As the fan base relaxes a bit from the meltdown that happened after UNC lost to UNLV and dropped from top in the nation in both polls it’s time to once again get ready for some more action on the hardwoods. Tonight in the friendly confine of the Dean Dome, with tip off at 9:30 pm EST (on ESPN), fifth ranked North Carolina will host seventh rank Wisconsin as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. As most that follow this squad would know, after the unexpected loss there are many question for head coach Roy Williams’ squad as they face back to back Top 10 foes, including if Harrison Barnes, who tweaked his ankle against UNLV and left Orleans Arena on crutches, will be at full form. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, by the end of this weekend many of those questions will have been answered. And not in words, but on the court.
“I’m sure they’re disappointed — I don’t know if I would say angry,” coach Roy Williams said. “I think they were disappointed greatly in losing. I think they were also disappointed greatly in how they played. And that’s what we’ve got to change.”
I am sure that Heels’ coaching staff has talked to the team about the fact that Badgers play hard defense, for all forty minutes, taking advantage of every mistake their opponents make. But, even more important, after having watched UNC play against Michigan State and Nevada-Las Vegas, is that Wisconsin is very good on the board, averaging a +14 margin early in the season. If UNC wants to win this game it can not let the guest slow down the pace while on offense and get second chance points on offense. Out of six games this season coach Williams’ team has been out rebounded half of the time and that just is not going to make it if you want to go deep into the tournament come March.
“Coach is constantly telling us things that we have to get better at,” sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall said. “If we want to be the team we’re capable of being, we have to put that effort out there. We have to rebound better. We have to guard the ball better. We know we’re not playing like the No. 1 team in the country at this point in time.”
Finally, I know I have harped on the fact that the Tar Heels have not shot well from the charity stripe, and I still think that needs to be improved. But the fact that having a tandem of John Henson and Tyler Zeller, with James McAdoo coming off the bench, and being outrebounded as the team has been just makes no sense. Some analysts say that grabbing boards is as much as “want to” as it is skills, and if that is the case all the bigs need to start thinking that the road to the NCAA Tournament begins in November, not in March. Not to want to look back too much, but between the 13 missed free throws and the 13 offensive rebounds given up against UNLV, you have to say that those are the categories that this squad has to improve in order to be mentioned when talking about the best teams in the nation for this season.
On the offensive side of the ball North Carolina needs to play Carolina patented ball, moving the ball up quickly, looking for the open man on the break. If that is not the case they need to go inside first, looking for either Zeller or Henson, and then begin their play from there. This team has NBA caliber talent on the starting five as well as on the bench, as such they can not expect to miss ten shots in a row, like they did to begin the second half versus UNLV and not have people wonder what is going on. Tonight, while on paper it’s a Top 10 match-up, that it’s part of a challenge between two conference, the reality that for the coaching staff and the players it has to be a bounce back game. It has to be one of those game, due to the lost this past weekend and the fact that UNC has Kentucky on Saturday, that has now become a “must win” match up.
As you can see, while this team has the talent to win it all, it has plenty of work ahead of it as well. Tonight, will show us how much of that work they are willing to do, as they come back to play at the Dean Dome, with the Vegas insiders considering Carolina a 7.5 points favorite the team has to prove that they are that good and more. I see this as a hard game for UNC, and it is going to take a good game plan in order to win. Fortunately this squad has a hall of fame coach and a floor general that can execute, if the Heels do the basics properly they will come out with a 77 to 71 win after having to fight it out for the whole fourty minutes.
