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University of North Carolina Athletics
Armando Bacot
Photo by: Peyton Williams
Lucas: Elizabeth City State Rapid Reactions
November 5, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from Carolina's exhibition game.
By Adam Lucas
1. That's a start. Tar Heels get an 83-55 exhibition win over Elizabeth City State and can now point towards the season opener on Tuesday against Loyola.
2. Four players in double figures for Carolina, led by Dawson Garcia with 17. All three big men were in double figures, including Armando Bacot with 16 and Brady Manek also with 16. The Tar Heels did a heavy portion of the damage at the free throw line, where they were 24-30 (as compared to 1-3 for the visitors).
3. Don't read too much into the lineups that started the first half and second half. Just as he did in the scrimmage at Florida, Hubert Davis pre-planned using different starters for each half to get a look at which combinations he liked the best.
4. That created some very different rotations. Anthony Harris, D'Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles didn't play in the first half, while Caleb Love (18 minutes) and RJ Davis (17 minutes) saw heavy minutes in that stanza.
5. It's easy to see why Brady Manek is going to play lots of minutes. Manek simply understands how to play, and in addition to his shooting and rebounding, he's one of the team's best communicators on defense. And while he's not a slick passer, he does regularly make the right pass.
6. Loved seeing Carolina go two-for-one at the end of the first half when they gained possession with just over 40 seconds left. It didn't work out ideally, as they created a good look for Manek off a pick-and-pop. But Manek's three rimmed out and Elizabeth City State grabbed an offensive rebound on the other end to prevent the back half of the 2-for-1. Just because it didn't work doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea.
7. The freshmen entered the game for the first time with 6:36 left in the game, and Dontrez Styles made an immediate impression by soaring for a defensive rebound that sparked some "Oooohhhh"s from the crowd (he also had an impressive follow dunk off his own shot). Harris also made his first appearance in the second half and spent a large majority of his 12 minutes running point guard. He is not a pure natural at that position, but did have a very nice feed to Manek for an "assist the way we keep them" and understands how to create the tempo Davis wants.
8. That wasn't the first game Roy Williams has ever watched in the Smith Center as a fan. He made at least one trip to watch his daughter, Kimberly, when she was a member of Carolina's dance team. But the circumstances were a little different then, so it was still jarring to see Williams and his wife, Wanda, in the Smith Center stands.
9. Lifetime moment for the Landry family before the game. Pearce was a Morehead Scholar who made major contributions to the Tar Heels as a walk-on during the 1995 Final Four season. Now his son, Rob, has joined this year's Tar Heels as a walk-on. The duo took a picture on the Smith Center court an hour before the game. It was especially meaningful for Rob, an outstanding student who thought his basketball dream was over during the pandemic when the JV team didn't compete.
10. A similar situation for the Lebo family, which had three generations on hand. Creighton, of course, is on the team, while his dad, Jeff, is in his first year as an assistant coach. Jeff's father, Dave, a longtime very successful coach himself, was also in attendance.
11. ECSU was a good exhibition opponent because they sprinkled in some zone. That gave the Tar Heels the chance to work against both man and zone defenses, something they've worked on in practice over the last week.
12. Another point of emphasis in the preseason has been limiting turnovers. Hubert Davis will likely be mostly happy in that department, as the Tar Heels commited just 13 after leading the ACC in that category last year.
1. That's a start. Tar Heels get an 83-55 exhibition win over Elizabeth City State and can now point towards the season opener on Tuesday against Loyola.
2. Four players in double figures for Carolina, led by Dawson Garcia with 17. All three big men were in double figures, including Armando Bacot with 16 and Brady Manek also with 16. The Tar Heels did a heavy portion of the damage at the free throw line, where they were 24-30 (as compared to 1-3 for the visitors).
3. Don't read too much into the lineups that started the first half and second half. Just as he did in the scrimmage at Florida, Hubert Davis pre-planned using different starters for each half to get a look at which combinations he liked the best.
4. That created some very different rotations. Anthony Harris, D'Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles didn't play in the first half, while Caleb Love (18 minutes) and RJ Davis (17 minutes) saw heavy minutes in that stanza.
5. It's easy to see why Brady Manek is going to play lots of minutes. Manek simply understands how to play, and in addition to his shooting and rebounding, he's one of the team's best communicators on defense. And while he's not a slick passer, he does regularly make the right pass.
6. Loved seeing Carolina go two-for-one at the end of the first half when they gained possession with just over 40 seconds left. It didn't work out ideally, as they created a good look for Manek off a pick-and-pop. But Manek's three rimmed out and Elizabeth City State grabbed an offensive rebound on the other end to prevent the back half of the 2-for-1. Just because it didn't work doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea.
7. The freshmen entered the game for the first time with 6:36 left in the game, and Dontrez Styles made an immediate impression by soaring for a defensive rebound that sparked some "Oooohhhh"s from the crowd (he also had an impressive follow dunk off his own shot). Harris also made his first appearance in the second half and spent a large majority of his 12 minutes running point guard. He is not a pure natural at that position, but did have a very nice feed to Manek for an "assist the way we keep them" and understands how to create the tempo Davis wants.
8. That wasn't the first game Roy Williams has ever watched in the Smith Center as a fan. He made at least one trip to watch his daughter, Kimberly, when she was a member of Carolina's dance team. But the circumstances were a little different then, so it was still jarring to see Williams and his wife, Wanda, in the Smith Center stands.
9. Lifetime moment for the Landry family before the game. Pearce was a Morehead Scholar who made major contributions to the Tar Heels as a walk-on during the 1995 Final Four season. Now his son, Rob, has joined this year's Tar Heels as a walk-on. The duo took a picture on the Smith Center court an hour before the game. It was especially meaningful for Rob, an outstanding student who thought his basketball dream was over during the pandemic when the JV team didn't compete.
10. A similar situation for the Lebo family, which had three generations on hand. Creighton, of course, is on the team, while his dad, Jeff, is in his first year as an assistant coach. Jeff's father, Dave, a longtime very successful coach himself, was also in attendance.
11. ECSU was a good exhibition opponent because they sprinkled in some zone. That gave the Tar Heels the chance to work against both man and zone defenses, something they've worked on in practice over the last week.
12. Another point of emphasis in the preseason has been limiting turnovers. Hubert Davis will likely be mostly happy in that department, as the Tar Heels commited just 13 after leading the ACC in that category last year.
Players Mentioned
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