Tar Heel Hoops: UNC Needs To Improve Its Passing In The Half Court

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The current Tar Heels basketball team is full of stars. Players who are trying to figure out their role, and even more high school superstars, trying to figure out how to be a role player at Carolina. And this column isn’t meant to do exactly what the national media is doing to UNC. In other words, I’m not bashing the Heels in my evaluation at all. Instead, think of how good this team is now, think about the criticism I’m about to deliver. Then think about how good the Tar Heels are going to be when they get this simple problem fixed.

Photo Credit: Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

Aside from Kendall Marshall, the entire team needs to improve their passing. Not that they don’t have the skill, UNC has two of the best passing big men in the nation in John Henson and Tyler Zeller. The skill is absolutely there for every player in the Tar Heel rotation. It’s the will, the want to pass, and the discipline to run the offense instead of always trying to create. For many, this means breaking a habit. Experts say it takes 10,000 hours of doing or studying something to become an expert at said subject. Considering how little time most of these players have been in Carolina playing in Roy Williams’ system, it’s no wonder the half court passing isn’t up to its potential.

Now I know what your thinking here. How can a team ranked #4 in the nation in assists with such a high assist percentage be a bad passing team in the half court? I’ve seen them make a ton of awesome passes you say. I know, I have also, but think about this for me. If your honest with yourself, 3/4 of those passes you remember came from Kendall Marshall. And Marshall averages about 80% of the Tar Heels assists per game. And when it wasn’t Marshall, I bet it was either A) In Transition or B) when the offense was moving fast and a cutter got by his man on a missed assignment and someone fed him with a nice dish. Sound about right?

Far too often, almost every time on cue actually. If a player like John Henson, PJ Hairston, Reggie Bullock, Tyler Zeller, James Michael McAdoo, just about the whole team touches the ball in position to get a shot off, they shoot. This isn’t always bad, aggressive players are a good thing in basketball, after all, you do have to score points to win. But this team hasn’t learned how to play together in the half court. Marshall could go play for any team in the nation tomorrow without ever practicing with them and rack up 10 assists. Even Harrison Barnes, who has been much more efficient in the half court this season, forces up 1-3 per game.

Now try being honest with yourself a little more. Hairston guns anything if he has breathing room, I’ve been all over his shot selection for a while now. Henson likes his mid range jumper way too much, he can shoot it if he’s open, but he’s shooting it with a hand in his face and we don’t need that. McAdoo seems so anxious on the court, he reminds me of a child with ADD when he gets the ball. He goes into way too fast, I’m asking for a charging foul right now mode. Even Zeller who has been outstanding this season could stand to pass out of the post a little bit. One of the reasons the Heels aren’t a better three point shooting team is they don’t do a good enough job of working inside out.

But these are all simple problems, growing pains really of a team that’s still getting acclimated to each other. And in some case, accustomed to college basketball itself. Tightening up on issues like this along with the inevitable explosions of Hairston and McAdoo will put this team at the next level. Talent will get to the dance, but doing the little things right and paying attention to detail is what wins championships.

What do you think of the Tar Heel offense? Share your thoughts with us and the rest of Tar Heel Nation in the comments section. Don’t know how? Having trouble? We’ve got you covered right HERE

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@tarheel1966 10 pts

Since no one, outside of the Carolina coaching staff, keeps stats on passing, I looked at the percentage of FGM that were assisted, going back to 04-05. So far this season, 58% of FGM were assisted. Because of the number of assists Kendall records (and the percentage of team assists he is responsible for) that number adjusted for the Kendall factor would probably be more in line with the traditional 55% the RW teams at UNC have averaged in the past 5 seasons. What we are missing, and maybe this is what you are seeing with your eyes, is more people making assists. There are no off-guards or 3's recording high assists. There are no Danny Greens, David Noels, or Wayne Ellingtons who are making a lot of assists. And that's simply because KM is just so darn good at passing, and also because he runs the offense 35 minutes a game. I would say that the interior passing of Henson and Z has greatly improved this season, as well as their ability to pass out of the doubles. So, I would say passing would need to get "better" only if the goal is for more people to be making assists. But in the Carolina offense there really isn't a way to get more assists for anyone else when KM is dominating the pass, and especially when his adeptness at getting assists eliminates a great deal of ball movement that would need to go on traditionally. Meaning, when KM throws a pass it is a smart pass that more often than not gives the shooter a higher chance to score because of KM's placement. Why pass it around more when Kendall can get the ball to the player with the most likely chance of scoring in the half court? This isn't Dean Smith's offense of making 4-5 passes before anyone even considers a shot. I think you, like me, equates good passing with assists, but number of passes without assists is only relative to the style of play. We can't expect a Wisconsin number of passes, since UNC is not geared for the half-court. Break and secondary break are Carolina's bread-and-butter, and the goal in those is to NOT pass a lot.

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KIH Matt 37 pts moderator

@tarheel1966

nice assestment. Your right Carolina is one of the top teams as far as assist %. But when you watch the team in the half court, it's Marshall pushing, making 1 or 2 passes then as soon as someone has enough room to get off a shot they shoot. Or take it to the basket to create on their own.

tarheel1033 18 pts

Agreed. Despite the wins, the last few games have been sloppy-passing included. If they can shore if those problems, this is a national championship caliber team.

tarheel1033

It's been a problem all season long IMO. Aside from a couple games early in the year, the half court passing has been suspect for UNC. Marshall attributes a huge chunk of our assists. Without him this would be a subpar passing team overall IMO.

matt hamm There are signs of greatness in the passing game, i.e. Henson to Zeller, and then there are the "what are you thinking moments?" I hear a lot about our poor spacing, and I wonder if that contributes to it. Too much congestion can lead to poor passing.

agree with you we have flashes of greatness in the passing game. still outside of Marshall most of the players are going for their own shot first instead of looking for the open man.