3 Keys To Beating Gonzaga
GLENDALE, AZ – North Carolina takes on Gonzaga on Monday night for the national championship at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Game time is at 9:19 EST.
The Tar Heels enter with a 32-7 record while the Bulldogs are 37-1.
Here are 3 keys for the Heels to defeat the Zags:
Fouls Up Front – Comparing many of Gonzaga’s and UNC’s stats can be tricky given the levels of competition the teams play in their respective conferences. So, lets look at some stats for the entire season and then in the NCAA Tournament, when the competition has been far more comparable.
For the entire season, including the postseason, Gonzaga’s four big men, who stand 7-1, 7-0, 6-10 and 6 -9, combined to average a foul every 9.03 minutes per game. But, if you only include the last four games of the NCAA Tournament, discounting the Zags’ NCAA opener versus a 16 seed, the average drops to a foul every 7.5 minutes. Three of Gonzaga’s four bigs in its rotation saw their fouls increase quite a bit with the exception of forward Jonathan Williams. The biggest difference is with Przemek Karnowski, who is at a foul per-11.04 overall, but per-7.2 in the last four games.
The Tar Heels’ four big men, on the other hand, average a foul every 8.7 minutes for the entire season, but over the last four games the number barely drops, going to a foul every 8.6 minutes. Individually, the Heels’ Kennedy Meeks improved from every 10.6 to 11.8 and surprisingly Isaiah Hicks went from a foul every 7.6 minutes during the regular season to every 7.3 over the last four games.
Forget the rest of the stats – points, rebounding, shooting percentages – this illustrates a clear difference in Gonzaga’s front line versus mostly West Coast Conference schools and the programs from power conferences it’s faced to reach the national title game.
So, the Tar Heels must attack Gonzaga’s bigs, especially Karnowski and Zach Collins, who is averaging a foul every 5.6 minutes he’s on the court in the NCAA Tournament.
Perimeter Defense – The Bulldogs are shooting 38.1 percent from 3-point range for the entire season to this point, but in the last four NCAA Tournament games versus programs from power conferences they are shooting 29-69 (42 percent). In the Elite 8 and Final Four, the Zags have converted 21 of 43 shots from 3-point range, which is good for 48.8 percent.
The Tar Heels can’t allow the Zags to be over 40 percent from 3. But that UNC has limited its foes to below their norm on the perimeter during the tournament could bode well for tonight.
Maintain The Mission – After UNC’s season opening victory at Tulane, Roy Williams was asked if Kennedy Meeks was quicker off his feet than previously and the coach didn’t take the bait. He instead focused on Meeks missing layups around the basket and not converting enough of his offensive rebounds. Meeks was quicker, it was obvious, but Williams wasn’t going to give in that night because there was no need to. It was Nov. 13 and he had a much bigger picture in mind.
Nearly five months later, and Williams described Meeks on Saturday night as “awesome,” a word you rarely hear him use when talking about his players’ performances.
The mission for Meeks is synonymous with the mission for this team this year, and it comes to a head tonight. Joel Berry is banged up, Isaiah Hicks is struggling, and the Tar Heels might have backed into the title game with how Saturday ended, although that wouldn’t be fair to the first 39:55 of that game. But the mission remains what it’s been since day one and that night in The Big Easy.
If the Heels don’t stray from it, they will win.