3/24/2019 basketball Edit

Finally, Heels Hit Some Threes

Coby White and the Tar Heels finally rediscovered their perimeter stroke in Sunday's win over Washington. (Jenna Miller, THI)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

Publisher

Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

COLUMBUS, OH – Finally, the Tar Heels hit some perimeter shots.

North Carolina entered Sunday’s second round game of the NCAA Tournament versus Washington having converted only 30.5 percent of its 3-point attempts over the previous nine games, a span dating back to a win at Wake Forest on Feb. 16.

But against the Huskies, the Heels found their stroke converting 42.9 percent from beyond the arc and rode it to an 81-59 victory over the Pac-12 regular season champions

“I thought Cam shot the ball well after the first couple of shots and then Coby, Coby’s unbelievable shooting it,” UNC senior Luke Maye.

During the nine-game span, Johnson was the only Tar Heel who had shot the ball from the perimeter somewhat like he has all season, having converted 43.6 percent. On Sunday, he was 3-for-8.

White had converted only 30.9 percent during the stretch, and that included a pair of 6-for-11 games factored in. He was 4-for-7 versus the Huskies, with all of his conversions coming in the first 14 minutes of the game.

Luke Maye hit one of UNC's nine 3-pointers. (Jenna Miller, THI)

Johnson said it was a matter of time before the Heels found their groove again because that’s who they are.

“I feel like we’ve got guys that can make them,” Johnson said. “I’d say the missed shots were more the outlier games, more the surprise games for us.”

A byproduct of banging threes against Washington’s 2-3 zone was that the Huskies had to tweak things. And by doing so, it opened up spots inside the zone to work from, which led to a bevy of open shots all over the court.

“It was a big-time thing for us because us knocking down a couple of threes forced them to play wide on the wing and they left the middle wide open for us,” Brandon Robinson said.

A nine-game slump is rather significant, so one game somewhat back to normal doesn’t mean the Heels have broken free from the five-week struggles, but it could be a start.