Quick Hitters - North Carolina vs. Furman

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 74-61 home win over Furman on Tuesday night.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Dec 15, 2021 2:55 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 74-61 home win over Furman on Tuesday night.

Highlights:

Condensed Game:

At halftime, it appeared that the Carolina defense of the first five games of the season had returned. In the first 20 minutes, Furman shot 53.6% from the floor, made eight threes on 53.3% shooting from deep, and had a streak of eight straight made shots. These numbers broke a streak of eight straight halves not allowing an opponent to shoot over 50%. But in the second half the Tar Heels held Furman to just 22 points on 28.1% shooting from the field. Pivotally, the Paladins made just two of 18 three-point attempts after halftime.
Furman made a three-pointer with 9:00 remaining and didn’t score again until the clock read 2:39, a drought of 6:21.
That second half defensive performance means that UNC has held each of their last five opponents to 63 or fewer points.
Carolina’s defense has been a tale of two teams through the first 10 games of the season. In the first five games (Loyola, Brown, Charleston, Purdue, Tennessee) UNC was 3-2 and allowed 83.8 points per game on 47.9% shooting. In the second five (UNC-Asheville, Michigan, Georgia Tech, Elon, Furman) UNC was 5-0 and allowed 58.0 points per game on 37.7% shooting.
It’s no coincidence that Caleb Love has multiple steals in each of those last five games.
For the second time in three games, Carolina’s assist percentage was 60% or higher. Tonight it was precisely 60% (18 assists on 40 made baskets). The Heels remain above 50% on the season; 52.1% to be more precise (150 assists on 288 made baskets).
UNC has allowed only 10 combined offensive rebounds to their last three opponents. Tonight’s 12-4 advantage in the offensive rebounding category resulted in the Tar Heels leading 19-0 in second-chance points.
In 2015-16 Brice Johnson set a Carolina single-season record with 23 double-doubles (40 games). That season, he recorded six double-doubles in the first 10 games. Armando Bacot in 2021-22? Six double-doubles in the first 10 games.
Bacot played like a man possessed coming out of halftime, asserting his dominance on both ends of the court. That spark propelled the Tar Heels to a 15-4 run in the first five minutes of the second half. Following RJ Davis’ jumper with 14:29 to play, Carolina held an 11-point advantage and the lead never shrunk back to single digits.

Bacot wasn’t the only Tar Heel to turn in a double-double performance (14 pts, 12 reb), Dawson Garcia joined him (20 pts, 10 reb). Garcia now has 20-plus points in back-to-back games and three total 20-point games this season.
Carolina has had at least one 20-point scorer in every game. Garcia’s 20 was the lone addition to that list against Furman. He started the game on fire, scoring 11 before the first media timeout.

Last season the Heels had just seven 20-point performances (29 games). This year they have already doubled that total (14) in just 10 games.
In the entire 2020-21 season (29 games), Carolina made 162 threes. In the first 10 games of this season, they are already over halfway to that total (83).
RJ Davis had a tough shooting night, going 2-8 from the floor, including 0-3 from deep. This was just the second game he didn’t make a three. Additionally, Davis started the night 20-23 from the free throw line, but went 2-5 to double the number of missed freebies from three to six. Never fear. Better shooting days are ahead for Davis.
Here’s the best part about Davis’ shooting woes against Furman: He didn’t let it affect his all-around game. Coming off the first game this season with zero assists, Davis recorded a season-high seven assists with just one turnover. Great work from the sophomore.
In fact, neither member of the starting backcourt shot the ball well tonight. Davis and Love were a combined 5-18 from the floor, but had 11 total assists and just three turnovers. Both guards individually had at least a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio in the game.
The guards’ less-than-stellar shooting was offset because, on this night, the wings and bigs did it all. Bacot, Garcia, Brady Manek, and Leaky Black (who hit his first three of the season) shot a combined 24-38 (63.2%). While much of the focus lately has been on the team finding their defensive stride, don’t forget their offensive versatility and explosiveness from multiple positions on the court.
The Heels coughed up just eight turnovers, already the third game in single digits in that category. Why is that milestone significant? In 2020-21 UNC had single-digit turnovers in just three games in the entire season.
Height is not everything in this sport and is often not useful for much other than passing the eye test getting off the bus. That said, the discrepancy between the height of the two teams’ starting fives was almost comical. Carolina’s starting five was taller at all five positions and were a collective 19 inches taller. Three of UNC’s starters (Black, Bacot, Garcia) were each taller than Furman’s tallest starter.

Keep in mind, not all non-power conference teams are created equally. This is a solid and veteran Furman team that will make a lot of noise in the SoCon. The Paladins are the highest-rated non-power conference team on Carolina’s non-conference schedule by a wide margin. This was a good win for Carolina, especially given the fact that it would have been easy to look ahead to the showdown with UCLA on Saturday.

Carolina’s new-found defense will be put to the test on Saturday when they face the nation’s 10^th most efficient offense according to KenPom. Against another top-10 offense (Purdue - #1) UNC gave up 93 points. Will they fare any better against UCLA? We’ll find out soon enough.

Box Score

Hubert Davis postgame press conference

Players postgame press conference

Dawson Garcia

Armando Bacot

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is the CBS Sports Classic against No. 4 UCLA on Saturday, December 18 in Las Vegas. Tip is at 3:00pm ET on CBS.

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