All season defense has been an area where the Tar Heels can use improvement. After the their 74-61 victory against Furman at home Tuesday night, UNC head coach Hurbert Davis said team’s defensive effort and consistency will still be a focus going forward.
“One thing I always think that should be consistent is defense and effort. Will and want.”
Tar Heel forward Leaky Black’s stance was the same since earlier in the season when he stated the team needing to make it an emphasis to play “team defense” and communicate better with one another on the backend.
Tuesday the Paladins came out on fire from downtown, tying the Heels at intermission 39 all. Raleigh native Alex Hunter, who wasn’t shy of the big moment, lit up the Tar Heels’ backcourt in the first half – scoring 17 of his 21 points before half. Davis called him an unbelievable player to watch and one of the better guards in the country. What allowed Furman to stay in the game was not just their effort within the half-court offense, but a team that averages 30 three point attempts a game (10th in the country) hit 8 in the first half. Hunter’s ability to run the high ball screens and force the mismatch with Bacot or Garcia guarding him forced Hubert Davis in the second half to play a lot of switch team defense with the longer Leaky Black and physicality of Caleb Love to slow him down. Hunter only scored four points in the second half.
Interior Presence Was Too Much
The size mismatch was obvious from tip-off and much more decisive in the second half when UNC went down low early and often, opening the second half on a 15-4 run and never looking back. Dawson Garcia, who provides UNC with the prototype stretch four position, scored the first seven points of the ball game from either team – prompting Furman to immediately call a time-out. When Furman collapsed on the perimeter Caleb Love, RJ Davis, and Anthony Harris found the bigs on the interior and let them feast.
Armando Bacot finished with a double-double (14 points and 12 rebounds), but the spark was from Marquette transfer Dawson Garcia who led all Heels with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Heels finished with a resounding rebound margin of 44-25 and 18 assists to just eight turnovers.
Next up for UNC is a date with #4 ranked UCLA in Las Vegas for the CBS Sports Classic.