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

The Rainbow Warriors were dispatched, but not without showing North Carolina where it needed to improve.

North Carolina v Hawaii
North Carolina v Hawaii | Darryl Oumi/GettyImages
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Jae'Lyn Withers needs to bring more

Jae'Lyn Withers, Gytis Nemeikša
North Carolina v Hawaii | Darryl Oumi/GettyImages

North Carolina will struggle against size all season. Jae'Lyn Withers, the presumptive starting four, needs to be more consistent.

Withers had one of the best games in a North Carolina uniform at Kansas, when he scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds against a Jayhawks team that towered over UNC. To go from there to only scoring two points (1/4 shooting from the floor, 0/3 from the free throw line) and collecting just one single rebound is unacceptable. Adding three fouls adds fuel to the fire, but I'll give him a pass as the refs were calling the feintest whiff of contact all night long. It was ridiculous.

Cade Tyson was thought to be the starting four during preseason discussions, but that looks like it may take a long time to come to fruition, if it ever does. Jae'Lyn Withers is better at other things than Tyson, and if Hubert Davis decides to lean on him, he can make UNC more athletic. But he has to provide some of the low post basics that Carolina needs to be competitive with bigger teams, or the Tar Heels will suffer.

Schedule

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