PITTSBURGH, PA – Through the first 27 halves of basketball this season, which is the first 13-and-a-half games, North Carolina had 16 more turnovers than assists.
The young Tar Heels’ backcourt struggled much of the time running sets and certainly in their freelance motion. Possessions bogged down, movement – the feet and the ball – was stagnant, and it appeared at times as if Caleb Love’s and RJ Davis’ heads were spinning just a bit.
Consequently, it had a significant effect on the team.
There were snippets of solid-to-excellent play, however, perhaps precursors to an eventual eruption that commenced at halftime during UNC’s win over Wake Forest on Jan. 20.
That is the landmark moment in which the Tar Heels remained in the locker room until less than a minute before the halftime clock expired. They got an earful from assistant coach Hubert Davis and another in the tunnel from senior Garrison Brooks. Since then, the Heels have flipped the assist-to-turnover script, among other things.
Carolina’s offensive possessions appear less stressed, more fluid and natural, and Love and Davis are reacting more. Patience matched with a sureness have meshed together, resulting in much better overall play.
"I think all of the above,” UNC Coach Roy Williams replied, when asked if the aforementioned are apt examples of improved play.
He then noted his team’s handling of Pittsburgh’s pressure defense during Tuesday night’s 75-65 victory over the Panthers at Petersen Events Center.
“I think we turned it over once early in the press, so then it's an open court and we did make better decisions in the open court and, all of a sudden, we're getting layups or dunks and I think Leaky (Black) got a steal and goes down and dunks it on the other end,” Williams said.
“You need to get easy baskets at some point and, if a team is going to press you, guys just think of it, it's more difficult for five guys to guard the whole court than it is for five guys to guard the half court. So, if they're extending their defense, we've got to move it well enough to get some easier ones on the other end.”
So, going into halftime against Wake, the Tar Heels had 192 assists and 208 turnovers on the season. In the five halves since then, however, they have 52 assists versus 29 turnovers. They have literally reversed their statistical numbers.
Love, who had five assists and five turnovers in last Saturday’s 86-76 victory over NC State, had five and one against the Panthers and veteran point guard Xavier Johnson on Tuesday. The effect of his improvement against Pitt and UNC's in general have been increased shooting percentage.
Carolina has converted 53.8 percent of its field goal attempts over the last five halves, and inside the 3-point arc, playing more to their strengths, the Tar Heels have been at 59.5 percent. That's an eight-percent and 10-percent updgrade, respectively.
"Just getting shots for my guys,” Love said. “Just making it a little easier breaking down a defense and just finding my teammates. So, that's exactly what I did. I got downhill sometimes, getting open shots for Kerwin and getting downhill and getting shots for Armando and the bigs. So, just getting open shots for them and it helped."
The big guys have gotten into the assist act as well. Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe combined for six turnovers at Pitt, but they also handed out eight assists, mostly feeding each other on the lower blocks.
So, a team that hit the 80-point mark once in the first 11 games, has now done so in three of the last five, and has scored 40-plus points in four of its last five halves, too.
UNC’s offensive fortunes are trending in the right direction. Improved ball movement, patience, recognition, and decision making and execution are all on the uptick. The numbers suggest so, and in this case they don’t lie.
