Cadeau's Career Day Helps Lift Tar Heels Over Miami

CORAL GABLES,FL - Entering Saturday’s tilt at Miami, North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau had not connected on a 3-point shot attempt since Dec. 29, a stretch of 11 consecutive games.

The freshman guard made sure that streak did not continue in the Tar Heels’ 75-72 victory at Watsco Center, as he went 2-for-6 from beyond the arc en route to a career-high 19 points against the Hurricanes.

Cadeau snapped his stretch of 12 straight misses in the first half, rounding out an 11-point frame in which he scored from all areas on the floor. He was able to attack the basket and score at the rim, connect on both free throws, and find the bottom of the net on a floater, all in the opening 10 minutes.

“He’s elite in terms of being able to get to the basket, he just is. It doesn’t matter what kind of defense,” said UNC Coach Hubert Davis. "His ability to get to the paint [and] be able to score [and] distribute is at a high level.”

Cadeau has become more aggressive in league play, making it a point to get to the basket and finish at the rim.

Despite Miami’s gameplan on the defensive end, Cadeau continued that trend in his team’s league-high 11th ACC win of the season.

“One of the things that Miami does consistently defensively, [is] their hard hedge [that] causes us a lot of problems,” said Davis. “It’s hard to get into the paint and I just felt like Elliot was really persistent at attacking and trying to get there.”

Davis credits Cadeau’s aggressiveness as a main reason for North Carolina’s ability to reach the bonus just eight minutes into the second half. As a team, it attempted 18 free throws in the final 20 minutes, using the 11 makes to help secure the win.

Twenty-four games into the season, Cadeau's confidence continues to grow, as evidenced by his career-high 14 shot attempts. He finished with a 50 percent conversion rate and knocked down three of his four free throws.

That confidence allowed him to play freely and take those necessary shots, even when he was shooting 16 percent from three on the season.

“I thought today, he didn’t think, he just shot the ball,” said big man Armando Bacot. “When you do that, usually you get good results.”

Cadeau’s ability to stretch the floor and serve as a threatening perimeter shooter impacts the Tar Heels’ offensive outlook and future gameplans for opponents.

“That changes a lot. There were wide open threes and I told him, ‘when you’re wide open, have the confidence to be able to knock it down because your head coach has the confidence and thinks it’s going down, so shoot it,’ said Davis. “Those two threes that he had were really huge for us.”

Behind closed doors, Cadeau has been putting in the extra effort on his jump shot and game in general, and not only did it show in Saturday’s win, but it’s shown among his teammates, who trust his effort and preparation.

“He works harder than anybody I’ve seen from my time [here],” said Harrison Ingram. “He’s in the gym all the time. Every time I’m in the gym, I see him.”

His backcourt mate in RJ Davis has also seen the work firsthand and has confidence in the freshman.

“Elliot was getting great looks all night and he had the confidence to go ahead and knock it down. We believe in him,” said guard RJ Davis. “We work a lot on his shot after practice, before practice so for him to knock down those two threes, it’s definitely a confidence booster for him. We tell him to keep shooting cause they’re going to fall.”

For a freshman guard, an 18-point outing is certainly an impressive feat, but Cadeau was impactful on both ends of the floor aside from putting the ball in the basket.

He added in a career-high four steals, a game-high eight assists, and three rebounds in a career-high 35 minutes.

Saturday marked Cadeau’s sixth game in double figures and for all intents and purposes was his best game as a Tar Heel.

But, after the game, Cadeau had his eyes on one number: his five turnovers.

“I’m pretty hard on myself and when I look at this game, I just see five turnovers," he said. "I see a couple [of turnovers] when we really needed to score and that’s what I really see. I don’t see the 19 points.”

Cadeau may have tunnel vision on his giveaways, but when dissecting the win for North Carolina, his positive impact is hard to ignore, Bacot said.

“The way he bounced back from last game was huge and we wouldn’t have won without him."