The Tar Heels resorted back to watching Cole Anthony in loss to Boston College
Before Cole Anthony missed the last 11 games with a knee injury, North Carolina’s biggest problem was that they too often allowed their freshman point guard to be a one-man show.
When times were difficult, the Tar Heels relied on Anthony to dig them out of holes and score the points.
But while he was out, the Tar Heels learned the hard way why that was a problem. They went 4-7 without him.
Over the last two weeks, though, they looked like they had turned a corner.
They had won their last two games, and forwards Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot were in a rhythm. Senior guard Brandon Robinson also had two career games in January.
But on Saturday, late in UNC’s 71-70 loss to Boston College, they resorted back to what has gotten them to 10-11 in the first place.
There were times during the game when the rest of the Tar Heels often stood around on offense and watched Anthony.
And when it came down to the final possession, and the Tar Heels had a chance to win the game, they did not get the shot they were looking for. Anthony took a heavily contested 3-pointer that looked like it had no chance at all.
The final play
As the shot missed the rim and time expired, Brooks threw his hands up as if confused by what happened.
“I made a bad decision,” Anthony said after the game. “I should have called a timeout. There were a bunch of things I could have done.”
UNC coach Roy Williams said he wanted to attack the basket on that last play and get the ball inside. However, he said Anthony was unaware of what the coach wanted.
“This is something silly but this past week we stopped practice one day and said that if it was a one-point game or the score was tied, we wanted to attack the basket,” Williams said. “Cole might have been with the trainer. I am serious, that is how silly the game is.
“It is just one possession.”
Anthony practiced five-on-five for the first time in nearly two months on Thursday. He had been out since Dec. 16 after having an arthroscopic knee procedure done to treat a partially torn meniscus. He hadn’t played in a game since Dec. 8.
But when he got into a rhythm, he was good. Of the Tar Heels’ 40 second-half points, Anthony scored 20. He finished with 26 points.
He helped UNC mount a second-half comeback after being down by 10 points with 12 minutes left.
Anthony was 14 of 14 from the free throw line, and did not look bothered by his injury.
But the players who had been so good in UNC’s games against Virginia Tech, Miami and N.C. State were not nearly as effective against Boston College.
Brooks, the Tar Heels’ leading scorer in the days Anthony was out, scored 10 points and was 5 of 15 from the field. The biggest problem was his free throw shooting. Brooks, who entered the game a 63 percent free throw shooter, was 0 of 7 from the free throw line. All seven of his misses occurred in the second half.
Bacot also struggled at times. He was 2 of 5 from the floor, but made 7 of 8 free throws.
“I feel like me and Garrison got a little stagnant again, just watching instead of doing what we were doing — posting up, just giving Cole other options,” Bacot said. “We were just kind of leaving it all up to him, but that’s kind of unfair to him.
“Me and Garrison, we definitely have to do better.”
Adjusting to Anthony
It’s important to note that having Anthony back fundamentally changes how the Tar Heels play offense. When Anthony was out, the Tar Heels had to move the ball around a lot to find easy shots. Their primary focus was to get the ball in the post.
Now that Anthony is back, the ball is in his hands more. He’s the number one scoring option, and is a facilitator, which adds a new dynamic to the Tar Heels after two months.
It showed in how they played when he was on the court.
The Tar Heels shot 36 percent from the floor against Boston College, one week after shooting 58 percent against Miami and 49 percent against N.C. State.
Junior guard Andrew Platek said it was an adjustment having Anthony back in the lineup. When asked how they did making the adjustment, Platek said they were “decent.”
“He’s such a huge part of our offense and he’s going to come in and score the ball, and where we get our production is going to shift,” Platek said. “That will change your offense, obviously, and people who are scoring while he was out, the shots are going to be different.
“So you have to adjust kind of on the fly...But in the end it felt like we were in slow motion sometimes, just watching the ball stick.”
UNC is now 3-7 (13th out of 15 teams) in the ACC standings, and it still has six games left against the top five teams in the conference.
The Tar Heels play No. 5 Florida State (18-3, 8-2) on Monday and No. 8 Duke on Saturday (18-3, 8-2).
“There are things we’re going to learn from it and then just put it behind us,” Platek said. “We have to put all our attention to Florida State on Monday, because that is a huge game, and they are very good.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 11:28 PM.
