Lucas: Citadel Rapid Reactions – University of North Carolina Athletics

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina overpowered The Citadel on Tuesday, getting a relatively easy 100-67 victory.

2. The Tar Heels got every single thing they wanted out of that game. The starters didn’t have to play big minutes, the reserves got significant opportunities–and produced in those opportunities–and Carolina came out of the game healthy. Thirteen different Carolina players scored, ten had a rebound, and nine had an assist.

3. Who are these guys who are passing the ball so much? The Tar Heels, who just a couple games ago were regularly putting up single-digit assists, had an assist on 13 of their 14 first half field goals. They finished with 24 assists on a night when it was often fun to watch them pass the ball–something you haven’t always been able to say this season. That makes two straight games where the Heels have shared the ball very effectively.

4. As you would expect, Carolina completely dominated the paint against an outmatched Bulldog squad. Armando Bacot nearly collected a double-double in the first half (13 points and eight rebounds) on his way to finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bacot got a nice hand from the crowd when it was announced he had passed Billy Cunningham for the most double-digit rebounding games in school history (62). That’s a record that has stood for sixty years–quite an achievement for Bacot. Carolina won the overall rebounding battle, 47-31. 

5. Hubert Davis kept the first half closer than it might actually have been by spreading the minutes around the bench. In a very Roy Williams-ish move, Davis gave four minutes to Dontrez Styles, three minutes to Jalen Washington, seven minutes to Tyler Nickel, and a combined 16 minutes to Seth Trimble and Puff Johnson in the first half. And it worked–Styles put up five points in that time, Washington hit a couple of silky free throws, and Trimble was a key cog in the pass-happy offense. And then, when the margin was just six, the Tar Heel head coach largely returned to the starters and let them push the lead out to 15 points at halftime. Every member of the starting five was at least +10 in the first half, with RJ Davis being a whopping +20 in 13 minutes.

6. Most encouragingly, Styles was active on the backboards, grabbing three first half boards, with one of them offensive. That’s the easiest path for him to gain playing time. He finished with nine points and six boards. The next challenge is to replicate that production against a better opponent.

7. Part of the assist numbers were due to one of the best three-point shooting games of the season. Carolina hit 14-of-29 from long range, led by four for Caleb Love and three from Pete Nance. Tyler Nickel caught fire late and contributed a career high 16 points–he will be the postgame interview subject on the Tar Heel Sports Network, which will be an entertaining listen.

8. The perimeter woes have gotten more attention but the Tar Heels are doing an extremely effective job of getting to the free throw line. They did it again against The Citadel. The Tar Heels outscored the Bulldogs 21-6 from the charity stripe. 

9. Caleb Love had six assists and it was very fun to watch him pass the ball in the second half. He seemed to be taking as much joy in Tyler Nickel scoring as he did in his own production. This team might be coming around.

10. Even bigger reaction when Jackson Watkins hit the biscuit shot, putting the Tar Heels to 100. The reserves got five points in the final minute to reach the century mark.

11. In another quirk of what has been an unusual Tar Heel basketball schedule this year, Tuesday marked the final nonconference home game of the season. However, the Tar Heels still have two big nonconference games remaining, starting Saturday at Madison Square Garden against Ohio State. The other is next Wednesday in Charlotte against Michigan in the Jumpman Invitational. The Tar Heels will most definitely be battle tested by the time they fully enter ACC play on Dec. 30 at Pitt–the four teams that have defeated Carolina this year are a combined 34-6.

12. Fun fact on The Citadel: Tuesday’s win runs Carolina’s all-time record against the Bulldogs to 20-0. That’s the most wins without a loss against any opponent in program history.