NEW ORLEANS – More than 11 minutes into North Carolina’s victory Friday night at Tulane, the Tar Heels were facing a Green Wave spurt that cut the UNC lead to just one point.
The Tar Heels were playing moderately well, but missed several opportunities on the floor, got crossed up some defensively, plus coach Roy Williams gave a decent chunk of time to a the lineup comprising freshmen Seventh Woods, Brandon Robinson, Tony Bradley, sophomore Luke Maye and senior Nate Britt.
Over the next 8:35, however, Carolina went on a 26-10 run sparked by defense and complemented by an attacking, aware, unselfish offensive approach positioning the Tar Heels for their 95-75 victory at Smoothie King Center.
“Probably passing the ball better at that point,” UNC coach Roy Williams said, when asked what he liked during that stretch. “We were losing our guys defensively, we never got back to Cameron (Reynolds), I know he made a couple of 3s right before that run. We shared the ball, and that was the best part of it in the first half.”
It started when Isaiah Hicks drew a charge on defense and on the other end of the floor rammed home an alley-oop. Joel Berry then got a steal and fed Justin Jackson for a reverse layup, and UNC’s wheels were in motion.
A moment later, a trap near midcourt resulted in a Berry-to-Jackson alley-oop slam for a 30-22 lead. From that point on, UNC was in control of the game.
While Berry (23 points) was making all kinds of stuff happen defensively and at the point and Isaiah Hicks (16 points) was flashing his economized and confident game in the paint, Jackson was quietly putting together a 15-point half on a 27-point night.
He hit 4 of 5 3s, took the ball to the rim area a few times, and was quite efficient.
“We’re coming in having a new team (and) he has to step up and be in that role,” Berry said about Jackson. “He was knocking his shot down, and like I said earlier this year, he’s worked on his shot a lot, worked on being more consistent, and as you saw tonight, he really knocked the shot on, and that’s what we’re going to need from him.”
Kennedy Meeks – The senior big man has never looked quicker or faster than he was tonight. He got up and down the court with relative ease, never appeared all that winded, and in the first half rebounded two of his own misses, drawing a foul on the first one, and later in the half he chased down in the corner a missed 3 by Brandon Robinson that lead to a Joel Berry 3 seconds later.
In the second half, Meeks made a really nice spin move for a reverse layup, defensively affected a few shots, got a steal on the wing on one end and tapped in a miss by Williams on the other for a 58-42 lead so much more active, and was just so active.
For the game, Meeks finished with 9 points, though on 4-13 shooting from the field, and grabbed 15 rebounds But it’s not the points so much that mattered in this game, it’s that Meeks looked like a different athlete, and that will pay off often statistically as the season goes on.
“I don’t know what was up with me missing all those damn shots, but it is what it is,” said Meeks, who acknowledged he’s quicker off his feet than any time previously in his UNC career.
“Coach came to the sideline and said that we need to hit the boards, so I just did everything I could.”
But the overriding factor is that Meeks grabbed those misses. That’s a positive.
“I feel great (physically),” Meeks said. “I’m expecting the weight questions still… I feel a lot stronger, I feel a lot quicker, I feel better on the court, my wind, just altogether I feel very healthy.”
Meeks’ shooting from the floor was something that caught the head coaches’ attention, and was a reason why he had so many boards. He grabbed five of his own misses, and while that’s encouraging, the misses didn’t draw praise from his coach.
“You know, I’m not real positive when a guy goes 4-13, I was really mad at him,” Williams said. “I want him to get the ball and shoot it quicker instead of holding it so long and drawing a crowd.
“In the second half, defensive backboards I think he did a really nice job. He came up with some loose balls, and he got one he chased all the way down in the corner. But I was not pleased with what he did offensively.”
Very true, but the encouraging aspect of this is that Meeks looks different, he was aggressive, and if more of those chippies fall, he’s going to be much more efficient statistically and will draw more praise from Williams.
3-Point Defense – Tulane kept itself somewhat within striking distance by converting 13 of 30 shots from beyond the arc, a bugaboo that has afflicted the Tar Heels at times for years. The Green Wave were 6-12 in the first half and at one point was 10-22 on the night.
One reason they got so many open looks was when UNC was caught in some bad positions overplaying and failing to rotate with Tulane’s ball movement. What else may have been the problem?
“I just think we gave a little bit too much help on their drives,” Berry said. “But they stepped up and knocked down shots. Coming into the game, we heard that they weren’t a great 3-point shooting team, but they were capable of shooting the open 3s and I think we gave them a lot of open 3s tonight because we helped a little bit too much.”
A Few More Tidbits
*Isaiah Hicks did not commit a foul during the 11 minutes he played in the first half and finished the game with 3 in 25 minutes.
*Justin Jackson was 4-5 from 3-point range and Joel Berry was 4-7. Overall, the Heels were 9-20 (45%).
*The Tar Heels were credited with just 2 blocked shots, and both were by Luke Maye.
*Roy Williams said after the game that he’d rather not have played Berry 30 minutes, but said that first-half foul trouble (2) to Seventh Woods forced his hand. Woods played 10 minutes on the night.
*Senior Nate Britt scored just 1 point, but he had 5 assists and no turnovers in 18 minutes. That’s an example of why he’s so valuable and a rare commodity off the bench in today’s college basketball.
*Williams said he gave Kenny Williams the start because, “I just felt like it was something I was going to do, I have no idea. I felt like I’d let the staff vote and it was 2-2 and I made the decision.”
