UNC Basketball: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Tar Heel’s ACC season IV
With another three conference games in the books, what can we take away from the Tar Heels play during that time?
The end of the Duke game marked not only another road loss against the Blue Devils, but also marked another three-game sample for the Tar Heels.
The season is now two-thirds done and if not for that let down in Durham, UNC would’ve gone 3-0 during that stretch.
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Instead, they have to settle for 2-1, though they do maintain first place thanks to some help from Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.
Last time we took a look at the good play of Justin Jackson, the bad inconsistency of Joel Berry II, and the ugly results of the Tar Heels without Theo Pinson.
During these past three games, Justin Jackson has continued to be really good. The junior wing averaged 19 points and five rebounds during that stretch. He also shot 47 percent from the field on 21 of 44 shooting.
Not as great as last three games, but not horrible either.
Berry on the other hand improved greatly. After three games of not producing a stat in several key categories, Berry came out strong in the Tar Heels last three games.
The junior guard averaged 15 points and four assists for UNC during that 2-1 stretch.
Finally, in a turn of events, the Tar Heels also improved without Theo Pinson. They went 2-0 without the versatile guard in ACC play, after starting off 1-2 without him previously. Oddly enough the team went 1-0 with his return, despite being undefeated since he had returned earlier in the season.
So with all that accounted for lets take a look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the past three games for the Tar Heels.
The Good
Assist to Turnover Ratio. The Tar Heels again have not been overly spectacular in any one category. However, one thing that did stand out was their assist to turnover ratio.
During the past three games the Tar Heels have had a total of 53 assists or just shy of 18 a game.
Meanwhile UNC has only committed a total of 24 turnovers or just eight a game. This included a low of five against Duke.
This gives the Tar Heels an assist to turnover ratio of 2.2 to 1, which would not only be tops in the ACC, it would also be tops in the nation.
This is a good sign for a team that earlier this year seemed doomed by its turnover issues.
The Bad
Free Throw Shooting. Free throw shooting has been a problem for the Tar Heels since Tyler Hansbrough graduated.
However, despite a decent start for the Tar Heels, free throw shooting has become a problem again.
In their last three games, the Tar Heels are a combined 40 of 65 from the charity line.
That is good for just 61.5 percent which would easily rank last in the ACC.
The worst part is when the missed free throws come. The Tar Heels missed several late against Pittsburgh that nearly cost them the game.
Against Duke they missed eight and lost by eight.
More so a lot of those eight misses came when they could either tie, take the lead, or get within a couple. Those are the kind of free throws that change the outcome of games and how the ends are played.
The Ugly
The Three Point Line. The three point line has been friendlier to the Tar Heels than in past seasons. However, the past three games have shown a different truth.
The Tar Heels are a combined 19-53 from behind the arc good for 35.8 percent from downtown.
Additionally the Tar Heels are allowing teams to shoot well against them from behind the arc.
Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Duke went a combined 35-82 from behind the arc good for 42.6 percent.
The Tar Heels are also getting outscored by an average of 16 points per game from behind the three point line.
This forces the Tar Heels to be outstanding in other areas, like free throw shooting and rebounding. When they aren’t games like Duke happen.
To make matters worst a lot of the three point issues are coming from just one player. Cameron Johnson, Matt Farrell, and Grayson Allen combined to go 17 of 29 (58.6 percent) against the Tar Heels from downtown.
That’s nearly half the made three pointers against the UNC during that stretch.
All in all, the Tar Heels must find ways to improve in each of these areas. The more they assist the better ball movement they get which leads to fouls and open threes. Once those opportunities present UNC must take advantage by connecting from the charity stripe and knocking down open treys.
If they do this they will be even harder to defend which in turn should make it harder on the other teams to keep up and keep hitting shots at such a high level. Improvement here is key if the Tar Heels want to Hang em High come tournament time.
Related Story: ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Week 7
Is this where the Tar Heels are struggling? Is UNC doing better in other areas? Let us know in the comments below.