Quick Hitters - North Carolina at Notre Dame

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 78-73 road loss to Notre Dame on Wednesday night.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Jan 6, 2022 2:53 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 78-73 road loss to Notre Dame on Wednesday night.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

Carolina lost a terrific opportunity to open up ACC play 3-0 (all on the road!). After a sub-par first half on multiple fronts (chief of which was defensive effort) the Tar Heels played much better respectively in the second half, but still had too many lapses and errors to walk away with an ACC road victory.
UNC was down three regular rotation players – no Dawson Garcia (concussion protocols), Kerwin Walton (COVID protocols), or Justin McKoy (COVID protocols). Those absences help explain the loss, but they are not an excuse for it. Carolina still played eight scholarship players, which was ultimately more than Notre Dame’s seven.
With a shortened bench, it was imperative that players (especially starters) not get in foul trouble. Armando Bacot and Caleb Love were each whistled for three, but no one was in any real danger.
Love should have had just two personal fouls on his ledger but Ted Valentine whistled him for a charge on a play with little contact and the defender who bore the greatest brunt of said minimal contact had his foot in the restricted area. It should have been a block or, at worst, a no-call.
One of the issues on the night was that Carolina often looked to be in too big a hurry. Caleb Love switched back and forth between the lesser freshman version of himself and the much-improved sophomore variety. As evidence of the negative side, he finished with zero assists against four turnovers. Bacot, while magnificent in most aspects, wasn’t patient enough in the post and was whistled for a couple traveling calls.
An example of Love forcing the issue: A Bacot block gave UNC the ball back down four with 45 seconds left in the first half. Seven seconds later, the Tar Heel guard was whistled for an offensive foul trying to force the issue in the lane on the other end.
That said, both young men played quite well in total. Love essentially carried the Tar Heels at times in the second half after having scored just two in the first half. It felt like at other times though, Love felt the necessity to bear too much weight of responsibility on his own shoulders throughout the game rather than allowing the offense to flow naturally.
Bacot recorded a career high with 17 rebounds and led all scorers with 21 points. After that career high rebounds mark, he is now averaging a double-double with 15.7 points and 10.4 rebounds. The junior center has recorded a double-double in five straight and 10 total in Carolina’s first 14 games. Tonight he achieved a double-double two minutes before halftime.

On the whole, Carolina struggled to share the ball well. They finished with 10 assists on 29 made baskets, for an assist percentage 34.5. That percentage is nearly five percentage points lower than the previous low (39.1% vs. Kentucky) and just the second time the assist percentage has been below 40% this season.
UNC additionally had four more turnovers (14) than assists (10).
Thanks to shooting exactly 50.0% in the second half (14-28), the Heels have shot 50.0% or better in the last eight games and have done so in at least one half in each of the last nine games. This team will score, there’s no question. But can they (and will they) defend?
Here’s what’s odd about this game: it felt like Notre Dame was bombing everything while Carolina struggled to shoot at times. And yet, the Heels had a better field goal percentage for the game (49.2 to 47.5). The difference came in type of shot made and turnovers. While UNC made a respectable 36.4% of their threes, they made just eight of them to Notre Dame’s 13. In order to score more points, you need to make more shots, in order to make more shots you have to take more shots, in order to take more shots you have to hang onto the ball. Possession matters. Unfortunately, though, Carolina doubled-up Notre Dame on turnovers 14-7. Those two discrepancies are more than enough to make up a five-point difference.
Just as Love carried Carolina offensively in the second half, RJ Davis and Bacot did the same in the first 20 minutes. The duo combined to score 27 of UNC’s 35 points.
Throughout most of the game, UNC switched all ball screens, one through five, and it just didn’t work consistently enough. Notre Dame either took advantage of mismatches or found themselves wide open. When Coach Davis switched to a small ball lineup, his team defended more capably.
At one point in the first half, the Irish hit four of five three-point attempts over the course of just 3:16. Sure, shots fall sometimes, but that’s unacceptable defense.
Nate Laszewski in particular has been a Carolina killer from deep. He’s made 13 combined threes the last two times he’s faced the Heels.
The good news about this loss is that, unlike the Tennessee or Kentucky games, Carolina kept fighting and nearly came back to snatch this game away from the home team. Notre Dame led by as many as 13 with 13:54 to go. Carolina even took a brief one point lead with just shy of 3:30 left, but the Irish quickly took back the lead and never relinquished it.
Down the stretch there were signs of life. Love forced a loose ball and dove to secure possession before ultimately burying a three as part of a quick 8-0 spurt. Davis dished back-to-back dimes to Bacot and Manek, leading to easy baskets for the Carolina big men.
The final nail in the coffin came with around 45 seconds remaining. Notre Dame had the ball while clinging to a two-point lead. In yet another example of the Irish exploiting mismatches, Prentiss Hubb pump-faked Bacot into a three-shot foul and made two of three. Carolina couldn’t ever get things back to a one-possession game.
Finally, assuming all goes well between now and the weekend, the Tar Heels will host an ACC game on Saturday when Virginia comes to town. It would be nice to have Garcia, Walton, and McKoy back in the lineup but we’ll have to wait an see.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Caleb Love

Armando Bacot

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is a home game (FINALLY!) against Virginia on Saturday, January 8. Tip is at 1:00pm ET on ESPN.

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