Sunday wasn't too kind for the North Carolina Tar Heels' basketball program. In their second exhibition game of the preseason, the Tar Heels went to Indianapolis to face off against the Indiana Hoosiers. They left with some serious questions.
North Carolina wasn't able to keep up with the Hoosiers, dropping the exhibition game 76-58. The Hoosiers' size in the paint gave UNC some issues and the perimeter defense wasn't there for the Tar Heels, either.
The good news? This is an exhibition game. This is the time to clean things up and see what you have with your team before the season starts. Following the game, head coach Michael Malone spoke to the media about his team's performance.
All quotes via Inside Carolina.
On sequences that led to timeouts in the first half
“We got outrebounded 53-31. That’s
a crazy number. To give up 20 offensive rebounds for 17 points, and that was a point of emphasis all week long in preparation for this team, knowing how big they are with Samet Yigitoglu and Aiden Sherrell and all the other guys. So just to be manhandled, to be outworked on the glass was disappointing, and that’s not just on our bigs, that’s on everybody to make sure we’re rebounding. We did a really poor job of that. I felt our defense, to be very honest, was really good. We held that team to 36% from the field. That’s a very good number, but you have to finish the possession.”
On what went wrong for the Tar Heels on offense
“Once again, I’ll go back to our inability to rebound, which led to us playing against a set defense a lot, and that’s not how we want to play. So we have to make sure if you’re rebounding, you’re giving yourself a chance to play against somebody in transition. I felt it was another game where turnovers were not where they needed to be. We had 14 assists, 15 turnovers for 19 points. So if you couple these 17 points off the glass and you couple the 19 points off turnovers, that’s 36 combined points. You’re not going to beat anybody on the road if you do that.
“So, the great thing is, after game one, everybody’s excited. We won a game. Tonight, we got blown out. We got our butts kicked. We’re going to stay together. We’re going to watch the film. We’re going to own it and challenge ourselves to be better for our last exhibition game.”
On what challenges did Indiana provide with the pick-and-roll?
“We shot for the game 35 percent. They shot for the game 36 percent. So there wasn’t a lot of clean looks in the half-court for either team. But they do different things when they’re really big with their starting lineup. They’re a little bit more down the floor, and then when they take Samet out, they get a little bit more aggressive, long in the gaps, very physical into the ball, and I felt like tonight that we just had so many examples of us just dribbling too much, pounding the air out of the ball, picking that dribble up, and there were some really poor offensive possessions.”
On are issues from tonight fixed?
Yeah, I mean you hope so because there are some things that we tried to fix after the first game against USC that we did a little bit better of a job tonight. I felt that Terrence and Matt both played much better tonight than they did in game one. And then obviously for Jarin Stevenson, game one he was unbelievable, and then obviously tonight, give them credit. Aiden Sherrell was one of the leading shot blockers in the SEC last year, and he had an impact. So it’s all about finding consistency, and to your point, definitely fixable. We’ll watch the film. We’ll rep it out, hold guys accountable, and try to demand the improvements that we need to make. Because if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.”
On Sayon Keita?
“In Greensboro, half one to half two was a different Sayon, and I felt this game was just building off of that second half. We talked so much about Samet and how big he was and how physical he was and the rebounding and the blocking of shots, and I felt that Sayon, for a young kid, a freshman, he took that challenge, had 12 points, nine rebounds, five blocks. So you’re always looking for silver linings, and I felt that Sayon Keita was a seven-foot silver lining, if you will, tonight. I thought he was outstanding and the anchor of our defense, and he did some really good things for us.”
On where Sayon Keita is at with his game?
“I think he showed you tonight. When I went over to Spain to watch him, the things that he did at a high level as a 17- or 18-year-old kid, where he’s a tremendous rim protector, tremendous shot blocker. He has the ability to screen, get on the rim, and be a dynamic roller, and he has the ability to get you second and third shots on the offensive glass. And you saw all that tonight, and now we have to build to that. We have to add some components to that because we want to make sure when his time is done in Chapel Hill that he has come here and we’ve developed and poured everything into him to allow him to be the best player that he can be.”
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: What Michael Malone said after UNC's loss at Indiana
