Lucas: Arkansas Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina gets a win in a must-win situation, beating Arkansas, 87-72.

2. Harrison Ingram dominated the decisive portion of that game offensively for the Tar Heels. Carolina continually fed Ingram just above the right block, and he proceeded to back his defender down and then decide whether it was better to absorb the double team and pass out of it to an open shooter, or elevate over a single defender. Ingram finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. He was the difference maker.

3. That's even on a day when RJ Davis went for a a career high tying 30 points, including 10-for-10 from the free throw line. The Tar Heels needed someone to put the ball in the basket and the veteran provided.

4. Carolina played without Cormac Ryan, who rolled his ankle in the closing seconds of the Villanova game. In his absence, the Tar Heels inserted Elliot Cadeau into the starting lineup for the first time in his young Tar Heel career.

5. Cadeau has looked like, well, a freshman in his young Tar Heel career. There are moments he is spectacular. There are also moments he underestimates the athleticism of the other players on the court. That happened in a key moment late in the first half, as Carolina called a timeout to set up a play facing a one-point deficit. But Layden Blocker reached in and created a steal that turned into a dunk, and instead of going into halftime with a--worst case--one-point deficit, Carolina was down three. Just remember--Cadeau will eventually get up to game speed on a regular basis. When he does, he'll be very hard to stop. Every Tar Heel point guard in history has gone through this exact adjustment.

6. An early lead again slipped away from the Tar Heels. Carolina led by 12 at 23-11 midway through the first half, and it looked for just a moment as if Arkansas might give in and be ready to go back to Fayetteville. But a couple consecutive bad possessions cracked the door, and then the Hogs heated up, and next thing you know the Heels were down at halftime. Those final ten minutes of the first half are not going in the time capsule.

7. But Carolina capitalized in the second half. The Tar Heels built a second half lead...and then, with all of Chapel Hill holding its breath, stretched it out to the final margin. They did it in a familiar way, making 35 trips to the free throw line and scoring 25 of them.

8. Everyone certainly hopes for the best for Tramon Mark, who was wheeled out of the arena after suffering a hard fall with just over a minute to play. Prior to that moment, he had been sensational, scoring 34 points on a 13-for-17 shooting performance, most of which were jumpers. It's hard to say anyone played well defensively on a player who scored 34. But the Tar Heels made a couple of personnel and scheme tweaks late in the game that helped make Mark's looks more difficult. Seth Trimble was effective in helping deny Mark the ball and forcing Arkansas to get offense elsewhere.

9. This is what it's like to be in the basketball business and have a kid who also plays the game: Doug Wojcik is on the coaching staff at Michigan State, which faced Arizona in Palm Desert, Calif. on Thursday. But by Friday's 1 p.m. local time tipoff, he was in the stands at the Battle 4 Atlantis to watch their son, Paxson, play for the Tar Heels. It was cool to see Doug, a former Tar Heel assistant, decked out in Carolina gear for the game. He saw his son make a couple big plays late, including a heady job to pull the ball back out instead of rushing a shot with two minutes to go, and then knocking down a three-pointer a possession later.

10. By halftime, there had been 77 fouls called (combined, on both teams) in the last 65 minutes of Carolina basketball. It's pretty difficult to establish any flow to the game when it largely consists of a parade to the free throw line.

11. Going 2-1 here wasn't the dream scenario. But this was one the Tar Heels had to have. That win will matter come NCAA Tournament time, and the Heels desperately needed wins that matter.

Players Mentioned

Elliot Cadeau

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Related Videos