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The first three games can only tell us so much about the Tar Heels.
Early season non-conference games are not useless, but they cannot predict the future against a far tougher schedule. After beating small and quick Radford by 16 points and good-shooting Lehigh by 22, certain tendencies are surfacing.
Since the bench rotation is the hot topic, Hubert Davis played ten men in the first two games who got 10 minutes or more. He seems set with Armando Bacot and R.J. Davis, of course; Harrison Ingram looks locked at the second post position and can also play small forward. The other two who have started so far are 6-5 grad students Cormac Ryan and Paxson Wojcik, reputed good shooters and good passers and tough defenders.
Jalen Washington gets off the bench when Bacot needs a blow or (God forbid) suffers nagging injuries like what dogged him last season. J-Wash (as they call him) is getting about 10 minutes. Elliot Cadeau is the first guard sub and has played about 20 minutes in both games, had 6 assists against Radford but none against Lehigh.
Surprisingly improved sophomore Seth Trimble and senior Jae’Lyn Withers are in the rotation, as is freshman forward Zayden High, who comes in early but hasn’t played much after that. Junior transfer (from West Virginia) James Okonkwo has not cracked the top 10 so far. But it does look like Davis has it calculated.
The good news is the new Heels are shooting far better at 49 percent from the floor and slightly better from the arc at 32 percent. Their assist-turnover ratio is a good 29-21, and those 29 assists are on 63 made baskets, a big upgrade from last season.
Bacot has opened with two double doubles, and his 23 points and 20 rebounds against Leigh is his third career 20/20 game and now trails only Billy Cunningham (8) and Lennie Rosenbluth (5) in their All-American UNC careers.
Bacot and the vastly underrated R.J. Davis will be the Tar Heels’ go-to scorers, with Ingram showing the potential of making it a three-some. Ryan was a great shooter at ND but is 3 for 10 from the arc so far, which will improve.
UNC was 4-0 a year ago before going to the Portland Nike tournament, where it won the first game then began a four-game losing streak that dropped the preseason No. 1 team out of the rankings. These Tar Heels have UC-Riverside Friday and will likely go to the Battle 4 Atlantis with the danger of losing twice there.
That’s where all these numbers and stats will tell us more.
Featured image via Todd Melet
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