Roy Williams sat freshmen due to turnovers. But those growing pains pay off for UNC.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams yanked freshman guard Caleb Love out of the game after an unforced turnover against N.C. State on Saturday. The same happened to freshman guard R.J. Davis when he accounted for one.
It’s a move Williams admitted he probably would not have made earlier in the season. But his messages are finally starting to sink in and the Tar Heels are finally understanding what it takes to win. In Carolina’s 86-76 win over the Wolfpack, that formula proved to be feeding the ball inside, being selective with its 3-pointers and limiting its turnovers.
“I took both of them out immediately after a turnover and I usually don’t do that,” Williams said. “But 60 practices and 14 games and they understand that we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.”
The growing pains seem to be paying off for Williams now. Carolina (10-5, 5-3 ACC) appears to be a team that’s getting better and it all starts with relying on its frontcourt.
Forwards Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe each had 12 points in the first half. Bacot finished with a team-high 17 points and Sharpe just behind him with 16. They helped the Heels score 48 points in the paint, which marked just the fourth time this season they surpassed 40, but the second time in their last four games.
“That’s all we work on is just trying to get the ball inside,” Bacot said. “I mean, we could be a really good team when we get the ball inside and play inside-out.”
Taking shots of better quality
The proof is in the percentages. The Heels shot 50 percent in both halves of a game for the first time this season. That comes after it shot 54.8 percent in the second half against Wake Forest on Wednesday.
And it’s not a matter of being on a hot streak. It’s a matter of taking shots of better quality. Freshman guard Kerwin Walton, who leads the team shooting 41.8 percent from 3-point range, has the license to launch 3s as frequently as he can. For everyone else though, the key is in being selective.
Walton was 2-for-5 against State from behind the arc. The rest of the Heels combined to shoot 2-for-6 from 3. Against Wake Forest the total – minus Walton’s attempts – was only five. Keep in mind this was a team that has logged 20 or more 3-point attempts in half of their first 14 games despite shooting just 30.7 percent.
“I’m just getting a better feel on what shots he thinks I should take and thinks I can make,” said Love who had 15 points and five assists. “And he does that with the whole team.”
Tar Heels’ loss to NC State a turning point
Love did account for five turnovers – four of which came in the second half. But the turnovers collectively aren’t as frequent – nor as frustrating – for the Heels now. North Carolina had just 13 against N.C. State, which accounted for only 15 percent of their possessions. UNC’s average on the season is one in five of their possessions to end in a turnover.
“We’ve just got to just clean the little things up, the things that we could control, like the turnovers,” Love said “But everything else I think is coming along very well.”
Bacot said the Tar Heels’ loss at N.C. State last month may have been the turning point of the season. It caused Williams to shake up the starting lineup and it got their attention that their performance was unacceptable.
“Coach said it was one of the worst defensive performances he’s ever seen from a team and honestly, we took offense to that,” Bacot said. “I mean, it was our fault, but we took offense to that. Coming into this game we knew we want to go out there and just make a change and there’s no way we would allow them to beat us two times in a row.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2021 at 6:41 PM.