For a game with no flow, opening night was still live action.
What a wonderfully strange start to the season for the top-ranked team in the nation. The head coach, who loves the excitement around his second team, said he was moved by the pre-game buzz that included chants of “Huuuubert” when he came out of the tunnel to tip it off.
Why did the Tar Heels have such little continuity after practicing so hard since last April? Only one change to the starting lineup, grad transfer Pete Nance replacing Brady Manek, who tweeted good luck from Australia.
Some of it had to do with UNC-Wilmington’s aggressive and unusual style. The Seahawks used trapping defenses that kept Carolina out of any semblance of inside-outside offense. The Tar Heels’ one assist at the half and four for the game was the lowest in a category Dean Smith almost invented since his 1980 team lost in double OT to Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament. On the other hand, Carolina’s pressure man-to-man limited UNCW to only three assists, which was the fewest since 1975, Phil Ford’s sophomore season. That combination made it a game with no flow to speak of.
The Heels came out in their new warm-up hoodies, which senior star Armando Bacot kept over his head during most of pre-game drills. He also led the new high-voltage video in which he emphasized that Carolina was “one box-out away” – his – from beating Kansas in the national title game.
Hubert Davis played his starters unusually long before substituting. Sophomores Dontrez Styles (for Nance) and D’Marco Dunn (for Caleb Love) were the first off the bench, eventually followed by freshmen Tyler Nickel, who gave Bacot a breather that moved Nance into the 5 position, and Seth Trimble when R.J. Davis got hit in the thigh and had to come out.
Including super senior Leaky Black, who got some time at power forward, those were the nine who played all 200 minutes of the 69-56 victory in which UNC shot 46 percent from the floor and 77 percent from the foul line but made only 2 of the 10 attempted 3-pointers.
One experimental lineup featured four guards – Love, Davis, Dunn and Trimble along with Bacot, which Hubert obviously used to try to speed up the shot-clock absorbing Seahawks, who hit only 30 percent from the floor. Late in the game, Love made a twisting jumper while getting fouled and yelled to the student section, “AND ONE!” He completed the three-point play and tied Davis with 17 as high scorers.
Coach Davis acknowledged the raggedy game and said it “taught our guys a lesson about the level of physicality they have to bring every night.”
In the boisterous, legend-filled crowd was Luke Maye and Joel Berry from the 2017 NCAA champs, who were introduced at a time out. One fan wisecracked, “Hey, look who’s here . . . Drake Maye’s brother!”
Featured image via Todd Melet
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If we wear hoodies, we can be a senator from Pennsylvania. But our players do talk too intelligently for that I guess.