CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – For a lot of the first few months of the season, North Carolina didn’t look like a team that was deserving of the preseason ranking many gave them. It wasn’t uncommon to see them ranked in the top ten of a preseason poll, with the feeling being that last year was an aberration and this year would be different. For a lot of non-conference play and even early in ACC play, they looked little different from last year. But that’s changing of late, and after Tuesday night’s 106-74 blowout at Boston College, the Tar Heels are tied with arch-rival Duke atop the ACC.
One thing that was missing last season from the Tar Heel teams of previous seasons was the ability to run teams off the floor. Part of that was not having Ty Lawson or a suitable replacement, but that wasn’t all. In the first half, the Tar Heels ran often, especially once Boston College started turning the ball over. BC had eight turnovers that the Tar Heels cashed in for 14 points, and they had 13 fast break points.
“We didn’t have to set up our offense many times in the first half,” said head coach Roy Williams. “I think we ran two offensive set plays the whole first half.”
Last season, the Tar Heels scored 80 or more points 11 times, a deceptive stat because they didn’t do it once in ACC play. In fact, the only time they did it once ACC play started was in their NIT opener, scoring 80 points against William & Mary. Tuesday night marked the eighth time they have reached 80 this season, including the second straight ACC game. Now that they are running more, their field goal percentage is up, as is their scoring.
“I feel like for a large part of the season, we’ve been a halfcourt team,” said freshman forward Harrison Barnes. “Now that we’re starting to get our fast break points going, it just adds to our offense.”
A lot of the reason to think this team would be better had to do with the freshmen who joined the team. While Kendall Marshall was the first to start living up to his billing, he has company now. Much was expected – perhaps too much, in fact – of Barnes, as he was selected as a preseason First Team All-American. Early on, he had his struggles, but lately he looks more like the player he was billed as coming out of high school. In addition, Reggie Bullock has struggled shooting the ball in ACC play, but made four three-pointers in a short time to get the offense going.
“The big difference to me in the whole game was in the first half with Reggie Bullock off the bench,” said Williams.
While Bullock may have gained some confidence, Barnes looked very much as advertised. It started early: in the first half, when he went 5-6 from the field, just about every made jumper swished through the basket. He finished with a new career high of 26 points on 9-15 shooting. That followed his 25-point outing a few days earlier against NC State, which came after he hit the game-winning three-pointer against Miami.
“Harrison does feel more comfortable now,” said Williams. “I think that game Saturday gave him a great deal of confidence. I think it showed him how good it feels to be successful. I think he was more active, and I think he was more active tonight as well.”
Both Barnes and Bullock have benefited from the play of Marshall, an excellent pass-first point guard. He has now started the last four games, and he makes everyone better. The individual numbers aren’t eye-popping, but the team offense is clearly better, and he combined with Larry Drew II, who he replaces in the starting lineup, for 15 assists with just three turnovers on Tuesday as Drew came off the bench and had a stellar outing.
While much has been said about the freshmen, not nearly as much has been said about the leap made by a few of the sophomores. They took a back seat to the freshmen on Tuesday night, but haven’t done that often this season. The sophomore trio of John Henson, Leslie McDonald and Dexter Strickland shot 41.7 percent from the field last season, but has improved to just under 49 percent this season. Henson, the only one of the three who scored in double figures on Tuesday with 13 points and seven rebounds, could still stand to get stronger, but he’s putting up solid numbers in rebounding and blocked shots, leading the ACC in the latter category with 64. McDonald quietly had nine points and has emerged as the team’s best shooter, something most figured Bullock would be.
Among the more experienced Tar Heels, having Tyler Zeller healthy all year to date has been important as well. Williams noted that they need him inside with all of the perimeter threats they have, and he’s their leading scorer and second-leading rebounder. While he is most notable on this team as an inside threat, there are a lot of things he can do and he was in the middle of the action when they were forcing turnovers and getting run-outs to take the lead for good in the first half.
“Most times, you’re not going to shoot (11-21 on three-pointers), you’ve got to have some balance,” Williams said.
The Tar Heels had their best field goal percentage in almost four years on Tuesday, shooting over 57 percent for the game. In each of the prior three games, they shot better than 50 percent from the field in one half of play, but not both as they did on Tuesday.
Tuesday night’s win was the beginning of a stretch with three of four on the road for the Tar Heels. They started it by picking up where they left off, with more running thanks to better defense and the freshmen coming along. After looking questionable at times in non-conference play, they are looking very much as advertised before the season right now.
