to be impressive. He was triple-teamed on multiple second half possessions, remained poised, and found an open teammate. The big freshman is rarely out of position defensively and was a team-best +18. Sharpe's official box score line was 12Â points (all in the second half) and six rebounds, but he played even better than that.
9. In case you haven't noticed, Andrew Platek has made some very positive contributions thus far in his senior season. The guard was in double figures again, marking the third time this season he's reached that mark. Platek did not score in double figures as a junior. He's always done enough positive things to warrant playing time if he's making open shots. Saturday, he made them--he made Carolina's only two three-pointers. "In the second half, Coach Davis gave us a pretty powerful speech on the guards being confident knocking that shot down," Bacot said. "That made it easier for us to use that high-low pass and get the ball in the paint more."
10. An encouraging sign: after struggling from the free throw line in the first half, Carolina hit all 13 of its charity tosses in the second half and finished the game 25-31. That offset some struggles from the three-point line, where the Tar Heels converted just two of 15 shots. "Those two threes by Andrew were really big for us," Williams said.Â
11. A reminder that the time has changed for Carolina's next home game, a date in Cleveland with Ohio State next Saturday. That game was originally announced as a 2 p.m. tip-off but will now tip around 4:15, as the order of the games in the CBS Sports Classic was switched to accommodate Ohio State's football game.
12. As was inevitable, Roy Williams was asked about Mike Krzyzewski's comments this week. "I haven't seen all of Michael's comments," Williams said. "The comments that I saw, it made sense. It's a strange time. It's the most unusual time I've ever seen...Somebody told me we should take a different look at it than we did in June or July. There's validity to that. It will surprise the heck out of people, but we've been on committees together and 95 percent of the time we agree with each other. He has a great concern and interest in where college basketball is and where it's going. Let me check my phone and see if he called me to ask if he could say what he wanted to say. I don't see any calls from him."
1. Not an artistic win, but still a win, as Carolina beats North Carolina Central, 73-67. Now the Tar Heels get a week of practice with no classes to get ready for Ohio State. Given what's in the immediate future, this is an important week for the development of the 20-21 Tar Heels.
2. Coming into this season, you knew there would be some games when the outside shots weren't falling, so the Tar Heels continued to pound away inside with their quartet of big men. That's what happened on Tuesday, as the Tar Heels simply had too much muscle in the paint for the Eagles. Armando Bacot had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Carolina held a 37-25 rebounding edge and 36-26 on points in the paint.
3. Carolina continues to find itself in first half holes. For the fourth time in six games, the Tar Heels trailed by double digits in the first half. This time, though, they fought back to lead at halftime, 30-28. They were overall better in the second half, but a frenetic final couple of minutes isn't going to make Roy Williams happy. Central ended the game with a timeout left and elected not to foul even after drawing within six points with approximately 15 seconds left to play.
"If I had a good answer, I'd tell you," Andrew Platek said. "We didn't play well. Our effort was terrible. We weren't hitting outside shots. We weren't getting the ball inside to our bigs...We're not coming in with enough energy. We're not getting up for games."
4. During that struggle of a first 20 minutes, Bacot carried Carolina. The sophomore big man was relentless in the paint, as he made all four of his field goal attempts and converted seven of his 10 free throw chances. The rest of his teammates in the first half were 5-19 from the field and 5-8 from the free throw line. Bacot also had seven of the team's 20 first half rebounds. It easily could have been a double-digit deficit at halftime without his contributions. "In the first half, Armando was the only offense," Roy Williams said.Â
5. But give the Tar Heels credit for weathering another uncharacteristically hot start from an opponent. After a torrid opening to the game, Central went into halftime having missed seven straight shots and without a point in the final 5:09 of the first period.
6. Turnovers continue to plague the Tar Heels. Carolina turned it over nine times in the first half, which in a low-possession game meant they were coughing it up roughly a third of the trips down the court. As he continues to adjust to the speed of the college game, Caleb Love had six turnovers. Carolina had 18 miscues in the game, which led to 18 Central points. "You can't win big games if you turn the basketball over," Roy Williams said. "The two ways to stay on the court are guard the ball and don't turn it over. He's going to get better, and he has to get better."
7. But, Love also experienced the reason why these games are so valuable. In a 30-second stretch in the second half, Love notched an assist to Andrew Platek, then dove on the floor to recover a loose ball and fed Platek for another assist. The effort drew a boisterous reaction from Roy Williams, who greeted his point guard with a big cheer when Central called timeout to stop the run. That's the kind of sequence that can be transformative for a freshman. Love was better in the second half than he was in the first, and all four of his assists came in the final 20 minutes.
8. Sharpe's savvy continues to be impressive. He was triple-teamed on multiple second half possessions, remained poised, and found an open teammate. The big freshman is rarely out of position defensively and was a team-best +18. Sharpe's official box score line was 12Â points (all in the second half) and six rebounds, but he played even better than that.
9. In case you haven't noticed, Andrew Platek has made some very positive contributions thus far in his senior season. The guard was in double figures again, marking the third time this season he's reached that mark. Platek did not score in double figures as a junior. He's always done enough positive things to warrant playing time if he's making open shots. Saturday, he made them--he made Carolina's only two three-pointers. "In the second half, Coach Davis gave us a pretty powerful speech on the guards being confident knocking that shot down," Bacot said. "That made it easier for us to use that high-low pass and get the ball in the paint more."
10. An encouraging sign: after struggling from the free throw line in the first half, Carolina hit all 13 of its charity tosses in the second half and finished the game 25-31. That offset some struggles from the three-point line, where the Tar Heels converted just two of 15 shots. "Those two threes by Andrew were really big for us," Williams said.Â
11. A reminder that the time has changed for Carolina's next home game, a date in Cleveland with Ohio State next Saturday. That game was originally announced as a 2 p.m. tip-off but will now tip around 4:15, as the order of the games in the CBS Sports Classic was switched to accommodate Ohio State's football game.
12. As was inevitable, Roy Williams was asked about Mike Krzyzewski's comments this week. "I haven't seen all of Michael's comments," Williams said. "The comments that I saw, it made sense. It's a strange time. It's the most unusual time I've ever seen...Somebody told me we should take a different look at it than we did in June or July. There's validity to that. It will surprise the heck out of people, but we've been on committees together and 95 percent of the time we agree with each other. He has a great concern and interest in where college basketball is and where it's going. Let me check my phone and see if he called me to ask if he could say what he wanted to say. I don't see any calls from him."
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