Lucas: Taking A Break

By Adam Lucas

RALEIGH—Let's talk about freshman guards.

That's probably not your favorite topic right now. You just watched Carolina's 79-76 loss to NC State, a game in which Caleb Love and RJ Davis combined to shoot 8-for-28. It was not pretty. Love and Davis each missed a potential game-tying three-point shot on the final possession of the game, a microcosm of a frustrating evening.

They will go into a quick Christmas break shooting a combined 29.5 percent from the floor. Those are not good numbers.

Now here's something you probably don't want to hear: they are not that far removed from where they should be.

Davis mentioned this fall that he spent part of his summer watching tape of Marcus Paige and Joel Berry. What he likely meant is he watched tape of senior Paige and sophomore Berry, playing together at an extraordinarily high level, a dynamic combination of scoring and play-making.

He probably didn't spend much time with the freshman tape of either player, and certainly not the first few games of their freshman campaigns. When Paige went home for Christmas as a freshman during the 2012-13 season, he was shooting 35 percent from the field. Against a schedule that included just one game against a ranked opponent and games against Gardner-Webb, Florida Atlantic, Chaminade, East Tennessee State and East Carolina, he'd endured games of 1-for-5, 1-for-7 and 1-for-8, plus a 2-for-8 game, a pair of 2-for-6 games and a 3-for-9 game. During one three-game stretch, he had more turnovers (seven) than field goals (five).

Paige, perhaps the consummate shot-maker in the entire Roy Williams era, went home for the break with one nagging thought in his mind: "Maybe I'm not good enough to play ACC basketball."

Two years later, the Tar Heels brought a guard named Joel Berry off the bench. He went into Christmas hitting 41 percent of his shots but did not have an assist in three of the five games before the break. In four of those first 11 games of his college career, he didn't make a shot.

Berry, perhaps the consummate competitor in the entire Roy Williams era, went home for the break with one nagging thought in his mind: "Maybe I'm not good enough to play ACC basketball."

Paige and Berry's jerseys hang in the Smith Center rafters. That doesn't mean Love and Davis will have the exact same outcome, but it does mean the situation isn't quite as dire as it seems right now. We remember the rings and the banners and the rafters. We don't always recall the 1-for-8s that taught them how to get there. It doesn't mean these particular freshmen are guaranteed to end up in the same place. Past performance is no guarantee of future results and all your favorite warnings. But it does mean that other very talented players have been in this same situation, and they made it through.

The freshman backcourt did not have a great performance against the Wolfpack. As troubling as the errant shots was the occasional forgetfulness about what constitutes a good shot and—most specifically—where exactly their team had the advantage on the court.

During a stretch that saw NC State build the advantage to 37-23, Tar Heel big men took just four of Carolina's 11 shots. During the Pack's 14-2 run midway through the second half, Tar Heel big men had one field goal attempt. And over the final two minutes of the game, with Carolina trying to trim a four-point deficit, the Carolina post players attempted just one of the final seven shots.

If you add those three stretches together, the big men took six of Carolina's attempted 22 shots and the Tar Heels were -25 on the scoreboard. Over the entire rest of the game, Tar Heel post players took 24 of Carolina's 48 shots and the Heels were +22 on the scoreboard.

"If you start pointing fingers at one or two players it hurts your team," Roy Williams said. "Everybody has to do a better job of getting shots. We have to shoot the ball better and we have to do a better job of shot selection."

Carolina had three different opportunities with the ball and a two-point deficit. The first was a rushed three-point shot with 22 seconds left on the shot clock. It missed. The second was a turnover. And the third was a missed jumper.

It will get better. The execution will get better and the recognition of time and score will get better. Around that same time, the ball will start going in the basket more often, because the game will slow down. It will just seem easier somehow. You don't want to hear this, but at Monday's practice, Davis barely missed a shot, lighting up the Smith Center during a timed individual shooting drill. On Tuesday, with defenders running at him and hands in his face, he was 5-for-14. It happens. He can shoot.

Love and Davis will get the chance to return home for a couple of days starting Wednesday. They will almost certainly have doubts--although they may not admit it for another year or so--about their place in the college basketball world. It will not get easier. Every game left is against an ACC opponent. But it will get better. And if they do have questions, it will mean they are freshmen, and it will mean they are something it might be difficult to see right now--they are normal.

Players Mentioned

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

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