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Lucas: FSU Rapid Reactions
January 27, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from Carolina's visit to FSU.
By Adam Lucas
1. One of the best wins of the year in Tallahassee, as Carolina beats FSU, 75-68 to move to 9-0 in the ACC.
2. Carolina's backcourt was excellent in that game. RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau combined for 40Â points on a day when points were hard to come by. Neither were perfect--Cadeau, in particular, took an ill-advised jumper as soon as Carolina retrieved an offensive rebound with under four minutes to play in a five-point game and looked more like a freshman in the final four minutes--but they were the decisive part of the game. Davis had 24 points, while Cadeau had 16 points and six assists.
3. Hubert Davis is doing an excellent job of putting the Tar Heel pieces in the right spot to succeed at any given moment. As an example, Carolina had a three-point lead with six minutes left and needed a basket. From the sideline, Davis called for Jae'Lyn Withers to set a ball screen for RJ Davis, on which FSU switched and left big man Jaylan Gainey on Davis. The Tar Heel guard took him to the basket and wrapped around him for a tough hoop that stretched the lead to five. Carolina used another ball screen to its advantage with under a minute to play to get a bucket for Davis.
4. Carolina took control in the first eight minutes of the second half with a dominant offensive stretch. The Heels got points on 11 of the first 13 trips offensively in the second half, with the two misses resulting in turnovers. That took them from down five at halftime to up nine after a Davis free throw with 12:38 left in the half.
5. That stretch was keyed by Cadeau. In a high-level game with plenty of athleticism, the freshman was the dominant player on the court for much of the afternoon.
6. Hubert Davis tried some different second half combinations. He used the three-guard lineup with Davis, Cadeau and Seth Trimble for a solid stretch and also got Jalen Washington some relief minutes of Armando Bacot.
7. The first half changed on two sequences: first, with a 19-8 lead, Trimble missed a layup and Withers missed a similarly quality shot. Florida State responded with a three-pointer, and what felt like a game that the Heels were about to take control of was suddenly in doubt again.Â
8. Then, with 6:30 left in the half, Cadeau picked up his second foul and went to the bench for the remainder of the period. It's pretty simple: with Cadeau in the game in the first half, Carolina shot 7-for-11 from the field. Without him, they were 4-for-17.Â
9. Cadeau's absence also enhanced Carolina's troubles holding on to the ball. The Tar Heels committed 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes (they average 10.4 per game) as seven different players had a miscue. That gave FSU a 19-3 edge in points off turnovers during a half when they also had a 21-7 edge in bench points.
10. Too bad RJ Davis wasn't getting points for degree of difficulty in the first half. He made one shot over 6-foot-10 Jaylan Gainey, then decided that wasn't tough enough and swished one over 6-foot-11 Baba Miller. His quality of shot-making is incredibly high right now.
11. Harrison Ingram grabbed 17 more rebounds to continue his impressive board work. Ingram now has double-digit rebounds in six of the last eight games and continues to lead the ACC in rebounding in conference numbers. He's a big part of why Carolina has outrebounded opponents in nine straight games, winning the board war 41-32 on Saturday.
12. Carolina's win gives the Tar Heels a season sweep of at least one ACC opponent in every year the conference has existed. The Heels are also the first ACC team ever to 750 regular season ACC wins.
1. One of the best wins of the year in Tallahassee, as Carolina beats FSU, 75-68 to move to 9-0 in the ACC.
2. Carolina's backcourt was excellent in that game. RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau combined for 40Â points on a day when points were hard to come by. Neither were perfect--Cadeau, in particular, took an ill-advised jumper as soon as Carolina retrieved an offensive rebound with under four minutes to play in a five-point game and looked more like a freshman in the final four minutes--but they were the decisive part of the game. Davis had 24 points, while Cadeau had 16 points and six assists.
3. Hubert Davis is doing an excellent job of putting the Tar Heel pieces in the right spot to succeed at any given moment. As an example, Carolina had a three-point lead with six minutes left and needed a basket. From the sideline, Davis called for Jae'Lyn Withers to set a ball screen for RJ Davis, on which FSU switched and left big man Jaylan Gainey on Davis. The Tar Heel guard took him to the basket and wrapped around him for a tough hoop that stretched the lead to five. Carolina used another ball screen to its advantage with under a minute to play to get a bucket for Davis.
4. Carolina took control in the first eight minutes of the second half with a dominant offensive stretch. The Heels got points on 11 of the first 13 trips offensively in the second half, with the two misses resulting in turnovers. That took them from down five at halftime to up nine after a Davis free throw with 12:38 left in the half.
5. That stretch was keyed by Cadeau. In a high-level game with plenty of athleticism, the freshman was the dominant player on the court for much of the afternoon.
6. Hubert Davis tried some different second half combinations. He used the three-guard lineup with Davis, Cadeau and Seth Trimble for a solid stretch and also got Jalen Washington some relief minutes of Armando Bacot.
7. The first half changed on two sequences: first, with a 19-8 lead, Trimble missed a layup and Withers missed a similarly quality shot. Florida State responded with a three-pointer, and what felt like a game that the Heels were about to take control of was suddenly in doubt again.Â
8. Then, with 6:30 left in the half, Cadeau picked up his second foul and went to the bench for the remainder of the period. It's pretty simple: with Cadeau in the game in the first half, Carolina shot 7-for-11 from the field. Without him, they were 4-for-17.Â
9. Cadeau's absence also enhanced Carolina's troubles holding on to the ball. The Tar Heels committed 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes (they average 10.4 per game) as seven different players had a miscue. That gave FSU a 19-3 edge in points off turnovers during a half when they also had a 21-7 edge in bench points.
10. Too bad RJ Davis wasn't getting points for degree of difficulty in the first half. He made one shot over 6-foot-10 Jaylan Gainey, then decided that wasn't tough enough and swished one over 6-foot-11 Baba Miller. His quality of shot-making is incredibly high right now.
11. Harrison Ingram grabbed 17 more rebounds to continue his impressive board work. Ingram now has double-digit rebounds in six of the last eight games and continues to lead the ACC in rebounding in conference numbers. He's a big part of why Carolina has outrebounded opponents in nine straight games, winning the board war 41-32 on Saturday.
12. Carolina's win gives the Tar Heels a season sweep of at least one ACC opponent in every year the conference has existed. The Heels are also the first ACC team ever to 750 regular season ACC wins.
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