UNC basketball again looks to check the ‘boxes’ for success as a new season begins
After weeks of practice, the Blue-White scrimmage and two exhibition games, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis feels he has a good grasp on his basketball team.
“Going into the first game, I like the direction that we’re going,” Davis said last week. “There’s a lot to improve on, a lot to continue to work on, but I like our improvement. I like our focus, our attention to detail and our preparation.”
That said, Davis could learn considerably more about his team in the span of five days. The Tar Heels, ranked No. 9 in the preseason, open the 2024-25 season at home Monday against Elon, then go to Kansas to face the No. 1 Jayhawks in the basketball cauldron that is Allen Fieldhouse on Friday.
Davis said he had no lingering concerns with the season about to begin.
The Tar Heels, he said, must be a good rebounding team. It’s something he learned in full as a North Carolina player under coach Dean Smith and as an assistant for former UNC coach Roy Williams.
“It’s the No. 1 factor in the outcome of a game,” Davis said. “We’re going to have to rebound the basketball, we’re going to have to defend and we’ve going to have to take care of the basketball.
“Those are the three boxes that have to be checked, every day.”
Rebounding will be more of a team thing with Armando Bacot and Harrison Ingram now gone to the NBA. Davis said the Heels were a good defensive team a year ago and he expects the same again this season.
“I talk about it every day and will for the rest of the season,” Davis said.
Sophomore point guard Elliot Cadeau, who has uncanny vision on the floor, will be better in his second season than his first, Davis believes. It’s a part of a natural progression for any player and it should be for Cadeau, a five-star recruit who reclassified to come to UNC and play for the Heels last season.
The Tar Heels will go into the season with a deep bench and a lot of options for Davis. That includes another pair of 5-star guys, freshmen Ian Jackson and Drake Powell, ready to get on the floor and display their talents and athleticism.
“I think going into the game you have rotations, especially in the first half that you want to see,” he said. “But the game is the game, and that dictates in terms of rotations and styles and strategies.”
R.J. Davis will start, of course. The 2024 ACC player of the year, a consensus All-America last season, will be the Heels’ first offensive option in the guard’s fifth year in the program.
In the 127-63 exhibition win last Sunday against Johnson C. Smith, the Heels had Davis, Cadeau, Seth Trimble, Jalen Washington and Cade Tyson in the starting lineup. Ten players finished with more than 10 minutes in playing time — Jackson had a team-leading 25:44 and Powell was next with 24:42.
Jackson had a team-leading 21 points and had the Smith Center loud after a steal, transition breakaway and a windmill slammer in the second half.
“It’s fun when you play like that, get up and down the court and see Ian fly through the air,” Tyson said. “That gets the team really hype.”
The Heels outrebounded the Bulls 54-24 as Vanderbilt transfer Ven-Allen Lubin had a team-high 12 boards. UNC finished with 20 assists and seven turnovers while forcing 15 turnovers that it converted into 26 points.
Cadeau had eight assists in the game, including a quick wraparound bounce pass to Washington for a dunk just before halftime that displayed his court awareness and passing skill.
“I thought last year at times the defense would dictate what he did on the offensive end,” Hubert Davis said. “That’s not the case anymore. He dictates. He knows where he wants to go, where the ball needs to go and he feels very confident and comfortable in being able to do it.”
Davis liked the pace of the exhibition games – UNC wants to go fast, fast and then faster – but was quick to add, “Where we get our pace is from the defensive end, getting stops and rebounds, That’s what allows us to get out on the break and be efficient in transition.
“It all ties back to defensive rebounding, that if we defend and rebound that’s where we can start getting out in transition. Five guys are sprinting to offense and we’re trying to get what we want.”
Much has been made of the Heels’ preseason practices, and the need to get a rebound and move the ball from foul line to foul in three seconds. If not, the head coach would blow the whistle and it would be a turnover.
Tyson, the 6-7 transfer from Belmont, is the only newcomer to the team who was in the starting lineup against Johnson C. Smith and could be there against Elon. Against Johnson C. Smith, Tyson had 10 points, hitting his two 3-pointers, making all four free throws and getting four rebounds. That’s efficient enough.
“He can really shoot the basketball, which really helps our team, but he’s an excellent rebounder,” Coach Davis said. “His ability to run the floor, he can handle the basketball, he can score off the bounce, he feels comfortable being able to post up … He has been everything we wanted him to be.”
Tyson, for his part, said it has been fun playing with “super athletic guys” and that he’s comfortable with his new team, with his place on the team.
Tyson, a junior, averaged 17.5 points and was a 46.5% shooter on 3-pointers last season at Belmont, saying he had the “green light” to shoot.
“I have a green light here, too,” he said, smiling. “We’ll see how it goes.”
We’ll see how it goes.
That’s the approach all college basketball teams have heading into new seasons. For some, it should go well. Some will win conference championships. Two will play for a national championship.
And UNC this season?
“I think we’re more skilled, think we’re faster and we can be a more fun team.” Trimble said.
This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
