Lucas: Elon Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Not a win for the time capsule, but a win, as Carolina defeated Elon, 80-63.

2. Caleb Love was by far the most dynamic player on the court. Love finished with 22 points, hit four of his seven three-pointers, showed a very good grasp of when to drive and when to shoot from the outside, and also threw down an in-game windmill dunk in the first half in the open court. There haven't been too many Tar Heels who could complete that play in game action. Love also missed a driving one-handed dunk in the second half that would have been an all-timer.

3. Carolina got some very nice energy from Anthony Harris. Entering the game unexpectedly early after Leaky Black was dropped with an early elbow, Harris scored six first half points and was tenacious defensively. The highlight came at the end of the first half, when he fought over a ball screen to challenge a catch, forced his man to get rid of the ball, and then got a deflection that led to a steal.

4. Love's scoring has been obvious, as he now has four 22+ point games this season. He's also doing a better job taking care of the ball, as he entered the game eighth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio and fifth in assists. Love's three turnovers were his most since the Purdue game, but none of them--with the possible exception of stepping on the sideline receiving a pass, an old Roy Williams pet peeve--were especially egregious or looked like the same kind of careless miscues that occasionally happened last season.

5. Part of his greater comfort level may be the way Hubert Davis is running the offense. Just as they did in the second half at Georgia Tech, Carolina spent much of the game in the halfcourt running specific sets. For example, at one point in the second half, Dawson Garcia was being guarded by the much smaller Zac Ervin. Davis immediately called for a set that funneled the ball to Garcia, who scored.

6. That was two of Garcia's surprisingly quiet 20 points. The big man took advantage of a frustrating night for Brady Manek--2-for-8 from the field and 0-for-6 from three-point range, a line he won't repeat very often--to play 33 minutes, which ties for his season high (Purdue).

7. Another player who got an opportunity was D'Marco Dunn. The freshman saw five first half minutes and didn't make a huge impact in the box score, but those game speed minutes will be important to his development down the road.

8. Leaky Black was once again in the positive plus/minus category, as he has been in seven of his eight games played this season (the one exception was the Tennessee game, in which he played sick). Black finished +8 on a night when he didn't attempt a field goal, but did contribute a team-high eight rebounds and three assists, plus his usual solid defense.

9. Slightly concerning: the Tar Heels didn't look great on a night when they didn't shoot the ball up to their standards. Carolina punished Elon at the free throw line (going a stellar 27-35 to Elon's 4-for-7) but hit just 30.4 percent from the three-point line. The Tar Heels need to make sure the offense is still clicking even when the outside shots aren't falling.

10. Great to have multiple members of Woody Durham's family on hand for the game. Taylor Durham does the Elon radio play-by-play job, and Wes Durham was calling the game for the ACC Network. Tar Heel fans gave them a well deserved ovation when they were shown on the video board before the game.

11. Highlights of the final two minutes: the Santa suit-wearing fan in the crowd with the "Put Duwe in" shirt (Farris scored a late bucket), and Ryan McAdoo going behind the back on the fast break and nearly converting it.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Leaky Black

D'Marco Dunn

Dawson Garcia

Anthony Harris

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

Ryan McAdoo

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