The Tar Heels have finally returned home after a long road trip out West. Things didn’t go as planned to say the least, but tonight will hopefully be a decent bounce back game against Notre Dame. Or at least that is how everything looks on paper, but as far as what will actually happen, stay tuned.
Carolina fans know that there’s really one big point of focus tonight, and that is whether or not this team will be able to play quality defense for 40 minutes. The game against Cal was fascinating because
we saw really bad defense for a good amount of the game, and then suddenly we saw more effort, more defensive wrinkles, and more stops. The Golden Bears still made way too many shots, but there was at least something there for the team to hang their hat on. Ultimately the Heels need to be better with their vision, their communication, and of course, their intensity. Weak close-outs, losing your assignment on switches, and not talking are going to continue breaking this team’s back until something changes. Hubert Davis also has a responsibility of holding guys accountable, which has been a bit of an issue at times this season. We’ll see how things play out.
If we’re waning to look at what’s been going on outside of the defense issue, this team also needs to find a way to knock down more free throws. As weird as it sounds, this feels like the least fixable between the two things because of how we’ve seen poor shooting from the charity stripe play out in the past. Remember the 2013-14 team? I don’t know what the fix is for this particular problem aside from a lot of reps, but something has to give. Defensive improvement should help win games, but let’s be honest: you make most of your free throws in some of those losses, and you fly out of California with a pair of wins.
If you were unable to make it to the Dean Dome on a school night, why not come hang out with us? And as always, we will be back after the game with post-game analysis and takes. Until then, Go Heels!
