The competition in Chapel Hill steps up a hair tomorrow night as for the first time in the regular season, Michael Malone and the Tar Heels will face a major conference opponent. The Georgia Bulldogs come into town to try and hand Carolina their first regular season loss.
Georgia is coming into the Smith Center with questions themselves—while they are still 3-0 they really don’t have an “impressive” win over their first three opponents of NC Central, Presbyterian, and Florida-Gulf Coast. Still, with as spotty
as Carolina has played so far no opponent should be taken lightly.
So what are the three keys to look for tomorrow night?
Rebounding, of course
Look, sometimes you can dig deep and try to be cute, but as several wise folks have said—rebounding will be an issue until it isn’t. Maybe, just maybe, Michael Malone challenging the team during halftime of Wyoming locked in just how bad it had been for them.
Rebounding hit rock bottom in Tuesday Night’s first half as Wyoming had the same number of offensive rebounds—fifteen—as Carolina did with their total rebounds. After that challenge to their manhood as Malone put it later, Carolina won the overall rebounding battle in the second half 22-18, and only gave up four offensive rebounds to Wyoming. Note the Cowboys shot worse in that second half so they had more chances to get those rebounds, too.
The question is if it’s a permanent fix. Georgia should provide a fair test as against their opening competition they’ve run even in the rebounding numbers, and no one on the Bulldogs is averaging over double-digits in boards per game.
So again, rebounding is an issue until it isn’t. Let’s hope the message that seemed to sink in at halftime Tuesday stayed.
Terence Brown leading
Carolina seized control of the game on Tuesday night thanks to a single-handed run by Terrance Brown. He scored Carolina’s first eight points of the half to give them a lead they wouldn’t give up, and while others would step up, Brown seemed to have found something during that half with the drive and the layup. He was fearless going inside looking for contact, and it’s worth nothing he also had five boards on the game as well displaying a toughness that Malone was looking for.
Most notably he did it not attempting a single three-pointer.
The only way Carolina is going to have success this season if if the players on the floor recognize what roles they are good at and hone those roles to as good as they can be. Brown realizing his ability to be a spark plug and ball handler, not a three-point threat, while also following shots and being tenacious could honestly be the key to unlocking the rest of the season. One person giving the effort inspires others. Will this newly-discovered spark continue tomorrow or will he fall back into letting others try?
Turnovers
For as much as people have been harping on rebounding, one thing the Tar Heels have done well so far is holding onto the ball to make that shot in the first place. The are averaging less than nine a game so far on the young season while forcing a little over eleven and scoring fifteen points per game off those turnovers. Now, when the ball goes up and misses the basket—getting it back is a different story, but they do actually hold onto the ball.
They’ll face a test in Georgia as they are averaging even less—seven—per game than Carolina, while so far forcing their opponents into over fifteen. Again, quality of competition matters here but this part of the season is where you form your habits.
So can either team impose its will on turnovers which can lead to easy points? Watch to see which team can, because the team that does likely will end up winning the game.
