CHAPEL HILL – By the time North Carolina takes the floor Wednesday in the Bahamas to face Northern Iowa, the Tar Heels will have played only three games over the first 17 days of the college basketball season.
No other ACC team has played fewer than four games, and some have played five. Yet, it begins a stretch in which UNC will play six games over 13 days, with five of the opponents from power conferences.
Things are amping up, and that’s exactly what the Heels (3-0) need. Games, plenty of games, are as important as anything right now for Hubert Davis’ club. Blending in five transfers and two freshmen with a squad that returned only four scholarship players takes time, and it also takes games.
“It’s way different playing somebody else when you play your teammates every day,” UNC junior forward and Stanford transfer Harrison Ingram said. “You know their game like that. But this (next) team, they don’t know what you like to do, they don’t know your favorite move.”
Examples Ingram offered: Learning how to cut when Elliot Cadeau is at the point as opposed to RJ Davis. It’s different, and him gaining comfort with them, and they in him, simply takes time and requires games.
Davis layered the schedule so that the team could have some games spread out with needed practice time in between. The first three opponents – Radford, Lehigh, and UC Riverside – are mid-majors and only somewhat tested the Tar Heels.
The games allowed Davis to play an average of 16 different lineups, not including mop-up duty, so he got on film plenty of combinations to examine. It also gave the Heels court time in contests the Heels combined winning by 21 points.
“We made some great progress. I would say I think that we’re still getting the feel for one another,” junior forward and Louisville transfer Jae’Lyn Withers said. “We have pretty good chemistry, but I think as far as the coaching staff and players, it’s still finding who can be trusted, who can be the best in certain situations. That’s something we’re figuring out as the games go on.”
Needing games to build toward the kind of on-court cohesion Davis seeks means it will also take some time.
“It's one of the things that I always say, and actually it was a thought of the day that I got from (former UNC) Coach (Roy) Williams he used to do when I was assistant coach for him,” Davis said. “He said, 'Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was worked on every day.'
“And so that's with us, this year's team has new parts, and every day we want to take a step forward in building that team and getting closer to that finished product. But it's the middle of November, we're going to continue to grow and get better, but make sure that we're taking steps forward.”
In addition to opening the Battle 4 Atlantis versus the Panthers on Wednesday, the Tar Heels will play Thursday against Villanova of Texas Tech. UNC will play again Friday against either Stanford, Memphis, Michigan, or Arkansas.
The Heels return home a week later on November 29 to host Tennessee in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, host Florida State in an ACC game Saturday, December 2, and face defending national champion Connecticut in New York City on December 5.
Carolina not only will get the games it needs over the next couple of weeks, but a high level of opponents that will speed up its jelling process.
“Most teams it takes time, (and it’s a process) for sure,” Withers said. “I think everybody has different aspects to their game, which are really crucial to this team being good. And as far as meshing together, that will take a little bit of time.”
