Photo by Todd Melet

Carolina had it all against Gonzaga; hope none of it was fool’s gold.

Roy Williams called it the best atmosphere for a non-conference game he has seen in the Smith Center. The first true sell-out of the season had a capacity crowd roaring with every 3-pointer the Tar Heels made and every offensive rebound that resulted in 27 points compared to zero second-chance points by a Zags team playing without two regulars.

After a sensational first half, perhaps Carolina’s best of the season, Mack Brown provided his own theatrics when he walked onto the court with his new coaching staff and said he and Sally were “happy to be home.” It is indeed great to have Mack back, but his situation is not unlike the basketball team’s performance. Brown has created a splash, for sure, following two seasons of 5-18 football, but will he win enough to bring the fans back to Kenan Stadium to watch annual bowl teams?

The Hoop Heels missed their first five 3-point attempts against Gonzaga and then made 13 of their final 20 treys, including 6 of 8 from leading scorer Cameron Johnson. The offense and offensive rebounding preserved a double-digit lead over the Zags, who got 29 points on Carolina’s uncharacteristic 23 turnovers, some of which were truly troubling against a well-prepared opponent.

Photo by Todd Melet

Gonzaga coach Mark Few knows the Tar Heels well and his team picked off some lazy passes from the high post to the wing, a few looking almost like a robotic practice drill. Those produced easy run-out scores for the Zags, who also had their share of open drives down the lane after Carolina had over-extended its defense to cover 3-point attempts. The Bulldogs hung around by shooting 56 percent in the second half when Luke Maye’s 12 points and 9 boards helped hold off the fourth-ranked visitors.

Ol’ Roy likes to say things look better when the ball goes in, but that won’t always be the case, especially for the longer 3’s. The Heels hit some other tough shots they made look easy. In short, to beat Kentucky this Saturday and compete for first place in the ACC, Carolina will have to play far more fundamental basketball on both ends of the floor that will require more smarts and dirty work when the shots aren’t falling so plentifully.

Clearly, Carolina won’t outscore everyone.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing Out
Roy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!
UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps Up
Dean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) Star
Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and Ambitions
Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID Debate
Clemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers
Carolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?
What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To Carolina
UNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra Motivation
Carolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›