North Carolina returns to action Monday night for the first time in nine days and its first game at the Smith Center in 26 days, and the Tar Heels will do so offering a bit of a different look to the Dean Dome crowd.
Freshmen guards Anthony Harris and Jeremiah Francis have played one home game in their brief UNC careers, but that was at Carmichael Arena and was perhaps the Tar Heels’ bottoming-out point of the season. They lost to Wofford, but the Heels have shown signs of life and change in the two games since.
The difference is with Cole Anthony out the last three games, Roy Williams had to find a point guard capable of getting the team into its sets, when it actually runs sets, and just allow for a needed flow offensively while also generating a more desired tempo.
Junior K.J. Smith has started all three games but has clearly struggled. Francis, however, has found some success. UNC’s two best stretches in a loss at now-No. 1 Gonzaga on Dec. 18 was when Francis was on the court. He was again a difference maker in the win over UCLA in Las Vegas on Dec. 21.
Considering Francis missed the last two seasons in high school with knee injuries and with strong speculation he might redshirt this winter, his sudden ascent into the rotation and as maybe one of the team’s most important players in Anthony’s absence wasn’t part of a timeline Francis considered when working to get healthier. He didn’t expect to play so much four games after being cleared by the medical staff.
“No, I didn’t.” Francis said, following UNC’s win in Vegas. “I was just being ready whenever my name was called, do my job to the best of my ability.”
Harris, who missed a year with a knee injury, has come off the bench giving the Heels a spark of needed athletic juice and grit. Both players approach the game with a bit of disregard for their bodies, meaning they are what players refer to as “dogs.”
So far, Harris' game has included a blend of perimeter shooting and taking the ball to the basket and an in-between game. The range in his game extends to the other end of the court, as well. There’s a lot to what Harris already does, something not lost on his teammates.
“He has a Kenny Williams effect,” junior forward Garrison Brooks said. “Just real tough on defense, do everything coach says and just gets the job done no matter what.”
Harris is already associated with a trait within the program.
“I think Anthony gives us some of that toughness,” Williams said.
The 7-5 Tar Heels, who host Yale (10-3) on Monday night, are 1-2 without Anthony, who leads the team averaging 19.8 points per contest. Brooks is the only Heel scoring in double figures (15.0) in the three games without Anthony, having converted 20 of 32 shots from the field. Harris (8.0) and Francis (7.7) are fourth and fifth in scoring, respectively, since Anthony went down.
They’re minutes have gone up each game, too. Francis played three minutes in his debut at Virginia, 16 versus Wofford, 22 at Gonzaga and 28 versus UCLA. Harris’ debut was also in Charlottesville and he’s played six, 11, 14 and 17 minutes.
Francis has scored 23 points with seven assists in the last two games while Harris has added 22 points while knocking down three 3-pointers in five attempts. UNC is averaging 69.8 points per game on the season but is at 77.5 the last two games.
Yale is another dangerous opponent, as the Bulldogs have won seven straight games, including the last four on the road, most recently at Clemson and UMass. They lost at Penn State by two points and by seven points at Oklahoma State.
For the Tar Heels to win, they need Francis and Harris to continue their trajectory, and doing so in their inaugural Smith Center games would be a great next step for the Tar Heels.
