Neither video tape nor stats lie when it comes to hoops.
Roy Williams learned how to watch and break down games on film in the old days and has since used high-tech editing to do it more effectively in the modern era of video. It has only strengthened his belief, especially with young players, that the “eye in the sky don’t lie.”
Coaches have a hard time convincing some prep stars that they screwed up until they turn on the tape. After five games, Ol’ Roy has needed a lot of help from that eye in the sky.
With highly-recruited players who had their way in high school due to their pure athletic and basketball ability, college can be a major leap. Particularly on the ACC level, almost everyone they play with and against is of more equal talent.
So, for coaches, maximizing skill sets and minimizing mistakes is the challenge of putting a team together. To the naked eye, the 2020-21 Heels have more natural ability than last year’s 14-19 squad, but the good play-bad play ratio is way off i.e., 62 assists, 82 turnovers.
The stat sheets also bear this out. UNC is shooting 43 percent overall and under 30 percent from the 3-point line. Those are pretty close to last year for the entire season. These Tar Heels are behind those in two other categories: foul-shooting and rebounding margin. Little reason to believe that won’t improve with more practice.
Caleb Love’s play is not dissimilar to Cole Anthony a year ago, although Anthony showed he was a true streak shooter from the first game against Notre Dame. Still, he finished shooting under 40 percent from the field and 35 percent from the arc.
Love’s numbers so far are a dismal 28 and 17.4 percent. Running mate R.J. Davis has far better percentages, 42 overall and 44 from the 3-point line. The freshman guards play more minutes together than apart, but strangely each does better when out there by himself.
So getting those guys to make more plays than mistakes is Roy’s biggest challenge and will require more practice and tape time.
The first 10 minutes of the second half against Iowa, hopefully, is a glimpse of the future, shooting 13-for-20 to briefly take the lead. They also had a season-high of 22 assists after a slow start, which is 10 more than the previous high this season.
All good signs.
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