UNC Men’s Basketball Looks to Get Back on Track Against Radford

After opening the season with seven highly impressive wins over a 13-day span, many college basketball analysts began wondering whether the No. 3 UNC men’s basketball team was already reserving itself a spot in April’s Final Four.

As talented as they are, the Tar Heels proved that talk was a bit premature after losing this past Wednesday to No. 13 Indiana in a game they never led.

Head coach Roy Williams not only questioned his team’s intensity level, he also threw a little shade at UNC’s fans for not being quite as loud in the Smith Center on a regular basis as Indiana’s crowd was at Assembly Hall that night.

On Sunday afternoon when the Tar Heels begin a three-game home stand in Chapel Hill against Radford, both the players and fans will have a chance to respond to Williams’ charges.

Isaiah Hicks struggled mightily against Indiana on Wednesday. He’ll be looking to bounce back when UNC takes on Radford this weekend. (Todd Melet)

The Highlanders–which enter the game with a 3-4 record–will likely see a UNC team playing with something to prove, even though they aren’t necessarily the toughest team the Tar Heels have seen this season.

With a squad that prides itself on scoring balance, UNC should be looking to get everyone involved in the offense early on.

Against Indiana, only forwards Justin Jackson (21 points) and Kennedy Meeks (10 points) reached double figures in scoring. This was the first time since last February’s loss to Duke that only two Tar Heels reached that milestone in a game.

Jackson, Meeks and point guard Joel Berry continue to put together consistent all-around performances, but the rest of the supporting cast now has to find that same consistency.

UNC’s other big men–Isaiah Hicks and freshman Tony Bradley–ran into some serious struggles against the Hoosiers that will have to be corrected.

Hicks, who has had issues with foul trouble in the past, fouled out for the first time this season on Wednesday while having problems finding the basket. Bradley, meanwhile, was held below 10 points for the second straight game after beginning his career with six straight double-figure outputs off the bench.

The Tar Heels will be depending on a solid recovery by their frontcourt if they want to get back into the form they were playing at over those first seven wins–especially against an opponent on Sunday that doesn’t have a single player taller than 6-foot-8.

Although Radford certainly isn’t the type of opponent to get a crowd all riled up, the Tar Heel players can inject them with optimism themselves by making highlight plays and showing competitive fire.

From there, UNC can use any positive mojo it gains as the schedule toughens up in the middle of the month with games against Davidson, Tennessee and No. 1 Kentucky.

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