By Adam Lucas
1. Carolina’s superior depth was plenty in an 83-67 season-opening–and era-opening–win over Loyola.
2. Very solid performance by Caleb Love. Playing in front of a friendly home crowd for the first time in his Carolina career, the guard scored 22 points, hit two of his six three-pointers, and handed out two assists with–this is key–zero turnovers. Love’s assists came in close proximity to each other in the second half and were gorgeous–one a lob to Leaky Black and the other a nice blind feed to Brady Manek.
3. Manek, who had 20 points and five rebounds, will get a reputation as a shooter. It’s true that he has one of the best strokes on the team, but he also flashed some post moves against the Greyhounds, and even scored on a half-runner to the basket. He will quickly become one of the highlighted players on opposing scouting reports, and the first line will likely read, “Take away his perimeter shot.” His ability to score in other ways will be important (but he’s still a lethal shooter).
4. Hubert Davis will be pleased with the way his team took care of the ball in the first portion of the game. The Tar Heels went through a nearly 15-minute stretch with just one turnover before getting a little loose with it later in the first half. Carolina finished with 11 turnovers in the game.
5. Leaky Black got the start on Tuesday in a spot in the starting lineup that may have some flexibility. Black was very solid for what you’re expecting him to do–four assists and four rebounds against one turnover in 20 minutes. Another contender at that spot, Justin McKoy, had his best stretch of the game in the second half, as he contested a loose ball that led to a UNC three-pointer and also had a nice post entry to Armando Bacot.
6. It’s interesting to watch the way Davis uses all the pieces he has at his disposal. With Loyola on the free throw line and 18.3 seconds left, he went with a perimeter-heavy lineup featuring RJ Davis, Caleb Love, Brady Manek, Dawson Garcia and Kerwin Walton. But give Loyola coach Tavaras Hardy credit–he went zone for the first time in the game, and Carolina looked confused and had to settle for a contested long three-pointer that missed. Sometimes the other coach makes good moves, too. That zone was problematic at times for Carolina in the second half as Loyola used it more in the second 20 minutes than they did in the first.
7. The first half looked the most like the “old” Kerwin Walton that we’ve seen in the last few weeks. Walton has had some difficult practices as Davis continues to push him to be a more complete player, especially on the defensive end. He swished a couple of first half three-pointers and contributed eight points while also handing out an assist with no turnovers. The sophomore finished with 11 points and hit three of his six three-pointers.
8. That first half margin of 14 points was deceptive largely because of Carolina’s missed free throws. The Tar Heels made just 10-for-18 at the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes, leaving some points on the table. They also missed some easier shots close to the basket they would normally convert. Carolina did recover to hit 5-for-6 in the second half.
9. Great to see Tyler Hansbrough in the new courtside seats. Hansbrough, as you’d expect, got a huge reaction from the Smith Center crowd.
10. Carolina got just six offensive rebounds on 25 missed shots. That’s well below ratios from past years. However, the three-point shooting was also more effective than in past years, as Carolina hit 38.1 percent from the arc. There are going to be tradeoffs under a new coach. The Tar Heels won the overall rebounding battle, 36-29.
11. Was that a “Du-we” chant at the end of the game? Duwe Farris swished a free throw to the adoring cheers of the crowd and had an active last couple of minutes.