Tar Heel Trends: Shooting, Assists, Turnovers & More...

As Roy Williams so often says, “everything looks better when the ball goes through the basket.” So, with that in mind, the ball has gone through basket a bit more, at least from the perimeter, in recent games for the Tar Heels, so are things looking better?

How about the connectivity of the team on offense? Turnovers are down a bit but assisting on field goals is up considerably.

What’s down is Carolina’s shooting inside the three-point circle. So, in this edition of Tar Heel Trends, we’re looking at Carolina’s shooting, with an emphasis on its perimeter improvement, and its assists numbers.

*Over the last five games, the Tar Heels are 40-for-111 from 3-point range, which is 36 percent. By comparison, they were 31-for-121 (25.6 percent) from outside through the first eight contests. So that’s a clear upgrade.

*Inside the arc, though, is a different story. UNC was 181-for-366 on two pointers through the first eight games, which is 49.5 percent. In the last five, however, Carolina is 86-for-210 on two pointers, which is just 41 percent.

*UNC has also been better from the free throw line over the last five games hitting 64 of 87 (73.6 percent) from the stripe compared to 140-for-209 (66.9 percent) through the first eight outings. Yet, the Heels have averaged only 17.4 free throw attempts over the last five games versus 26.1 through the first eight. Still, the improved percentage is noteworthy and could have to do with the team attempting more threes.

Roy Williams has insisted all along the Tar Heels can and should be a quality perimeter shooting team. Andrew Platek, who is 12-for-36 on the season, agrees, and then some.

“We're really good shooters,” he said recently. “I think if you put any of us in a gym with anybody in the country, I think we can outshoot them like anywhere. But this is more of what we know we can do and it's like, we don't even have everyone shooting well…

“Yes, we can make shots and we're gonna do that the rest of the year, it just takes time.”

*In the last five games, Kerwin Walton is 15-for-34 (44.1 percent); Caleb Love, who was 4-for-34 from the perimeter going into the Georgia Tech game, is 8-for-22 (36.4 percent) in the five outings since. However, Love is only 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) INSIDE the arc in that same span.

RJ Davis is 4-for-9 from 3-point range over the last two games after shooting 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) from three over the previous six games, a stretch that began following the loss at Iowa when he was 2-for-5 from beyond the arc.

Five of Leaky Black’s seven threes have come in the last four games, though four were in the win at Miami, of which Carolina needed each one.

Also, over the last five contests, Andrew Platek is 3-for-15, but he’s hit at least one three in nine of UNC’s 13 games. If he regains his stroke from earlier in the season, when he converted 8 of 15 between the UNLV and NC State games, UNC will be even more dangerous from the perimeter, provided the rest of the Heels maintain their recent course.

In addition, Garrison Brooks is 2-for-2 from three over the last five games and Anthony Harris converted his only attempt in UNC’s loss at FSU.

*Through the first eight games, Carolina assisted on 51.5 percent of its field goals, but over the last five games, the Tar Heels have assisted on 65.1 percent of its buckets.

To what does Williams attribute the assist-to-basket improvement?

“Well, not doing it enough early for sure and still not doing it enough,” he said, during Monday’s ACC conference call. “We've got to move the ball and share the ball. We’ve got to get our big guys more involved. Their shooting percentages are good and perimeter players, other than Kerwin (Walton), their shooting percentages as bad. So, you can't be dumb.

“You’ve got to get the guys that are making the most shots, they’ve got to get the ball more. But I think we are moving a little better, not anywhere where I want us to do or want us to be on that, but we are understanding the spacing a little bit more and moving without the ball a little better.”

*Turnovers remain a problem, and more so the points allowed are an issue. In football, Mack Brown said earlier this past season that “sudden change defense” was an issue, meaning the Tar Heels didn’t do well defensively after the offense turned over the ball or they had a kick blocked. Applying the same terminology to the hoops Heels, they are having trouble with this, as well.

Since we’re mainly looking at things in segments of the first eight games and last five games, we will do the same with the turnovers and points allowed, and note, the turnovers are down a bit, but the points opponents are scoring off of them are slightly up:

Through the first eight games, the Tar Heels turned over the ball 128 times leading to 127 opponents’ points and averages of 16.0 and 15.9, respectively. In the last five games, the Heels have turned it over 14.4 times per contest but leading to 16.2 points per game.

Through the first eight games, Caleb Love had 30 assists versus 25 turnovers, but in the last five he has nine assists against 16 turnovers.

Through the first eight games, RJ Davis had 21 assists and 17 turnovers, and in the last five has nine assists and nine turnovers.

Through the first eight games, Leaky Black had 13 assists and nine turnovers, but in the last five he has 18 assists and eight turnovers.

Black is the only one of UNC’s three players generally on the ball who has improved his assist numbers over the last five games, but there has been more of a difference with Carolina’s bigs.

Through the first eight games, Garrison Brooks had 8 assists and 15 turnovers, but he’s at 11 and eight over the last five games.

Through the first eight games, Armando Bacot had two assists against 15 turnovers, but he’s at four and five over the last four contests.

Through the first eight games, Day’Ron Sharpe had 14 assists and 16 turnovers, and in the last five games he’s at six and nine.