How UNC basketball’s lineup, with less size and more options, will help against Purdue
If you want to see the biggest difference in North Carolina coach Hubert Davis’ offensive philosophy since taking over from Roy Williams as head coach, then Saturday’s Hall of Fame Tipoff game against No. 6 Purdue will provide a stark contrast to examine.
The Boilermakers (3-0) will trot out and play with two traditional bigs that Williams was known for utilizing in 7-foot-4 center Zach Edney and 6-foot-10 forward Caleb Furst. The No. 18 Tar Heels (3-0) will pop their bigs out on the perimeter to create spacing and shoot 3-pointers.
Davis specifically recruited transfers Brady Manek and Dawson Garcia for their ability to shoot from outside and be potential matchup problems.
“There’s a challenge of defending them around the basket in the post, but there’s a challenge for them to defend our bigs,” Davis said. “We can score around the basket as well and we can also play out on the perimeter. So as much as they pose a problem for us and a challenge for us, we do the same thing on the other end.”
When the weekend is over at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, there will be a definitive answer as to how Carolina compares with other elite teams nationally. The winner of UNC-Purdue will face the winner of No. 5 Villanova and No. 17 Tennessee on Sunday with the two losing teams playing in the consolation game.
For the moment, Carolina offensively is well ahead of how it plays defense. The Heels rank 17th nationally in adjusted offense, according to KenPom.com. How they play on that end is the reason for their confidence heading up to Uncasville.
Five Tar Heels (Caleb Love 19.0, Armando Bacot 18.0, Manek 17.0, R.J. Davis 12.7, Kerwin Walton 10.0) average double figures scoring and Garcia is just four points away with an 8.7 point average.
Three different players (Love, Davis, Bacot) have led them in scoring through their first three games.
“We’ve got a lot of weapons and I think everybody has had a chance of having a Superman night,” said Walton, who’s made the most 3s on the team with eight. “Everybody can put the cape on on this team, and I think that we all know that and we all feed off of each other.”
Four different players (Love, Manek, Davis, Bacot) have already scored 20 or more points in a game. That didn’t happen last season until they played Florida State on Feb. 27. Carolina totaled seven games with a 20-point performance all of last season. It already has six — with both Love and Bacot having two each — through three games.
Bacot, who leads the ACC shooting 82.1 percent from the field, said the reason for the individual outbursts had to do with how Davis has instilled confidence in the team.
“Coach Davis never really tells us anything like a shot is bad or anything like that,” Bacot said. “So just playing with that confidence and just having swagger, I feel like that’s why you see us scoring these huge totals.”
The Heels were limited offensively the past two seasons. But now just about any lineup Davis taps to take the floor has multiple ways to carve up opponents.
Love, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, has thrived so far with UNC playing four-out, one-in on offense. The spacing of players has allowed him to attack the rim and get to the free-throw line. Davis predicted back in October that he’d lead the ACC in free-throw attempts. So far, Love’s 28 attempts are second only to Miami’s Kameron McGusty with 31.
“It’s gonna be hard for defenses to guard us because we have so many pieces,” Love said. “We’re lethal with pretty much anybody on the bench and anybody on the floor that coach Davis puts out there.”
Davis said the rotation was still evolving and that he’d like to find more opportunities to work junior guard Anthony Harris as well as freshmen D’Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles into the lineup.
Carolina will have to improve its defense in order to really be a contender when March rolls around. They are the lowest ranked of the four teams playing in Uncasville in defensive efficiency at No. 105, according to KenPom.com. But until that time comes, the Heels will have to win on offense and they’ve proved fully capable of doing so.
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 5:23 PM with the headline "How UNC basketball’s lineup, with less size and more options, will help against Purdue."