Quick Hitters - North Carolina vs. Tennessee (Hall of Fame Tipoff)

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 89-72 loss to Tennessee in the second game of the Hall of Fame Tipoff on Sunday afternoon.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Nov 22, 2021 2:16 AM EST

Quick Hitters from North Carolina’s 89-72 loss to Tennessee in the second game of the Hall of Fame Tipoff on Sunday afternoon.

Condensed Game:

A top-25 team was guaranteed to leave this tournament 0-2 and, unfortunately, that team was Carolina. The Tar Heels will have to quickly regroup before hosting UNC-Asheville on Tuesday.
Roy Williams’ look says everything you need to know about this weekend:

USATSI_17208833 — © Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Although he played only 19 minutes and was clearly not at full strength, it was good to have Leaky Black back in the starting lineup. Black’s defensive presence made itself known early in the game. On back-to-back possessions, he flew out on a three-point shooter to force a tough shot and on the subsequent play forced a turnover on the baseline. That three-point shot defense is what was missing yesterday against Purdue’s Stefanovic.
Speaking of the starting lineup, a standard quintet has emerged with Black joined by Caleb Love, RJ Davis, Dawson Garcia, and Armando Bacot. That group has started three of the first five games, with the exceptions being the game Leaky was sick and the first game of the season in which Brady Manek started rather than Garcia.
Let’s get some positive news into this one early: Carolina shot well from the free throw line this weekend. They were 10-12 against Purdue and 18-22 against Tennessee for a tournament total of 28-34, which comes out to 82.4%.
A day after Garcia finally broke out, Brady Manek had his highest scoring output of the year. He scored 24 points, 18 of which came on three-pointers, where Manek was 6-10.
After getting shut down by Purdue’s massive front line, Bacot was back to his usual self with 16 points on 6-9 shooting and 12 rebounds. He is averaging just shy of a double-double with 14.4 points and 9.0 rebounds. The junior does have double-doubles in three of Carolina’s five games this season.
On to the not-so-good. After posting an assist percentage of 50 or higher in each of the first three games of the season, the Heels were in the low 40s in both games in Connecticut. Today’s total was nine assists on 22 made field goals. You could feel the lack of assists as the game wore on. Tennessee’s defense frustrated Carolina and you could see the players deciding to try and take the whole game on themselves and attempt to play too much one-on-one basketball instead of sharing.
The Tar Heels were outrebounded for the first time this season, allowing 38 to Tennessee while grabbing just 30 of their own.
Plain and simple, the defense has to get better in order for the Tar Heels to have a successful season. Yes, they will be able to simply outscore many of their opponents, but not enough of them to win without guarding. Both opponents this weekend shot over 60% in the second half. Purdue shot 18-28 (64.3%) while Tennessee was 21-32 (65.6%) from the field. In the postgame press conference Coach Davis said that he’s “disappointed, but…not discouraged”. Hopefully, a game against UNC-Asheville on Tuesday will be just what the team needs to get back on track.

We saw some changes in personnel and rotations today. Curiously, Justin McKoy didn’t play a single second, but is healthy (confirmed by Coach Davis postgame). Anthony Harris has now played 13 minutes in each of the past two games after posting five minutes, three minutes, and a DNP in the first three games. Dontrez Styles also got a little bit of first half run today.
It was an interesting game for Harris’ stat line, or lackthereof. He played 13:29, but the only traditional statistic he recorded was two fouls. He didn’t attempt any shots or free throws, didn’t get any rebounds, assists, steals, or blocks, and didn’t turn over the ball.
Carolina got absolutely owned in the paint against both Purdue and Tennessee. In total, the Boilermakers and Vols outscored the Tar Heels 96-40 in the paint. Yikes.
Dawson Garcia had one assist and seven turnovers this weekend. That needs to change.
Tennessee held a seven point halftime deficit, but the lead felt larger. The Vols quickly built out to a double-digit lead in the second half, which eventually ballooned to as high as 20 before it was all said and done.
Once the Vols built a double-digit lead with just over 18:00 to go, the game was all but over. The Tar Heels cut the lead back down to single digits on three separate occasions, but in each Tennessee had re-built its double-digit lead in 20 seconds or less.
The Tar Heels faced some measuring stick games this weekend and in both instances learned that there's much work to be done. Back to the drawing board against UNC-A on Tuesday.

Box Score

Postgame Press Conference: Hubert Davis, Armando Bacot, Brady Manek

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is a home game against UNC-Asheville on Tuesday, November 23. Tip is at 7:00pm ET on RSN.

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