The Tar Heels are in Florida this week for the Ft. Myers Tip-Off, where they will face off against St. Bonaventure and Michigan State. First up on that last is the Bonnies, who currently match UNC’s 5-0 record and hope to upset their lone Power Four opponent this regular season. Meanwhile, the Heels are seeking a convincing win after only beating Navy by 12 points last week.
For anybody that is looking at this game and see it as an easy victory, it would be wise to recalibrate your expectations. While
UNC is the overwhelming favorite to win this game, St. Bonaventure has some firepower on their squad that could make this really interesting. With that in mind, let’s discuss three keys to tomorrow night’s game.
The Bonnies are dangerous from deep
One thing that makes St. Bonaventure an interesting matchup for the Tar Heels is their ability to shoot from three-point range. So far this season they have made 37.5% from deep, and they have four players that are shooting 35% or better. The leader of this pack is junior guard Darryl Simmons, who leads the team in points (18.6 ppg) and is also knocking down 40.6% of his three-point tries.
Considering the fact that the Bonnies have a few capable shooters — though it is worth noting that Simmons has attempted more than 20 three-pointers so far this season — this is going to be a tough task for the Tar Heels, and it could be where Seth Trimble’s absence could be a problem. It is worth pointing out that the competition that the Bonnies have faced so far this season is not nearly as talented as UNC, but not taking teams seriously in tournaments like these can be dangerous. Which leads us to our next key to the game.
The Heels will likely use this game to make a statement
While it sounds strange to want to make an example out of team in the A-10 conference, UNC wasn’t a happy team after their win against the Navy. Following the game, a players-only meeting was called before Hubert Davis even took the podium for the post-game press conference. All we know about the meeting is that the team overall felt like they should’ve performed much better, and essentially felt like they shouldn’t only beat teams like Navy by 12 points. The mentality of this team is so different from what we’ve witnessed from previous teams that it’s almost jarring. This team doesn’t just want to win games, they want to destroy teams. While it’s unlikely that they will be able to do that every night, it is a breath of fresh air to know that they want to do everything they can to make it happen.
St. Bonaventure may be walking into a buzzsaw tomorrow night. Caleb Wilson specifically was not happy about his 23-point double-double performance, which is a wild thing to say out loud. Henri Veesaar is another guy that I could see taking his frustration out on the Bonnies, so I hope this team is ready to take some bumps and bruises in the paint. They aren’t a very big team, so things could turn into a violent dunk fest very quickly.
Can Kyan Evans step up?
While Caleb Wilson wasn’t happy with an individual performance against Navy that most college players would love to have, Kyan Evans had an objectively bad game that he probably wants to forget. He finished that game only making one of his nine shots, and turned the ball over three times. He was able to dish out six assists, which made it feel like the ghost of Elliot Cadeau took him over for the night. Evans has been absent in the scoring department for a few games now — since the Kansas game, he’s only made four buckets that weren’t free throws.
While his scoring production may not be the most important factor to beating St. Bonaventure, it is going to be important for him to get things going before the Michigan State game on Thursday. Luka Bogavac has been picking up what Evans has been leaving behind, but Hubert Davis will need both guards to be sharp if the Heels aspire to go into the weekend 7-0. Hopefully he is up for the task and we get to see him do some fun things against the Bonnies.
