Lucas: Cal Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Workmanlike win for Carolina, which simply outclassed Cal in a 79-53 Atlantic Coast Conference win.

2. The Tar Heels played too fast for the Golden Bears. Carolina only officially recorded 16 fast break points, but it felt like they were always headed down the floor ahead of the visitors. Cal had just two points in transition.

3. That looked more like the real Seth Trimble than any time since his injury. The junior guard had 12 points and six rebounds while making all six of his free throws. Trimble scored on a couple nice slices to the basket and missed a couple others that he'll make on a regular night. The Trimble/Ian Jackson (20 points)/Elliot Cadeau (15 points)/RJ Davis (seven points on an off night) backcourt is a great luxury on a night like tonight when made shots are at a premium. The 20-point game for Jackson was his sixth 20-point game in his last seven outings and seventh this year. He's going to challenge Tyler Hansbrough's 14 20-point games for the UNC freshman record.

4. Good overall defensive effort on Cal's Andrej Stojakovic, who came into the game leading the league in scoring in conference games at 24.2 points per game. Trimble spent a lot of time on Stojakovic, but the Tar Heels largely made it a team effort, including occasionally putting Drake Powell on him to provide a little size. The sharpshooter was 1-8 in the first half. He finished with six points on 3-for-13 shooting and was not a factor in the game.

5. Jae'Lyn Withers gave Carolina some nice minutes in the second half, when he grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds, knocked in a three and had a nice outlet that started a fast break. He finished with five points and four rebounds. In total, the Tar Heel posts were effective. Withers' performance plus Ven-Allen Lubin's game-high eight rebounds, combined with Jalen Washington's solid 20 minutes, gave the three primary UNC big men 18 points and 16 rebounds.

6. Shot-making covered up some first half indiscretions. The Tar Heels were beaten for seven offensive rebounds just in the first half. The most egregious came with under a minute left, as Cal big man Mady Sissoko outhustled multiple Tar Heels to dive on the floor and get a loose ball. Hubert Davis was furious at the lack of effort as every Tar Heel seemed to assume another would grab it and was intent on getting down the court in transition. You can be certain it was mentioned in the halftime locker room, and the Heels performed better in that area in the second half, giving up just four offensive boards in the second half.

7. Another area where Carolina has played better lately: defending without fouling. The Golden Bears took just five free throws on Wednesday, following a game when NC State attempted only 12. That's a significant change from the Louisville and Notre Dame games, when Carolina had trouble stopping the opponent without sending them to the line. Coupled with Cal's 3-for-25 performance from three, they simply weren't generating enough points to win the game.

8. You can understand why the Heels were wanting to get out and run, because it had been an important way of getting offense in the first half. Especially notable were two plays by Cadeau, who ignited lightning fast breaks with quick passes to Jackson and Withers in the first 20 minutes.

9. Hubert Davis firmly believes Carolina's depth is going to pay dividends at some point this season. That's why you saw Cade Tyson back on the court in the first half after drawing two straight DNPs. James Brown also continues to get a quick first half turn to get him some experience. This won't show up in the box score, but Tyson was terrific at Tuesday's practice playing the role of Stojakovic on the scout team. Sometimes helping your team win doesn't mean putting the ball in the basket.

10. New face (sort of) on the Tar Heel bench Wednesday night. After being in street clothes for every other game this season, Elijah Davis was in uniform. Davis still plans to redshirt this season.

11. The win improves Carolina's series record against Cal to 5-1. Despite being very infrequently played, the series sneakily has some impactful games. Most notable was a 1997 NCAA Tournament game that included Naismith Hall of Famer Vince Carter, College Basketball Hall of Famer Antawn Jamison and Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez. That game was also the second to last win in Dean Smith's career. Carolina also beat Cal in the Smith Center in November of 1997, a game notable for spawning the incredible Hugh Morton photo of a flying Carter.

12. Luke Maye was in attendance and got a huge round of applause when he was recognized on the video board. Carolina is back at the Smith Center on Saturday against familiar ACC foe Stanford.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

James Brown

Elliot Cadeau

Elijah Davis

RJ Davis

Ian Jackson

Ven-Allen Lubin

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Cade Tyson

Jalen Washington

Jae'Lyn Withers

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