1. Brazdeikis had 24, Matthews 21, and Poole 18, but for my money, the player of the game was Jon Teske, with his 6 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks. Teske literally changed the game on the defensive end, preventing UNC from getting to the basket with impunity. Teske block outs prevented North Carolina to do much on the offensive glass until late when the game was effectively over. Teske's solid screens were a key to spacing the floor and opening up driving lanes and, ultimately, open kickoff 3s. I love statistics. Sometimes though they don't tell the whole story.
2. What a turnaround for Poole offensively. Until the last 5 seconds of the first half, he couldn't get anything to go down, but he hit the corner 3 to end the first half, stayed aggressive, and exploded. We need JP to keep being aggressive on the offensive end.
3. As my brother pointed out, we made a fantastic adjustment early in the second half. UNC was able to trap Brooks and Simpson, who couldn't see over it--we then started having Poole bring it up and, when trapped, get the ball over it to Z in open space for a 4 on 3 set-up, and Z delivered with pinpoint passing. UNC did not adjust quickly, and when they finally did and took off the trap, we had Z handle without pressure. Really, really good.
4. We had 1 turnover in the second half. 1. You get a lot of shots when you only turn it over once in a half. We made ours.
5. When we first saw film on Iggy a year and a half or so ago, people remarked about his being ambidextrous. He keeps showing new things in that regard. You seldom see plays like the one he made tonight where he drove hard left and still laid it up with the right hand.
6. Yeah, yeah, we were terrible from the free throw line and sometime in a close game, it's going to come back to bite us. On the positive side, Matthews was 5-7 from the line (the rest were a sorry 4-14), and since he and Iggy (who is a good free throw shooter) are going to lead us in trips to the line this year, that was very good to see. Also, we were 10-20 from 3. If you can hit 21 footers, sometimes even contested 21 footers, the free throw shooting will improve, right?
7. By now, our defense is so good that it's almost an afterthought. That's a great offensive team (Carolina is decidedly not, as I said earlier today, a good defensive squad at all, but they're great offensively), and we were completely dominant other than the first 5 minutes and about a 2 minute stretch in the second half. As good as Coby White is (and he's real good), Z was lights out guarding him. Charles completely shut down Cam Johnson. Maye was good early, but then was a non-factor. We play so hard and so together, and have at least 3 guys (Simpson, Matthews and Teske who all deserve to be All Big Ten defensive players if they continue at present pace. If there is a better defensive team in the country, I haven't seen it.
8. Speaking of Teske and Simpson, who would have ever thought after the '16-'17 season that the recruiting class of '16 (Teske, Simpson, Davis and Watson) would be as productive as it has been will continue to be, and that's with Ibi Watson gone and Austin Davis playing minor minutes. Their growth has been key to our growth.
9. We were very good offensively despite missing at least 6 absolute bunnies around the hoop.
10. We're very, very good. That's very, very good. There may be some stumbles along the way--a game or a few game stretch where we don't play well and folks start to get nervous. Ride those out--college basketball is like that--and wait for March. These guys have a chance to be special.
2. What a turnaround for Poole offensively. Until the last 5 seconds of the first half, he couldn't get anything to go down, but he hit the corner 3 to end the first half, stayed aggressive, and exploded. We need JP to keep being aggressive on the offensive end.
3. As my brother pointed out, we made a fantastic adjustment early in the second half. UNC was able to trap Brooks and Simpson, who couldn't see over it--we then started having Poole bring it up and, when trapped, get the ball over it to Z in open space for a 4 on 3 set-up, and Z delivered with pinpoint passing. UNC did not adjust quickly, and when they finally did and took off the trap, we had Z handle without pressure. Really, really good.
4. We had 1 turnover in the second half. 1. You get a lot of shots when you only turn it over once in a half. We made ours.
5. When we first saw film on Iggy a year and a half or so ago, people remarked about his being ambidextrous. He keeps showing new things in that regard. You seldom see plays like the one he made tonight where he drove hard left and still laid it up with the right hand.
6. Yeah, yeah, we were terrible from the free throw line and sometime in a close game, it's going to come back to bite us. On the positive side, Matthews was 5-7 from the line (the rest were a sorry 4-14), and since he and Iggy (who is a good free throw shooter) are going to lead us in trips to the line this year, that was very good to see. Also, we were 10-20 from 3. If you can hit 21 footers, sometimes even contested 21 footers, the free throw shooting will improve, right?
7. By now, our defense is so good that it's almost an afterthought. That's a great offensive team (Carolina is decidedly not, as I said earlier today, a good defensive squad at all, but they're great offensively), and we were completely dominant other than the first 5 minutes and about a 2 minute stretch in the second half. As good as Coby White is (and he's real good), Z was lights out guarding him. Charles completely shut down Cam Johnson. Maye was good early, but then was a non-factor. We play so hard and so together, and have at least 3 guys (Simpson, Matthews and Teske who all deserve to be All Big Ten defensive players if they continue at present pace. If there is a better defensive team in the country, I haven't seen it.
8. Speaking of Teske and Simpson, who would have ever thought after the '16-'17 season that the recruiting class of '16 (Teske, Simpson, Davis and Watson) would be as productive as it has been will continue to be, and that's with Ibi Watson gone and Austin Davis playing minor minutes. Their growth has been key to our growth.
9. We were very good offensively despite missing at least 6 absolute bunnies around the hoop.
10. We're very, very good. That's very, very good. There may be some stumbles along the way--a game or a few game stretch where we don't play well and folks start to get nervous. Ride those out--college basketball is like that--and wait for March. These guys have a chance to be special.
