NC State is forcing more than 22 turnovers per game. Tar Heels have their hands full
North Carolina coach Roy Williams usually loves playing against teams that press like N.C. State. Then again, the 17th-ranked Tar Heels generally don’t have a backcourt as young as they do now.
The Heels (5-2) are averaging 15.7 turnovers per game — the most since the 2009-10 season when they averaged 15.1. Their 21.8 turnover percentage ranks last in the ACC, according to Kenpom.com.
Carolina’s freshman guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis will have their toughest test of the season 7 p.m. Tuesday in PNC Arena. N.C. State (4-1) leads all league teams that have played three games or more in forcing 22.2 turnovers per game. The Wolfpack is third in the nation in turnover percentage (30.3), according to Kenpom.com.
“Some people just press to slow you down and aren’t really aggressive with it, but State really does try to take the ball away from you,” Williams told reporters on Monday. “And so I’ve always liked to play in those kind of games. But never with two freshman guards out there. It’s a little more scary this time than it has been in the past.”
Caleb Love making progress?
Williams can point to Saturday’s 75-63 win over Kentucky for some encouragement. Love played arguably his best floor game of the season with six assists and just two turnovers. That’s after he committed a combined 19 turnovers in the previous four games including a season-high six against N.C. Central.
Love said the more he’s reviewed his mistakes with Williams watching video clips, the more he’s starting to value the ball more.
“A lot of my turnovers were silly turnovers like dribbling the ball off my knee and stuff like that,” Love said during a video conference on Monday. “... And I was trying not to make mistakes. If you try not to make mistakes, you’re gonna make mistakes. So (I’m) just more comfortable out there playing point guard, leading this team and making the right plays.”
To prepare for the Pack, Love said the Heels can’t get caught over dribbling and standing still.
“We’ve been working on that in the last practice, just moving the ball with the pass and a lot of movement,” Love said. “Don’t let the ball get stagnant. Don’t let them trap us in a trapping spot.”
N.C. State may be forced to dial back its pressure some. The program had to suspend basketball activities Dec. 9 due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing measures that went with it. That limited the Pack to only nine players in their rotation in their loss at St. Louis and win over Campbell.
It is not yet known if they will have their full roster, including forward D.J. Funderburk and guard Cam Hayes, back for Tuesday’s game. If they are shorthanded, chances are N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts won’t press as much as he normally does.
During Keatts’ tenure, the Pack have forced more turnovers than they have committed in all six games against the Tar Heels for a turnover margin of plus-33. The oddity is Carolina has won five of those games.
“We can’t go over there and expect to be successful if we turn the ball over 25 times or something crazy like that,” Williams said. “Only turning it over 11 times Saturday (vs. Kentucky) was much better than what we’ve been doing. But we’d like it even lower than that — or keep it at that but have more possessions. The percentage of our turnovers is what bothers me.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 7:26 PM.