Lucas: Feb. 16 UNC Basketball Notebook

By Adam Lucas

Carolina will get a break next week, with the Tar Heels finally getting a bye within the ACC schedule and the week-long break that comes with it between the home date against Virginia Tech and the road trip to Charlottesville next weekend.

Next week will be time for the players to do some individual work, for the rhythm of practices to change, and get a little rest that will be beneficial for a banged-up team that is nursing multiple nagging injuries.

But that's next week. This week it's still time to get ready for the only meeting of the season with the Hokies, and with that in mind, the Tar Heels went through a very intense practice on Thursday afternoon. Wednesday was the NCAA-mandated off day.

Thursday, however, was extremely competitive, with multiple periods carrying a penalty of running a 33—down and back the length of the court three times in 33 seconds—for the losing team. Rather than the usual starters (white) against reserves (blue), teams were split up more evenly to ensure each period was a battle.

That created a preseason-like ferocity to every trip down the court. At one juncture, Paxson Wojcik threw himself on a loose ball while his teammates roared.

The Tar Heels will practice again Friday before facing Virginia Tech in a sold-out Smith Center on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Notes: John Henson is the guest on today's Carolina Insider podcast. Henson, who is breaking into the media world, has lots of fun stories about his time in Chapel Hill and career in the NBA…With the NBA in the middle of All-Star weekend festivities, expect some former players who usually can't make a February trip to Chapel Hill to be at Saturday's game…

Among the several things that have to change from Tuesday night's loss at Syracuse, the Tar Heels have to reverse the free throw statistics. The Orange attempted 25 free throws, while Carolina shot just 11. "We have to take the challenge of an individual one on one matchup and win that," Hubert Davis said. "We have to be physical and impactful on the ball without fouling. We only went to the free throw line 11 times and we go more than anyone in the ACC." It's true that Carolina's 23.9 free throw attempts per game still leads the league (and the 75.1 percent conversion in that category ranks second, making it an important part of the offense). But in this recent five-game stretch, as the Tar Heels have gone 2-3, they've attempted more three-point shots than free throws in four of the five games…

Give Elliot Cadeau a belated ACC career high. Statistics at Syracuse erroneously shorted him two assists. They've now been added after the fact, giving him nine for the game, his most against a league opponent. His previous high had been the eight he tallied last time out against Miami…Coming off Syracuse's hot shooting performance on Tuesday, the Tar Heels will again see some adept shooters Saturday. In ACC games, Virginia Tech ranks second in the league in three-point percentage and first in two-point percentage.

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