Photo by Todd Melet

Will an eight-day layoff help or hurt the Tar Heels?

The obvious quirk in the schedule when it came out is now upon us, and it could be good or bad for a Carolina team that has seemed to find itself over the last two games.

Eight days off and idle over the weekend seems like a long time during the college basketball season, and it’s unclear why the Tar Heels were saddled with this. It is the opposite of the three games in five days they were hit with last year, which turned out to be the best stretch of the season after beating Duke, State and Notre Dame from Thursday to Monday.

This time, we will see. Carolina is coming off its best back-to-back showing so far, running away from Miami in Coral Gables and blowing out tenth-ranked Virginia Tech at home. The second half of both games were three-point highlight reels, and when that happens most teams would want to play again as soon as possible to stay in the groove.

This break, however, will contain a day or two off to get some people healthy, mainly Sterling Manley, heading into challenging road trips to Georgia Tech and Louisville before they return home for three straight games in six days. Will their hands still be hot by the time they get back on the court for a real game?

The previous longest break came during exam period, and Carolina returned with its best game to date against No. 4 Gonzaga at the Smith Center. That victory was marked by a great three-point shooting night and dominating rebounding versus the Zags, which made up for 23 turnovers. There was less practice time during that lull; this time the Tar Heels will be really anxious to play again.

Kenny Williams, who is still shooting under 30 percent from 3-point range, hit 5 of 10 against the Hurricanes and Hokies; Cameron Johnson, who went two straight games without a three-pointer, re-emerged with 7 of 13 from the arc; and Luke Maye broke out of his mini-slump with 4 of 5 treys among the team’s season-high of 16 against VaTech. The last two ACC wins have featured 60 percent shooting in both second halves for the 5-1 and first place Heels.

Let’s hope this untimely pause doesn’t cool them off.

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