Quick Hitters – Live Action with Carolina Basketball

Isaac Schade presents Quick Hitters from UNC Basketball’s “Live Action with Carolina Basketball” season kickoff event on Friday evening.

Highlights:

1. It’s good to be back, isn’t it folks? So much excitement surrounding both Carolina basketball teams. Should be a great season.
2. Classy move by Hubert Davis to honor both Lennie Rosenbluth and Ademola Okulaja with his t-shirt.
3. Recruiting targets Elliot Cadeau (official visit) and Jarin Stevenson were in the Smith Center on Friday evening.
4. I love seeing Coach Courtney Banghart come out making bold statements about the team wearing white because they have plans to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Carmichael. For those unfamiliar – the better seed hosts games in the first two rounds of the women’s tournament instead of neutral sites around the country.
5. Due to injuries and precautions, the women’s team had just eight available to suit up. Deja Kelly, Paulina Paris (the only incoming freshman), Destiny Adams, and Anya Poole took on Eva Hodgson, Kennedy Todd-Williams, Malu Tshitenge, and Alexandra Zelaya. Alyssa Ustby, Kayla McPherson, Teonni Key, and Ariel Young were all unavailable.
6. After a slow start shooting for the ladies, they settled in and made shots in the four-on-four scrimmage environment. Todd-Williams started the scoring with a sideline three. Her improved ability to make outside shots could be a huge boon for the Heels this season.
7. On the men’s side, Caleb Love (hamstring tightness), Puff Johnson (knee tightness), and Jalen Washington (still recovering from high school injuries) were unavailable, but with no issues that Coach Davis seems to be overly concerned about; more just precautionary in nature.
8. It was a special and emotional moment to see the men’s team introduced, particularly Leaky Black who returned for a fifth season and came out holding the new 2022 Final Four banner. The returners also received their rings (which was a surprise) and were greeted from Down Under by Mr. Brady Manek in a video.
9. Marcus Ginyard was initially slated to join Matt Krause and Kyle Straub but, likely due to the postponement from last week, Garrison Brooks wound up in Ginyard’s place.
10. RJ Davis and Eva Hodgson won the three-point shooting contest (21 made) over the combinations of Caleb Love / Kennedy Todd-Williams (19) and Tyler Nickel / Deja Kelly (16).
11. For the men the starters were – White (Armando Bacot, Pete Nance, D’Marco Dunn, RJ Davis, Leaky Black) vs. Blue (Seth Trible, Will Shaver, Dontrez Styles, Tyler Nickel, Justin McKoy). And yes those lineups are completely lopsided.
12. In the guys’ scrimmage, how about Beau Maye coming out and scoring eight points, including back-to-back threes at the end of the first half? Maye, the brother of Luke and Drake, was just publicly named to the team as a walk-on back on September 28. I smell a crowd favorite coming on. I also have a feeling that younger brother Drake will have a gaudier stat line on Saturday down in Miami.
13. The usual suspects did what they do – Bacot was dominant inside, Davis got to the rim and hit from outside, Black made some nice passes and bothered people with his length, etc. The more interesting thing in this scenario is to see what the newcomers bring to the table.
14. Pete Nance just quietly goes about his business and makes really sound basketball plays. He’s said all off-season that he’ll do whatever is necessary to help the team succeed and it’s clear watching him play that he means those words very seriously.
15. Freshman Tyler Nickel (Virginia’s all-time leading high school scorer) showed the swagger we’ve seen from him while netting 18 points. I’ve been curious to see what type of playing time he gets, based on a still-developing defensive capability, but if he shoots like that consistently, it will be hard to keep him on the bench.
16. Seth Trimble is a competitor. Even in this relaxed setting, there were no easy buckets at the rim.
17. It’s good and encouraging to see D’Marco Dunn, Dontrez Styles, and Justin McKoy play with some more confidence. Hopefully, they will be able to carve out some type of role for themselves this year.
18. At the end of the day, the white team dominated 61-47 (as expected looking at the rosters) and no one got seriously hurt (although Doug Halverson did come over to check on RJ Davis at one point).

Remember to check in for Quick Hitters after every North Carolina basketball game. Next up is Carolina’s exhibition game against Johnson C. Smith on Friday, October 28 at 7:30 pm ET on ACC Network Extra

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