Hard To Guard, Heels Flourishing In Their Balance
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NEW ORLEANS – For the first time in its 21 runs to the Final Four, North Carolina got there with four different players leading it in scoring through each of its NCAA Tournament games.
Brady Manek led UNC with 28 points in the first-round win over Marquette, RJ Davis had 30 in the next round versus Baylor, Caleb Love went off for 30 in the Sweet 16 against UCLA, and Armando Bacot paced the Tar Heels with 20 in the Elite Eight triumph over St. Peter’s.
That, in a nutshell, tells any casual observer what they need to know about Carolina. There is more for sure, like rebounding, improved defense, and a club that has taken care of the ball much better over the last six weeks. But the calling card for the Heels is that they just might be the most difficult team remaining to defend.
Four guys who can go off at any time and each are unique. Nobody else really has that.
"It's been great,” said Bacot, who is also averaging nearly 16 rebounds per NCAA game thus far. “All throughout the ACC, teams would just mainly focus on me and trying to manage that and take the three-ball away. But now, we got Brady going off for 30, Caleb going off for 30, RJ going off for 30…
“It makes guarding us even harder. Just the thought of one player might play bad, but someone else is going to pick up the slack. It's been great.”
This isn’t a recent phenomenon, though. It has happened in stages throughout the year, but not at the clip it has over the last two weeks. But one could certainly see the Heels trending in this direction, especially after Dawson Garcia left the team following a loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 22.
That freed up Manek to get most of the playing time at the stretch four, and as a result, the Heels have increasingly gained considerable cohesion leading to where they are now. The acceleration of that has taken form over the last month, as Manek is averaging 19.9 points in UNC’s last eight games going back to a home win over Syracuse on Feb. 28. He has scored 20 or more points in five of the contests and had 19 in the regional final last Sunday. In this span, Manek has improved his scoring average from 13.9 points to 15.2 points per game for the season.
The players know and embrace their arsenal.
"We got so many offensive weapons,” Love said. “We got me, Brady, Armando, RJ, Leaky getting downhill and taking open shots so it's hard to guard us. It's difficult because you can't just take one person away. Usually, it's one or two players the other team has that you can key on.”
The quartet of Love (12 times), Bacot (11), Manek (10), and Davis (five) have hit the 20-point mark 38 times this season. By contrast, A.J. Griffin’s 22 points in Duke’s Elite Eight win over Arkansas is the only 20-poimt game by a Blue Devil in the tournament, and Paolo Banchero led them in scoring in the other three contests.
The Heels love spreading the wealth. It makes each of them better because it stresses defenses.
"I think we are all having fun at this point,” Davis said. “It's March Madness, we all want to win. We have a mindset of just playing together. I think that's what builds our chemistry.
“We all make jokes and laugh a lot, and it blends so well on the court. I think that's why when it's one person's off night, it can be another person's on night. Just to have so many dynamic players who can score from different areas is amazing.”
Carolina will need to be amazing again Saturday night to have any chance at advancing to Monday night’s title game.