The Well-Roundedness of New Tar Heel Cade Tyson's Game

To watch and hear opposing coaches talk about Cade Tyson this past season, it’s clear the 6-foot-7 sharpshooter was a defensive priority for them in every single game plan. Every one of them.

But those plans rarely worked as designed.

Take Roger Powell for instance, the head coach at Valparaiso, whose team lost at home to Tyson’s Belmont squad, 96-78, in February.

“Being mentally tough is executing game plans, obviously Tyson is a great shooter,” Powell said. “I believe he was like 5-for-6 in the first half, and we went over that and over that and over that.”

Right out of the gate, Tyson hit 3-pointers 50 seconds, 92 seconds, and 118 seconds into the contest giving the Bruins a 9-0 lead. It set the tone for a game Belmont led by 30 points at one point. He finished with 16 points choosing to not shoot much in the second half. Tyson was 5-for-7 from three on the day, including hitting two more before halftime giving the Bruins leads of 33-11 and 51-22.

A big part of the new North Carolina Tar Heel’s game is shooting on the perimeter. He was 80-for-172 from beyond the arc this past season, which is 46.5%, placing him second in the nation in that department.

“Cade’s a 6-7 wing that has great range and is really good when he’s got space to knock down shots,” Belmont Coach Casey Alexander told Ken Cross on his podcast earlier this season.

Tyson made as many as six 3-pointers twice, at least five in seven games, four or more nine times, three-plus 16 times, two or more in 21 contests, at least one in 25 games, and he did not drain a three in six different games.

He was Freshman of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference two seasons ago after averaging 13.6 points per game. This past year, he was second-team All-MVC after averaging 16.2 points and 5.9 rebounds. In addition to his perimeter effectiveness, Tyson shot 49.3% overall from the floor.

Also, breaking down Tyson’s scoring: 15-plus points 16 times; 20-plus eight times; 25 or more four times; and 31 in one game. He scored in single digits in six contests.

Sitting at the top of every opponent’s scouting report, Tyson had to learn ways to navigate such aggressive attention, changing and improving his game in the process.

“I’d say it’s lot rougher than last year with being the main focus,’’ Tyson told Nashville Hoops late in the season. “It’s only going to make me stronger. Just got to find a way to fight through it.’’

The Bruins went 20-13 overall this past season, finishing fourth in the MVC with a 12-8 mark.

Tyson is known as a grinder, a gym rat, and athletic. Alexander says basketball is exceptionally important to Tyson.

“He works really, really hard, is very serious about his game,” Alexander told Valley Hoops Insider.

Tyson led the Bruins in rebounding at 5.9 per contest, so he will give Carolina something it must replace with Harrison Ingram and Armando Bacot gone. And, perhaps the most underrated aspect of Tyson’s game is his defense.

An early narrative even before he committed to UNC was that he was not even average defensively. Yet, Alexander thought enough of Tyson to put him on former Drake star Tucker Devries, who averaged 21.6 points per game on the season.

Tyson limited Devries to 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting, including 1-for-6 from the perimeter. The ten field goal attempts were 6.2 below Devries’ per-game average on the season. So, Tyson didn’t let the Drake star go off because he didn’t let him get that many touches.

“The unsung hero in the game is Cade Tyson,’’ Alexander after Belmont’s 87-65 win in January. “You always look at Cade in the offensive end and today it was tough to come by (only nine points), but he guarded DeVries almost the entire night. He was relentless with his effort.’’

Tyson took pride in the performance, and spoke about it afterward in the postgame press conference.

“I just took it possession by possession,’’ he said. “Getting through screens is a big part of guarding a guy like that. I know he likes to resort to his mid-range game. I know I’ve got my teammates to help me challenge him at the rim so I really depend on them.’’

Fueled by the edge with which he plays, Tyson uses that on both ends of the court, and it showed up that day for sure.

“I wouldn’t say I pride myself on it," he told THI about his edginess on the floor. "However, I do feel like if you want it more than the other person you are bound to beat them out. I have always been competitive. I think it just comes from having an older brother.”

Tyson thought about entering the portal after his freshman season, but said he felt like Belmont was the right place for him. A year later, he went ahead and moved up to the largest stage there is in the college game.

A native of Monroe, NC, where he was Mr. Basketball in North Carolina in 2022, Tyson’s older brother is Hunter Tyson, a former All-ACC performer at Clemson, and was a rookie with the Denver Nuggets this past season.

Cade brings to Chapel Hill 59 college starts, 912 college points, 321 college rebounds, and 1,853 college minutes played. Carolina didn’t really get younger bringing in Tyson, it got a player that exactly suited a significant need.