UNC basketball could take advantage of smaller lineup against Notre Dame
If the short tenure of Hubert Davis as North Carolina’s men’s basketball coach already has one defining trait, it’s versatility. It stems from Davis’ vision that includes having post players who are matchup problems who can step outside the 3-point line and shoot like Brady Manek and Dawson Garcia.
And Wednesday at Notre Dame, that versatility could extend to the lineups the Tar Heels (10-3, 2-0 ACC) use.
Garcia’s availability is unknown after suffering a head injury in their 91-65 win at Boston College. Out of necessity, the Heels found out that playing small is a viable option. While Davis said they had tinkered with a smaller lineup in practice, it hadn’t been used very much.
“I’m not glad that it happened, that it forced us to do that in the game,” Davis said. “But I’m very thankful for what we got out of this difficult situation of having a couple guys injured.”
If Garcia is unable to play, that would leave Carolina with just Manek and Armando Bacot in the frontcourt. Manek and Bacot both expressed confidence if they end up being the lone bigs on the court for extended minutes
“There was a time when I was playing the 5 (against BC) and just made the best of it,” Manek said. “We played really well, we had kind of a mismatch on the offensive end. We kept attacking them and we kept scoring.”
Bacot pointed out the versatility of senior Leaky Black helps drive their four guard lineup. Black has arguably been the most versatile player on the roster since he arrived in Chapel Hill.
“We usually play four out, one in anyway so just having them already doing that it kind of helps us when a guy like Dawson goes down and Leaky’s got to play the 4,” Bacot said. “... Leaky’s played some (power forward) years back, so he’s got good experience and just having that versatility. I mean, it just opens up the floor and we can really do whatever we want.”
The Heels haven’t had to play with a four guard lineup much this season, but found themselves needing to against the Eagles. Garcia was injured two minutes into the game and never returned to the floor.
Before Carolina turned Sunday’s win over Boston College into a blowout, it used a four guard lineup twice for a total of about five and a half minutes. The smaller lineup combined to shoot 5 of 6 from the field — with four of those baskets assisted. The Heels outscored the Eagles 15-3 during that stretch.
Black did not attempt a shot in the game and was scoreless for the first time this season. But he had six rebounds and a game-high five assists.
“We have a guy at the power forward position that can handle the basketball and can get us into the offense,” Davis said. “He had five assists and only one turnover. So to get that from a guy that can play the 3 or 4 is really beneficial to us. We can go big or small and I really liked that.”
One area of concern though from using a smaller lineup is rebounding. While UNC outrebounded BC 6-3 over those five minutes, all of the Eagles’ rebounds were offensive boards.
“Boston College had nine offensive rebounds against us,” Davis said. “And so that’s an area that we have to continue to improve on. Making contact and limiting teams to one shot every possession.”
Black isn’t the only key player in allowing the Heels to go small. Justin McKoy could be too. The status of the 6-foot-8 Virginia transfer who played at Panther Creek High School is also unknown for Wednesday’s game. McKoy missed their win over Boston College after entering COVID-19 protocol last week.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "UNC basketball could take advantage of smaller lineup against Notre Dame."