AJ: Tweaks, Pivots, And Alters, Oh My!

How about this: We were told last Monday night after a home loss to Miami that adjustments were forthcoming. It was doubled-down on during Friday’s presser in advance of North Carolina’s game Sunday at No. 23 NC State.

Here is the quote from Monday night: “There are a number of things we can do, and that is something we are going to look at, pivot, alter, and change…,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said, “We have to find other ways, other players to put on the floor.”

So, as the Wolfpack was racing toward the finish line of its 77-69 win over the Tar Heels, and as the Heels limped along directionless and with seemingly no steam left, the question begged: Where did they pivot? What was altered? And how did they change?

Furthermore, what other players than the usual core did Davis turn to in an attempt at shaking the foundation, or just getting something new up and running on the floor?

The answers to those questions, unfortunately for UNC fans, is nothing. Nada. Not one iota. Or at least that’s how it looked.

Same offensive approach with mega set plays, little movement, so-so screens, nothing off the rolls, no back doors, lots of dribbling, precious few assists (seven), and a boatload of missed shots (40). More often than not, that has become North Carolina basketball circa 2022-23.

There were no pivots in Carolina’s play. It was the same old same old.

Alters?

Okay, it appeared in the first half that the bigs were getting up the floor quicker, and it got the Heels a couple of transition buckets as a result. One time it happened after a made bucket by the Wolfpack on the break. No called set that time.

Changes?

RJ Davis said they did some different things dealing with ball screens, with some tweaks in coverages. It didn’t appear so. Perhaps highly frustrated, Armando Bacot essentially said the approach going into the game was no different than in recent contests.

“I thought we did most of the same stuff we did the last time we did when we played them,” he said.

Other players?

Puff Johnson played 22 minutes off the bench, the same amount of time Pete Nance got as a starter. Other than that, Seth Trimble played six minutes, Tyler Nickel five, and D’Marco Dunn was on the court for 18 seconds.

Now, UNC had one interesting lineup out there in the first half beginning at the 12:10 mark. It was Nance, Trimble, Johnson, Nickel, and RJ Davis. That may have been the first time all season that quintet had been on the floor together.

Outside of that, nope. No personnel adjustments.

Is this a matter of Hubert Davis realizing during the week he just doesn’t have the players to overhaul much, or at all, as late February nears? If so, it’s what he’s known all season, and this is who the Heels have been all along.

Or maybe Davis just doesn’t trust anything different, figuring he’s already determined the best way, and perhaps only way, he thinks his team can win games.

Or maybe the pivots, alters, and tweaks were out there, they just didn’t work, so us commoners didn’t recognize them.

Or maybe he didn’t do much because he doesn’t see anything as broken. With respect to the season as a whole, and the bigger picture, Davis says he doesn’t see his team’s ship taking on water. He was asked about that Sunday with the premise it’s not working.

“I disagree with you from the standpoint that it's not working. I do,” Davis replied, speaking to the reporter who asked the question. “Sometimes it doesn't come when you want it, where you want it, how you want it, in a manner in which you want it, at the time that you want it. That's life.”

Life for Carolina right now is that it stands at 16-11 overall, including 8-8 in the mediocre ACC, and has dropped five of its last six games. The Tar Heels are now 0-10 in Quad 1 games.

If they were Dorothy and getting to the NCAA Tournament is reaching Oz, the Heels just realized they’re wearing red shoes. The munchkins haven’t even started singing and dancing yet.

As for Oz, that is a long, winding, and treacherous road ahead.