North Carolina Basketball: UNC destroys Elon 100 to 62

UNC took on a weaker team last night, and with their play made them look even weaker. That basically sums up what No. 5 AP/No. 6 ESPN/USA Today North Carolina (12-2) did to Elon (7-5) in route to a 100 to 62 victory and tieing the record for consecutive wins at home. However what the score does not tell you is the dominance of this game, as the Tar Heels had a 53 to 19 lead at the half and all the starters for head coach Roy Williams were out of the game before the under eight television time out. Sure, the opponent was not the biggest challenge that Carolina has had (or will have) but when you hold someone to 20% shooting from the floor in the first half you are playing well, no matter who the other squad is. In the preview for this game one concern was how the team would fare after a lay off and against a team that like to shoot from the outside. After watching the game it seems that for this one there was nothing to worry about.

All the starters but Kendall Marshall scored in double digits, with Tyler Zeller (19 pts ~ 13 rebs) and John Henson (16 pts ~ 11 rebs) working the low post well. Henson had a double double with four minutes left in the first half as Zeller tied a career high in rebounds and had the fourth consecutive game double digits in that department. On the other hand their back up, James McAdoo (8 pts ~ 3 rebs), is still struggling when on the floor, looking as though he is rushing or forcing his shot. Harrison Barnes also had a good game, scoring 18 points to go with five boards and assists, especially when considering that the sophomore was sick the night before the game. In the back court Dexter Strickland had 10 points while Marshall scored eight and had the same amount of assists, with just one turnover. But the number to be most impressed with was that no starter got more than 25 minutes. There were ten Heels with double digit minutes, which will keep everyone fresh and help the squad when the season lingers into the post season.

On the defensive end coach Williams’ squad did most everything right. They pressured a team that had to hit the shots into missing them, leaving very few times an Elon player with an open look. Elon’s Sebastian Koch went 5 for 12 from outside the arc, which if you didn’t watch the game you would say that once again the team let their guard down on a deep shooter. However, it was not so, as the shots were contested and some came late in the game when the first team was off the court and the foot had been laid off the pedal for the game. There was a stretch of about 10 minutes where Elon made one shot, again, the competition was not the best, but when you can do that to any team you are doing something right. Nit picking there can always be things to improve on, but overall, especially for the first team, this game was well played on both side of the floor. Something that is not easy to do when you have such a confortable lead, yet Carolina stayed focus, and that has to make the coaching staff feel good going forward.

Next up for coach Williams and his squad is Monmouth on New Year’s day, tip-off 3:00 pm EST (ESPNU), and then on to the ACC schedule, where the first two games will still be in the friendly confine of the Dean Dome. But let me finish with hoping that the Carolina cheerleader who was hurt during the game is ok. From the sound of this tweet it seems so, and I will try to find out more about it. And let me finish on a small side note, both teams had national champions on their bench as Tyler Zeller and Elon’s assistant coach John Wooten were both part of the 2009 squad. The ACC season is yet to start but for the team they can smile about this performance as the fans can enjoy their “biscuits” after a triple digit score by Carolina.