Lucas: Full Power

By Adam Lucas

Saturday afternoon was an almost perfect example of what Carolina's offense can be.

Not perfect—not quite. There were a few too many careless turnovers and perhaps a couple too many missed open shots.

But if you're looking for the blueprint on what the 2024 Tar Heels might be on offense, you could do worse than the 96-81 victory over Virginia Tech. For most of the afternoon—and especially during the second half, when the Heels shot 56.7 percent from the floor—Carolina looked like a capable, versatile, dangerous offensive team.

Pick your weapon: Armando Bacot scored 25 points through a variety of double teams. Cormac Ryan hit four of his seven three-pointers. Harrison Ingram had another double-double. The Heels were great at the free throw line, hitting 19 of 23 attempts. They handed out 18 assists. Oh yeah, RJ Davis scored 20 points, too.

But none of those factors are the key to unlocking Carolina's full potential. It's on the bench where this game was different. Seth Trimble played 21 minutes and handed out four assists against zero turnovers, providing an experienced hand late in the game. Paxson Wojcik was aggressive defensively. Jalen Washington threw down a couple of dunks and scored seven points. And Jae'Lyn Withers had one of his best games of 2024, being active all over the court, collecting a pair of steals and scoring a couple baskets.

Add it all up, and the Tar Heel bench was a collective +9. After posting five combined negative outings in the last six games, it's the highest overall reserve rating in nearly a month; the last higher mark was against Wake Forest on January 22.

"When the bench plays like that, the starters have more legs," Bacot said on the Tar Heel Sports Network after the game. "It allows us to play harder throughout the game. It's great seeing the bench guys go out and get buckets."

The consensus is that the last two days of practice were instructive in squeezing more effort out of the Tar Heels. The sessions were some of the most competitive of 2024, with high conditioning stakes for the losers.

"The two practices before this game, I kept telling J-Wit, that's what we need," Hubert Davis said on the THSN. "That's what we need all the time. His energy and effort was really good out there today. Seth and J-Wash gave us really good minutes, and having somebody as good as Seth coming off the bench is a huge benefit."

"Nobody wants to run in practice," Bacot said. "With us mixing it up in practice this week, that competitive fire carried over to the game."

The steady bench minutes were a solid addition to a vintage performance from Bacot. Virginia Tech eventually decided to double-team him, formerly a foolproof strategy earlier in his career. Saturday, though, he maneuvered around the double to find a teammate or bulled through it to score.

How do you defend this version of the Tar Heels? If you double the big guy, he might score anyway, or he might find Ryan for a three-pointer. If you single cover Bacot, he's going to score or get fouled.

Eric Montross, who spent four years lauding the results when Bacot made quick moves in the post, would be delighted with this postgame quote from the Richmond native: "I have to be quick and decisive," the big man said. "When I hold it, troubles come. When I just go, it works."

"When they started to double, he made the easy play and found guys on the perimeter," Hubert Davis said. "Teams are going to have to say, 'Do we want to leave RJ wide open to double the post?' That's part of the growth of Armando, and I'm really proud of him."

The numbers agreed with the naked eye--Carolina scored at a 1.37 points per possession clip on Saturday. To put that in perspective, they hit 1.32 against Duke and 1.27 in the blowout of Syracuse, two of the best offensive performances of the year. Virginia Tech isn't the best defensive team in the league, but then again, neither is Syracuse, and we saw how that went on Tuesday night. Putting the ball in the basket still requires execution, effort and shot-making.

Again, it wasn't a perfect game and the defense will need to tighten in the next few weeks. Carolina won't simply be able to outscore teams in March and April. Even on a very proficient offensive day, the Tar Heels never fully put Tech—one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league—away. To truly close out opponents, the Heels will need a few more defensive stops (but keep in mind the Hokies, one of the best shooting teams in the conference, were limited to just 1-for-12 from the three-point line in the second half), something that will be an area of emphasis in a full week of practice leading up to a key road trip to Virginia.

Offensively, though, the Tar Heels put up 96 points against an ACC team and now have five 85+ point games in league play, and three games of at least 93 points. The last time Carolina had two 96+ point games against ACC opponents was the 2018-19 team, which is fitting because three members of that team—Coby White, Brandon Robinson and Luke Maye—watched Saturday's win from courtside.

This team isn't as dangerous as that group just yet. But when they're operating on full power, as they did on Saturday, they're extremely efficient. The challenge? They've shown they're capable of occasionally reaching that peak. Now they have to recharge and maintain that level for the next seven weeks.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

RJ Davis

Harrison Ingram

Cormac Ryan

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers

Paxson Wojcik

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