UNC rebounds from Kentucky loss, rolls to 70-50 win over App State ahead of ACC slate
North Carolina bounced back from its lopsided loss in Las Vegas with a 70-50 win over Appalachian State Tuesday in the Dean E. Smith Center.
The Tar Heels (9-3) were steady before morphing into overwhelming in the second half. They used a 23-8 run over an eight-minute span in the second half to grab a 23-point lead to put the game out of reach. Armando Bacot led four UNC players in double figures scoring with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Brady Manek added a double-double off the bench for the Heels with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Guards R.J. Davis and Caleb Love responded after both combined for just 18 points in their loss to Kentucky with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
The Heels needed something to feel good about after the Wildcats ran away with a 29-point victory on Saturday in the CBS Classic. There were many positives they could take from defeating the Mountaineers (6-7) soundly, if for no other reason, they don’t have that UK loss as their last game played.
“I don’t have an answer for why the energy, effort and toughness wasn’t there versus Tennessee and versus Kentucky,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “All I know is, I never want to see that again. And it’s disappointing. It’s upsetting and it’s unacceptable.”
Here’s what we learned from the Tar Heels’ win:
Defensive tweak pays off
For most of the season, Carolina tried ‘icing’ ball screens. It’s probably used more in the NBA than in college, but the technique put more pressure on its guards to either fight through picks or recover fast. Against the Mountaineers, the Heels went back to either switching defenders or having their post player hedge out on the dribbler.
Davis said it’s the first time this season they defended ball screens in that manner and he was so pleased with the way they played, “we’ll see more of that.”
“I like that we can switch and I like the versatility on the defensive end,” Davis said. “We can do our regular ice and weak but we can also read and switch one through four or sometimes even one through five.”
Both Tennessee and Kentucky exploited UNC off ball screens, which led to dribble penetration, which led to 54 points in the paint in both losses.
The Heels defense responded well, keeping the Mountaineers under 40 percent shooting in both halves. And they didn’t give up many layups or have free dribblers making plays in the lane. UNC limited App State to shoot just 26 percent in the second half.
Another defensive tweak that Davis said helped Tuesday was extending their defense to pick up full court on dead ball situations.
“I thought it slowed their point guard down and it made them take time off the clock and it gave them less time to run their offense,” Davis said. “So that was something that we did different tonight. And I really felt like it. It helped us on the defensive end.”
Matters of rotation
The Heels just completed their non-conference schedule and it’s still hard to determine what their rotation will look like as ACC play begins. There’s a six-man core that has consistently played every game, that’s Caleb Love, Bacot, R.J. Davis, Dawson Garcia and Manek. After that, it’s not as predictable who will come in on a game-to-game basis.
Tuesday night, Justin McKoy and Anthony Harris were the only two players who played in the first half aside from the core six.
Sophomore guard Kerwin Walton averaged 25 minutes per game through the first five games including his lone start against Purdue. Over the last four games entering Tuesday, he’d only played 10 minutes against Elon. Walton, who was a starter last season, didn’t enter the game until 15:33 left in the second half.
Freshmen D’Marco Dunn and Dontrez Styles still haven’t been able to establish a regular presence in the lineup. Dunn played a season-high nine minutes against Kentucky and was in during the first half before the score got out of hand.
Kerwin’s back
Speaking of Walton, he made his first 3-pointer since he had two against Purdue on Nov. 20. He followed with another and by his third attempt, you could feel the Smith Center crowd wanting to will the ball into the net.
He missed, but it was a good sight for Carolina to get Walton going again. He led the team in made 3s (58) and 3-point shooting percentage (42.0) last season. During his seven game shooting slump, his percentage this year tumbled back to 33.3 from behind the arc.
Walton had missed his last nine before going 2-for-3 on Tuesday. The Heels certainly have scorers, but opponents knowing they have one more to deal with in Walton can help with their floor spacing and getting open shots.
“I’m very happy for Kerwin,” R.J. Davis said. “He came in when this number was called and not just by making shots, but he was a tremendous factor on the defensive end; making nice passes. Kerwin was a big boost of the bench for us.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2021 at 8:54 PM.