Lucas: Miami Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Miami simply had more shooters than Carolina and won, 80-72, at the Smith Center. The Hurricanes went 6-for-13 from three; Carolina was 5-for-31. That's your ballgame.

2. You have to shoot well to beat Miami, because Jim Larranaga's teams traditionally put a premium on defending without fouling. The Tar Heels went to the line just 15 times, and to complicate matters, they made just eight of them. That's not good enough to beat a good Hurricane team. Four Heels were in double figures (Davis, Love, Black and Bacot)...everyone else combined scored four points.

3. A big part of Miami's defensive success was limiting Armando Bacot's impact. The Tar Heel big man, hampered by foul problems for much of the game (he sat for a long second half stretch with four fouls), went 5-for-6 from the field and had just four rebounds. It's honestly fairly remarkable that the game was as close as it was with Bacot taking six shots and the Tar Heels going 5-for-29 from three. And why could the Canes pack it in around Bacot? Correct--the Tar Heels weren't converting from the outside.

4. Miami won the rebounding battle, 36-31. Leaky Black led the Tar Heels with nine. Black also played solid defense on Isaiah Wong, who finished 3-for-8 with eight points.

5. A lackluster stretch midway through the second half essentially decided the game. That's when Miami built a double-digit lead, and that was enough cushion for them to hold on once Carolina woke up.

6. After the Tar Heels hoisted seven three-point shots in their first 11 attempts (making just one), they made some very necessary shot selection adjustments and played much better offensively. The Tar Heels finished the first 20 minutes 1-for-10 from three-point range but 14-for-18 from two. Many of those 14 were layups created by drives from RJ Davis and Caleb Love. In the second half, however, the Canes did a much better job of cutting off driving lanes, as the Heels weren't nearly as successful going towards the basket.

7. Miami was extremely efficient with their offensive rebounds. The Hurricanes came into the game the second-best offensive rebounding team in the league by percentage in ACC games. They grabbed five first half offensive boards and scored on every one of them, turning it into 11 points.

8. You are starting to see the results of Hubert Davis constantly telling Seth Trimble to attack in practice. Trimble, who went six games without attempting a field goal earlier this season, drove hard and created a first half layup for himself; he missed it, but those are the types of plays he can make--and the types of shots that will eventually go in for him. Couple that with his defensive aggressiveness and you have a very capable part of the reserve rotation and a key piece of Carolina's future.

9. Carolina is really struggling to get anything going in transition. Miami always puts a premium on transition defense against UNC; they limited the Heels to just two fast break points in the game. It was most noticeable with 4:07 left when Miami turned it over coming out of a timeout. Instead of attacking, the Heels let it trickle into a half-court possession in which they did not convert.

10. It is completely true and fair to say that Pete Nance has struggled lately. It's also true to say that no one is more aware of that than Nance. Keep in mind he also contributed a big blocked shot at the 9:45 mark and had six rebounds. Do the Heels need more scoring from him (or from that position)? Yes. He knows that.

11. In a related stat, the Tar Heels had just six assists on 29 field goals.

12. Hubert Davis appeared to actively be trying to get a technical foul midway through the second half after some dubious calls and no-calls. But the whistle never blew. It was as animated as Davis has been in his two seasons as head coach--with good reason.

13. There's only one Sheed. Rasheed Wallace was at Monday's game, wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey and an enormous Chiefs necklace. Also on hand, among others: Shammond Williams, Larry Brown, Dave Hanners.

14. The Saturday-Monday turnarounds are traditionally the toughest part of the ACC schedule. This was the first loss on the back end of those setups in the Hubert Davis era. Carolina is now 3-1 on the back half of those quick turnarounds. The Heels have another Saturday-Monday weekend in two weeks, as they'll host Virginia on Saturday, Feb. 25 and travel to FSU on Monday the 27th. The Tar Heels now must prepare for an extremely important road trip to NC State (expect the local media to feast on this game) on Sunday.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

Caleb Love

Pete Nance

Seth Trimble

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