Heel Tough Blog: North Carolina Central Recap

Scott Kisner - Kisner Imagn

Last night, in a sleepy Smith Center, Carolina routed North Carolina Central, 97-53, to improve to 4-0 on the young season, and in the process, secured their second 40-point win of the season. Carolina was paced by double-doubles from both Caleb Wilson (21 points & 13 rebounds) and Henri Veesaar (12 points & 11 rebounds), as UNC’s size overwhelmed the small school from the MEAC. It was a game that saw Carolina shoot 55% from the field, including 39% from behind the arc, going 11-28 from the outside. After leaving so many points at the foul line against Radford earlier in the week, Carolina took a step in the right direction last night, going 26-35 from the charity stripe, which was good enough for 74% shooting. Four players scored in double figures last night for the Tar Heels, in addition to Wilson and Veesaar, Luka Bogavac (13), and Zayden High (11), both reached double figures, with Derek Dixon and Jonathan Powell both adding 9 points apiece. While it felt like Carolina took a step in the right direction offensively without Seth Trimble, their defense continues to be the calling card for this team. North Carolina Central shot just 24% from the field and 26% from behind the arc, while being held to their fewest point total against an ACC team so far this season. 

Carolina led 39-24 at the break, and the reason why it wasn’t a larger lead was that Carolina turned it over 10 times in the first 20 minutes. In the second half, Carolina didn’t commit a single turnover, and that allowed them to explode for 58 points over the final 20 minutes, the second straight Friday night game that UNC has scored 58 points in the second half. Of their 30 made baskets last night, 21 one them were assisted upon, led by Kyan Evans, and his team best seven dimes. 

The game looked the way it was supposed to look against a school from the MEAC that ranks near the bottom of nearly every category according to KenPom. Here’s what to take away from the comfortable win over the North Carolina Central Eagles: 

1. Zone Offense: The best part about playing these small schools is that they get to see different defenses, and last night, NCCU threw a lot of different looks at Carolina, which they handled very well. The defense that they saw the most was a matchup zone look, which Carolina picked apart from the opening offensive possession to the final whistle. The benefit of having great passing bigs is that you can attack a zone look with the high-low game, which Carolina did with Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaaar all game long. Carolina has seen a zone look in each of their four games so far this season, and they’ve shown an ability to know how to attack it, which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering Hubert Davis learned from Roy Williams, arguably the best offensive coach against a zone defense ever. The only thing missing from Carolina’s zone offense is consistent outside shooting, which isn’t too far off after last night’s game. 

2. First Half Turnovers: The Tar Heels turned it over 10 times last night, and all of them came in the first half, which is why they only led by 15 at the break. You have to love their ability to respond, because they didn’t turn it over in the second half, on their way to a 47-point win. We saw against Kansas how important first-half turnovers are, as Carolina trailed by 8 at the break in that game, before only turning it over once in the second half, on their way to a big win over the Jayhawks. This is the next challenge for this group: to limit the first-half turnovers, because if they keep turning it over like they did last night, or like they did against Kansas, it might be too much to overcome against a team like Michigan State, Kentucky, Georgetown, or Ohio State. 

3. Defending Without Fouling: After Tuesday’s foul fest against Radford, Carolina defended at a high level last night, and did so without fouling. While holding the Eagles to 24% shooting from the field and 26% shooting from behind the arc, the Tar Heels only committed 15 fouls. What’s even more impressive is that when you factor in how many shots they blocked and altered, they were able to do so without making contact with the shooter. Carolina blocked 14 shots total last night, seven in each half, led by Henri Veesaar’s 5, followed by Caleb Wilson’s 4. 

4. Perimeter Shooting: It was a step in the right direction last night for Carolina’s outside shooting, as they connected on 11 of their 28 outside attempts, for a 38% shooting night, their best shooting night of the season. Derek Dixon was the most efficient Tar Heel shooter, going 3-5 from the outside. Joanthan Powell was 2-6 off the bench, and it starting to find his shot, especially in the left corner. Overall, seven different UNC players made at least one three-pointer, as their outside shooting continues to feature multiple different options. 

5. Building Depth: The best part of last night’s blowout win is that it allowed Hubert Davis to play his reserves extended minutes, which is necessary for them to build a deeper rotation than in previous years. Carolina’s reserves scored 39 points last night, led by Zayden High’s 11, followed by 9 each for Dixon and Powell. Outside of the walk-ons, every UNC bench player played at least six minutes last night. Carolina is desperate to find an answer at the backup 5 position, and while that ultimately might be Jarin Stevenson, once Seth Trimble returns from injury, High took a step to earn more minutes last night, scoring his 11 points in just 14 minutes. This time of the year is also for experimenting, and last night, Hubert Davis experimented with playing Kyan Evans and Derek Dixon together in the backcourt, and the results will likely mean we’ll see that combo again on Tuesday night against Navy. 

6. Plus/Minus: Some people in the basketball community subscribe to the importance of the plus/minus stat, and if you are one of those, then some of Carolina’s players may have impressed more than the normal box score would suggest. Like Kyan Evans, for instance, who scored just 7 points, but was a plus-34 while on the floor for Carolia. Luka Bogavac only played 25 minutes, but Carolina was plus-39 with him on the floor. Four of Carolina’s starters posted a plus-minus of at least plus-29 last night. Jonathan Powell led Carolina in this category off the bench, with a plus-21 in his 19 minutes off action. 

Up Next: Carolina is back at home again on Tuesday night, when they’ll host Navy at 7 PM on the ACC Network.