1. Carolina’s depth and skill overwhelmed Radford in an 86-70 win in the season opener.
2. The other faces can change all you want, but Armando Bacot remains a constant. The Tar Heel center had 25 points and 13 rebounds in just 29 minutes. Carolina made a conscious effort to pound the ball into him at the start of the second half after leading by just five at the break, and he immediately helped stretch the lead. Bacot headlined four players in double figures, including RJ Davis (13), Cormac Ryan (13) and Harrison Ingram (12).
3. Absolutely no question Hubert Davis talked about defense and rebounding in the halftime locker room. Radford shot 50 percent on 34 first half field goal attempts, and their five offensive rebounds turned into seven points. They led Carolina in both those categories in the first 20 minutes. Carolina eventually caught the Highlanders in both categories and Radford shot just 35.5 percent from the field in the second half.
4. Carolina was too loose with the ball in the first half, turning it over eight times (with seven different players committing at least one turnover). That being said, some of those miscues were created by trying to see how fast they could go in an effort to meet Hubert Davis‘ prescribed tempo. That’s an ongoing process that will need to get resolved. UNC finished with ten fast break points and cut the turnovers down to just three in the second half.
5. Credit to Radford sophomore Kenyon Giles, who played with a swagger and backed it up. He gave a “too small” gesture after scoring on RJ Davis early on his way to putting up nine first half points on 4-for-7 shooting. Giles, who was extremely impressed with himself for most of the night, largely supported it, finishing with 18 points.
6. Here’s a welcome stat: Carolina played ten players at least nine minutes. It’s likely that will be narrowed down some as the season progresses, but at least on this night, it was nice to have that many options–and options who produced. Jalen Washington, for example, played just ten minutes–the lowest among those who saw action–but he immediately grabbed two offensive rebounds and turned one of them into a basket in the second half. An eleventh Tar Heel, James Okonkwo, saw action late.
7. One benefit of Carolina’s depth: it enables Hubert Davis to play a little offense/defense with his substitutions. He did that late in the first half, taking out Cadeau with under a minute to play and inserting Seth Trimble, who had been terrific defensively on Giles earlier in the half (forcing him into a shot clock violation) and also blocking a shot in transition. The Trimble-Davis-Ryan trio helped create a turnover that led to Ryan feeding Ingram for a basket through contact, a play that felt like it changed the momentum of the first half. Trimble had a similar momentum-changing defensive sequence in the second half; there’s a place for him in this rotation, especially with the number of quality guards Carolina will need to defend in the ACC.
8. You can clearly see some pieces. The question will be how the Tar Heels fit them together over the next few weeks. Jae’Lyn Withers, for example, came in and immediately caused issues in the passing lanes and also made a hard drive to the rim that he turned into a bucket. That’s an athletic presence Carolina needs in some quantity.
9. The drive to upgrade the gameday experience continues. Monday night debuted the new LED lighting system and a host of new spotlights and technical effects, including an enhanced team entrance and team introduction. Credit Ken Cleary and Ryan Schmitt for a significant amount of work maximizing some of the building’s new capabilities.
10. It’s obviously been a difficult few days for the overall Carolina Basketball family, and especially the family of head coach Hubert Davis. The head coach’s uncle, Tar Heel great Walter Davis, passed away last week. Players wore shooting shirts in his honor featuring “Davis 24” on the back during pregame. Expect the coaching staff to wear small tributes to him at the next game and potentially throughout the season.
11. The Smith Center didn’t seem quite the same without the presence of John Schleich, who had ushered at the building since it opened in 1986. He missed only six games and passed away in October at the age of 73. You might have noticed other ushers and personnel throughout the building, including several family members of the coaching staff, wearing buttons in his memory.
12. A host of Tar Heel alums at the game, including Phil Ford, Mitch Kupchak, James Michael McAdoo, Marcus Ginyard, Joel James, JP Tokoto and several others.
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
