University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
Lucas: Winning Ways
November 7, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
The head coach and standout player agreed on how Carolina beat Radford.
By Adam Lucas
Hubert Davis and Armando Bacot did their postgame Tar Heel Sports Network interviews completely separate from each other.
Bacot did his session immediately after the Tar Heels met in the locker room. Approximately 15 minutes after he finished, Davis sat down with Jones Angell. Neither Bacot nor Davis had any way of hearing what the other had said.
And here's how they described the way Carolina wanted to attack Radford in the 2023-24 season opener:
Bacot: "We knew we could dominate points in the paint through post, penetration and offensive rebounding."
Davis: "We knew we had an advantage in the paint in terms of post, penetration and offensive rebounding and we wanted to take advantage of that."
When you're trying to figure out how to quantify what it means to have a team on which the five starters enter the game with a combined 416 college starts, when you're trying to figure out what difference it makes that the centerpiece of the team has been in Chapel Hill longer than most Franklin Street restaurants, that's why it matters.
Davis articulated a specific plan on how Carolina could beat Radford. Bacot—and his teammates—internalized it, then went out and did it in an 86-70 win that wasn't flashy but was encouraging.
How about this: the Tar Heels shot 7-for-20 from the three-point line, a 35 percent clip. It didn't feel like an especially successful night from deep, as RJ Davis went 1-for-5 from the arc and Cormac Ryan hit 3-for-7 but has shot better than that in practice.
But it might surprise you to know that last year's Tar Heels shot better than 35 percent from three in just nine games. And in the 23 games when they were 35 percent or worse, they were just 11-12.
Here's what this year's team did differently: when they weren't on fire from three, they tried something else. Last year we watched Carolina shoot 18.5 percent against Pittsburgh, and yet 41 percent of overall attempts were still three-pointers. They made just 16.1 percent at Miami, but 47 percent of the overall attempts were from three. In a damaging early season loss to Iowa State, the Heels hit a meager 16.7 percent from three, but still managed to take 36 percent of their field goals from long range.
Monday was different. Monday they shot even better, but tried it even less. Even on a night when they shot well above the three-point average from last year (35 percent against the Highlanders compared to 31.2 percent as a team last season), they tried the shot less…because they had better scoring options.
That was obvious on the very first play of the season, when Bacot worked free for a dunk. It was obvious early in the second half, when Bacot had six of Carolina's first ten points.
"Armando did a really good job establishing himself on the block and opening lanes for guards who could attack and make good decisions when they got there," Davis said.
Those three early second half buckets were assisted by three different Tar Heels. Over and over, Hubert Davis has told his team during practice, "Look inside!" On Monday, they actually did—because that's where the advantage was. That was the best way to win the game.
It won't work in every game this season, of course. Carolina will run into bigger and stronger teams than Radford, and there will be nights when Bacot can't impose his will. That's when they'll need more of the contributions that showed up around the periphery on Monday. Nine players saw double digit minutes; ten players played at least eight minutes. Even beyond the stalwarts (RJ Davis with 13 even on an evening when he wasn't as efficient as he can be, Harrison Ingram with a dozen, Ryan with 13 points and fifth starter Paxson Wojcik contributing five points, three rebounds and three assists) there were glimmers all over the bench.
Not necessarily that they're ready to immediately overthrow any of the starters, but that they're capable of producing when called upon. Elliot Cadeau had six assists in 19 minutes. Seth Trimble had two game-changing defensive sequences. Jalen Washington grabbed back-to-back offensive boards in the second half. Jae'Lyn Withers scored on a hard swooping drive and was disruptive in the passing lanes. Zayden High showed toughness in bouncing back from a rough first half stretch with solid second half minutes.
That's pretty simple: it's depth. And depth doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's also measured by the impact it has on the opponent.
"Everybody who played tonight made plays that were impactful for us to win," Hubert Davis said. "That is one of the things about this group, the versatility and depth and being able to put different lineups out there is to our advantage on both ends of the floor. Everybody came in with energy and life. It felt like we wore them down. We kept bringing in fresh guys, and by the second half, those shots they made in the first half were hitting the front of the rim."
Some of this is attributable to defensive adjustments, but these are the numbers:
Radford first half shooting percentage: 50 percent.
Radford second half shooting percentage: 34.4 percent.
That's one impact of depth.
Monday night made winning look much simpler than it actually is. Just make a game plan—beat them up inside. Win the points in the paint category. Rebound your misses at a much higher clip than the opponent. Feed the big guy and exploit your biggest advantage.
The end result, a 16-point win in the season opener, may not have been overly artistic. But as virtually everyone seemed to independently agree in the locker room, it sure was effective.
Hubert Davis and Armando Bacot did their postgame Tar Heel Sports Network interviews completely separate from each other.
Bacot did his session immediately after the Tar Heels met in the locker room. Approximately 15 minutes after he finished, Davis sat down with Jones Angell. Neither Bacot nor Davis had any way of hearing what the other had said.
And here's how they described the way Carolina wanted to attack Radford in the 2023-24 season opener:
Bacot: "We knew we could dominate points in the paint through post, penetration and offensive rebounding."
Davis: "We knew we had an advantage in the paint in terms of post, penetration and offensive rebounding and we wanted to take advantage of that."
When you're trying to figure out how to quantify what it means to have a team on which the five starters enter the game with a combined 416 college starts, when you're trying to figure out what difference it makes that the centerpiece of the team has been in Chapel Hill longer than most Franklin Street restaurants, that's why it matters.
Davis articulated a specific plan on how Carolina could beat Radford. Bacot—and his teammates—internalized it, then went out and did it in an 86-70 win that wasn't flashy but was encouraging.
How about this: the Tar Heels shot 7-for-20 from the three-point line, a 35 percent clip. It didn't feel like an especially successful night from deep, as RJ Davis went 1-for-5 from the arc and Cormac Ryan hit 3-for-7 but has shot better than that in practice.
But it might surprise you to know that last year's Tar Heels shot better than 35 percent from three in just nine games. And in the 23 games when they were 35 percent or worse, they were just 11-12.
Here's what this year's team did differently: when they weren't on fire from three, they tried something else. Last year we watched Carolina shoot 18.5 percent against Pittsburgh, and yet 41 percent of overall attempts were still three-pointers. They made just 16.1 percent at Miami, but 47 percent of the overall attempts were from three. In a damaging early season loss to Iowa State, the Heels hit a meager 16.7 percent from three, but still managed to take 36 percent of their field goals from long range.
Monday was different. Monday they shot even better, but tried it even less. Even on a night when they shot well above the three-point average from last year (35 percent against the Highlanders compared to 31.2 percent as a team last season), they tried the shot less…because they had better scoring options.
That was obvious on the very first play of the season, when Bacot worked free for a dunk. It was obvious early in the second half, when Bacot had six of Carolina's first ten points.
"Armando did a really good job establishing himself on the block and opening lanes for guards who could attack and make good decisions when they got there," Davis said.
Those three early second half buckets were assisted by three different Tar Heels. Over and over, Hubert Davis has told his team during practice, "Look inside!" On Monday, they actually did—because that's where the advantage was. That was the best way to win the game.
It won't work in every game this season, of course. Carolina will run into bigger and stronger teams than Radford, and there will be nights when Bacot can't impose his will. That's when they'll need more of the contributions that showed up around the periphery on Monday. Nine players saw double digit minutes; ten players played at least eight minutes. Even beyond the stalwarts (RJ Davis with 13 even on an evening when he wasn't as efficient as he can be, Harrison Ingram with a dozen, Ryan with 13 points and fifth starter Paxson Wojcik contributing five points, three rebounds and three assists) there were glimmers all over the bench.
Not necessarily that they're ready to immediately overthrow any of the starters, but that they're capable of producing when called upon. Elliot Cadeau had six assists in 19 minutes. Seth Trimble had two game-changing defensive sequences. Jalen Washington grabbed back-to-back offensive boards in the second half. Jae'Lyn Withers scored on a hard swooping drive and was disruptive in the passing lanes. Zayden High showed toughness in bouncing back from a rough first half stretch with solid second half minutes.
That's pretty simple: it's depth. And depth doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's also measured by the impact it has on the opponent.
"Everybody who played tonight made plays that were impactful for us to win," Hubert Davis said. "That is one of the things about this group, the versatility and depth and being able to put different lineups out there is to our advantage on both ends of the floor. Everybody came in with energy and life. It felt like we wore them down. We kept bringing in fresh guys, and by the second half, those shots they made in the first half were hitting the front of the rim."
Some of this is attributable to defensive adjustments, but these are the numbers:
Radford first half shooting percentage: 50 percent.
Radford second half shooting percentage: 34.4 percent.
That's one impact of depth.
Monday night made winning look much simpler than it actually is. Just make a game plan—beat them up inside. Win the points in the paint category. Rebound your misses at a much higher clip than the opponent. Feed the big guy and exploit your biggest advantage.
The end result, a 16-point win in the season opener, may not have been overly artistic. But as virtually everyone seemed to independently agree in the locker room, it sure was effective.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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