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PHILADELPHIA – UCLA spent some time preparing for North Carolina in the middle of December, as the teams were supposed to meet in the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas on December 18.
The Bruins were hit hard by COVID and couldn’t play, so the Tar Heels ended up taking on Kentucky, a game they lost by 29 points. UNC had to quickly shift gears, but not UCLA. The players had already prepped some for the Tar Heels, and doing so again three months later, they see considerable differences in Hubert Davis’ team.
In truth, UNC is vastly different than it was before Christmas.
Gone are Dawson Garcia and Anthony Harris, who combined to average 14.1 points in 33.9 minutes per contest leading up to the first scheduled meeting. Puff Johnson hadn’t yet made his season debut, and freshman Dontrez Styles had been on the court for only a combined 11:48 of game time to that point.
Johnson has played 202 minutes in 20 games and gives Carolina a multidimensional option off the bench, and Styles has played 40 minutes alone in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Furthermore, Brady Manek has become one of, if not the, go-to guy for the eighth-seeded Tar Heels (26-9), though he was coming off the bench leading up to the game in Vegas.
“I feel like they understand who they are a little more now as that comes with time and experience,” UCLA senior forward Jules Bernard said Friday during a press conference at Wells Fargo Center, where the teams will meet in the East Region semifinals Friday night.
“So as the season has come along, I feel like they've sort of found that identity, and they're playing really well right now.”
Part of that identity is who the Heels don’t have anymore and who they are using with greater regularity. Hubert Davis pared down his rotation after Garcia left, following a loss at Wake Forest on Jan. 22.
The iron five starting lineup has become a thing, as since the loss at Wake, 31 times a Tar Heel has played at least 37 minutes in a game, and 14 times a Heel has played 40 or more minutes in a contest.
Armando Bacot was averaging 27.6 minutes heading into the originally scheduled matchup, but has averaged 32.9 minutes since. Brady Manek was at 25.1 minutes before Vegas, and has averaged 31.4 since. And Leaky Black averaged 26 minutes per contest through those first 10 games, but has played 30.1 minutes since.
So, Bernard is right saying the Heels have their identity now, and it’s different from what it was then.
“You could just tell that there's more assertiveness on both ends,” Bernard said. “On the defensive end, they play hard, and then on the offensive end, I feel like they've kind of found their identity.
“They have some really great guards. And then obviously they have a shooter in Brady Manek and an offensive force in the post with Bacot. I feel like they understand who they are a little more now.”
Carolina was just days away from the ugly loss to Kentucky and two weeks away from falling at Notre Dame. Two weeks after that, the Tar Heels were crushed at Miami and Wake by a combined 50 points, and everything appeared headed in the wrong direction.
UCLA (27-7) Coach Mick Cronin understands teams take different times to develop, and in Carolina’s case, the degree of newness raised the challenge for Hubert Davis and his team.
“Coach Davis has done a tremendous job,” said Cronin, whose team is the fourth seed in the region. “Big change, big shoes to fill, obviously, tough – I did it at Cincinnati following Coach (Bob) Huggins. (Davis) made a lot of changes to their offensive style of play. Maybe just probably took him some time.
“When you're changing the passing game, the secondary, and you're going to a more modern NBA spread pick-and-roll, it probably just took him some time, some adjusting to find their stride. Maybe Coach Davis, as well.”
UNC has come into its own since then, and mostly of late, something the Bruins cannot ignore.
