Lessons Learned from the UNC basketball program's win over Hawai'i

Elliot Cadeau MUST stay on the court

Elliot Cadeau's two early fouls led to a relatively stagnant offensive performance in the first half. North Carolina couldn't stretch a ten-point lead into a twenty-point one. Hawai'i's zone defense was successfully slowing the game down, and the Tar Heels didn't hit enough three-pointers to pull them out of it.

In the second half, Cadeau returned with gusto, and UNC's lead ballooned to as much as 20, and the 'Bows couldn't get back into the game. Cadeau is instrumental to getting his teammates looks in the right spots, and so far this season, he has been really successful hunting his own offense as well. In a young season, he's averaging 16 ppg, compared to 7.3 ppg last season.

He's also adept at swiping the ball from opponents, either directly guarding it or reaching in to help the defense. He needs to calibrate his risk/reward function very precisely, though, because if he gets it wrong, North Carolina's offense suffers, as we saw against Hawai'i.