While the score was a bit closer than one would’ve expected going into last night’s game, UNC was able to put away Florida State to earn their first ACC win of the season. The Heels are now 13-1 for the season,
continuing one of their best starts in years. The Seminoles tried to make things really difficult for UNC with their defense, but eventually the usual suspects wore them down and the rest is history.
While it was far from the Heels’ best game of the season, there was a lot to like in this one. Let’s go ahead and discuss both the good and bad takeaways from this game.
Perimeter shooting woes caused problems early on
Things were tight for a while in the first half of last night’s game, and a lot of that was because of what Florida State was making UNC settle for in the half court. The Heels weren’t able to get the ball inside to Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar as much as they would’ve liked to, and as a result they settled for shooting a lot of three-pointers. Despite there being a handful of players that can make them, Kyan Evans and Jonathan Powell were the only two players that were able to put the ball into the hoop from deep. The Heels went into the locker room shooting 26.7% from behind the arc, and the second half was somehow worse (21.4%).
On one hand, it was good seeing Evans finally doing the things that Carolina fans were told that he could do. He made five of his 12 three-point attempts, which led to him tying his season-high in points. On another hand, seeing almost everyone else miss all of their shots from deep — or in the case of Veesaar, not taking them at all — was a bit frustrating. Thankfully they were able to do more and more damage in the paint as the game progressed, but hopefully they can find more success from deep moving forward. Teams are going to do everything they can to crowd the paint, and the only way to stop it is for the Heels to punish them from behind the arc.
Seth Trimble made Robert McCray’s life miserable
Not to beat a dead horse, but Seth Trimble returning from his injury was the best thing that could’ve happened for the Tar Heels. His impact on the defensive side of the ball is incredible, and he has been doing quite a bit of damage on offense as well. Focusing on his defense, Florida State’s leading scorer Robert McCray was Trimble’s assignment, and his defensive performance against him didn’t disappoint. McCray was held to 38.5% shooting, and he turned the ball over seven times. Trimble was able to log a block and four steals, and while I’m not able to confirm whether or not it was McCray’s pockets that were picked each time, it is still an impressive stat for the senior Tar Heel to accomplish.
While he was able to get the job done on defense, Trimble was also able to score 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out a pair of assists. He also ran the point on a handful of occasions, which he was able to do while only turning over the ball once. UNC’s Achilles’ Heel when Trimble was injured was easily the back court, but his return has made the team really hard to stop across the board. His contributions take this from a really good team to a potential Final Four contender.
Caleb Wilson’s motor humbled the Seminoles
What can be said about Hubert Davis’ star freshman that hasn’t been said already? Caleb Wilson has continued to look spectacular for UNC, proving along the way that he is a bonafide top-five NBA draft prospect. He finished his night with 22 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks. He is the first freshman to ever have six straight 20-point games, and there’s a very high likelihood that he will be able to continue this streak until a team comes along that can actually stop him in the paint.
To Florida State’s credit, they did everything they could to keep Wilson at bay. There was someone draped all over Wilson for most of the game, but UNC’s ball movement and Wilson’s determination to punish the rim ultimately broke them. He was able to throw down a couple of highlight dunks, make plays for his teammates, and get out in transition to keep FSU off balance. There can be a healthy debate had about who deserves ACC Player of the Year between Wilson and Cameron Boozer, and while there is a little bit of bias on this side of the fence, I still think Wilson has made more of a case to this point. The one thing about Boozer is that he’s able to stretch the floor as well, and if Wilson ever figures that part out, I think the decision would be clear.
