Tarheels ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. The weirdest bucket of the night came about 3 minutes in, when Spencer just kind of nonchalantly dribbled into the paint and the NC defenders just kinda looked at him. No one made a move to pick him up. So he shot a six foot, completely uncontested jumper, while surrounded by NC players, to give us our first lead.
2. Midway through first half, we were scoring OK, but not stopping them from scoring. I guess the NC fans could have said the same thing.
3. Castle was pretty meh, at least on offense. Hope he gets his legs back underneath him by Gonzaga.
4. Nice Samson block following his missed dunk. Pretty sure that's the first dunk he's blown this season.
5. I thought this was supposed to be Storrs South. At least on TV the crowd sounded subdued, and it sure felt like we were getting the short end of the stick, whistle wise.
6. Alex's three seems to have deserted him. So far, he's shooting less than 30% on the season from deep, compared to just over 40% last season.
7. I screamed at the TV when Danny called time out when we retained possession off a miss late in the half. Should have trusted them to get a good shot in 15 seconds instead of huddling up to set up what ended up being a turnover. Gotta trust your players' instincts in a situation like that.
8. 5 point lead at the half. Should have been double figures, but for a lousy last minute or so.
9. Halftime thoughts:
   Spencer playing well and shooting well enough.
   Alex not scoring, and so far his three point shots have effectively amounted to turnovers. But he is rebounding well and setting up teammates.
   Our bigs have been mediocre. Four points and two boards between them.
   NC 13 freethrows to our 8. Luckily, they're missing a lot of them.
10. Refs were bad in the first half, but have gone utterly crazy early in the 2nd. They should all be taken out behind the barn and horsewhipped. Can't believe Hurley's not going nuts and getting Teed up.
11. Carolina's press was pretty effective the first few times they ran it. Not turning us over, but giving us a pretty short clock by the time we cross half court. Not sure which coach to credit, but once we went to kind of baiting them to commit 3 or 4 players deeper into their end and using a long pass down court, it pretty much ended the press's advantage and they put it away for the night.
12. Thirteen points, a couple boards and a steal from Solo was a pleasant development. He keeps developing like that, and he could just turn out to be next year's Tristen.
13. Alex has got to stop gunning threes early in the clock. He ain't making them. Ended the night 2 for 9 from deep, which kind of spoiled an otherwise pretty stellar game from him.
14. Somehow, it felt like Spencer made more than 3 three pointers.
15. Assisted on 74%of our FG, to NC's 64%.
16. Whatever happened to Samson's foot just under the 4 minute mark looms large on the horizon. We can only hope it's extremely minor. It appeared he got kicked in the ankle going up for a board.
17. As usual, we enjoyed a sizable advantage in boards and assists.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Was it Samson's foot? I thought he went knee to knee with a UNC player.

 

[SoopDoop]

I'm chalking up Karaban's 3pt woes to his finger injury.

Also a note on the crowd, it may have been quiet on TV but it was definitely loud as hell in person. To give UNC their credit, they were also making a lot of noise. Way more powder blue in there than I expected.

 

[REB1094]

Spencer has an old man game. Slowly spin and waltz his way to his spot, lift the ball above and almost behind his head, and launch it. He never wastes a movement

Karaban is cold this year and early clock threes can be fine depending on the situation, but he’s earned a permanent green light from 3. We know he can hit. He’s added a small dribble-drive game into his arsenal and is a very smart cutter as well

We won by 11 but it felt like it should have been 20+. Many wide open threes and 2 alley oop dunks missed

 

[coachn]

Good analysis Z. NC missed their FTs and" Ya Gotta Make Your Free Throws" like my father would say.

 

[uconnfan68]

I'm chalking up Karaban's 3pt woes to his finger injury.

Also a note on the crowd, it may have been quiet on TV but it was definitely loud as hell in person. To give UNC their credit, they were also making a lot of noise. Way more powder blue in there than I expected.

I think they muted crowd noise for tv. Intentionally. And the powder blue could have been UConn fans not wearing their usual greys, browns, and greens.

 

[caw]

I thought Spencer's putback was the oddest shot of the night. I think two UNC players boxed out Karaban, one on Johnson. All three facing away from the actual basket.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I'm chalking up Karaban's 3pt woes to his finger injury.
.

I think its pretty safe to say that is the case. Clingan is clearly dealing with the foot as seen by him wiggling the foot and grimacing a couple times on camera, Spencer is a warrior but is clearly not at full strength and Castle is going to have to work his way back into the fold after the knee issue. Really hope we get to see this team close to 100% at some point this season.

 

[Palatine]

I thought Spencer's putback was the oddest shot of the night. I think two UNC players boxed out Karaban, one on Johnson. All three facing away from the actual basket.

That was the moment when I realized that UNC had completely given up.