North Carolina (13-1, 1-0) kicked off its ACC conference season with a 79-66 win over Florida State (7-7, 0-1).
The Tar Heels were led by Caleb Wilson’s video game-like numbers. Wilson finished with 22 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks. Seth Trimble scored 20 points, and Kyan Evans chipped in with 15.
North Carolina led by as much as 16.
Takeaways:
Can’t Forget Veesaar
How does Henri Veesaar only have one shot attempt in the first half? It was a combination of things. On the positive side, the Tar Heels were doing a good job of pitching the ball forward. That helped them to 11 first-half fast-break points.
But let’s be honest, part of it was not looking inside. North Carolina started the game by firing off threes as if they were planning on matching Florida State’s style of play. It was why the game was close early on. Several times, the Tar Heels didn’t look inside despite the fact that the Seminoles weren’t putting effective ball pressure on the ballhandler.
North Carolina could’ve done a better job reversing the ball on time in the halfcourt as opposed to holding it a touch too long.
In the second half, Veesaar was 6-6 from the field. That’s more like it because North Carolina isn’t good enough to shoot a quality team out of the gym from the three-point line, and starting the game the way they did could catch up to them against a better team.
What to Make of Evans
Kyan Evans came into the Chapel Hill with what was thought to fill a scoring/primary ballhandler need. It’s taken Evans a while to find some consistent footing. He isn’t an instinctive facilitator in this style of offense, and figuring out when and how much to shoot has been a challenge.
Evans had 15 points and was 5-12 from three last night. On most nights, will the Tar Heels be efficient on offense if Evans is taking 15 shot attempts? Part of the increase was Luka Bogavac only playing 13 minutes. In those 13 minutes, he was 0-5 from the floor, 0-2 from three. Derek Dixon was 0-3 (all three-point attempts) in 20 minutes. But, for the most part, Evans should mainly be a “knockdown a shot on demand” more than a volume shooter.
What To Make of the Defense
Overall, the Tar Heels’ defensive game plan was executed.
At some point, Florida State will learn that when teams crowd them in the way North Carolina did (especially in the first few seconds of the shot clock), there are opportunities to drive the ball and get to the free-throw line.
There were times, especially in secondary transition, that the Tar Heels’ defenders were crowding the ballhandler at the three-point line for obvious reasons, but when you looked at the rest of the floor, some Tar Heels were hugging their man, so there wasn’t anyone in help principles.
Again, their game plan is specifically for Florida State, so on paper, North Carolina did what they were supposed to do, but against a team with a more diverse approach, the Tar Heels’ defensive posture could be an issue.
