The preseason is officially in the books for Michael Malone and the UNC basketball program.
Malone's unofficial debut at the Dean Smith Center was rocky, but his team secured an overtime win over Wes Miller and Charlotte in Chapel Hill on Tuesday night.
Although the Tar Heels finished the preseason with a win (without Matt Able), Malone didn't sugarcoat the areas his team needs to improve drastically as games start to count next week. After the win, Malone met with the media and discussed major concerns, including the Tar Heels' efforts on the glass.
Hear and see what Malone had to say below:
The Terrence Brown/Neo Avdalas dynamic
"Oh, just a versatility that you can't lock in on just one of them. I think when you have multiple ball handlers, you become that much harder to guard.
Obviously, for Neo, 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists. He can see over the defense. They were very aggressive in their pick-and-roll defense. Terrence has the ability to attack the big, press his feet, turn the corner, put pressure on the defense.
Obviously, we did a good job of generating free-throw attempts. We just didn't make as many as we need to, but everybody gets so caught up into who's the point guard, who's the point guard. You look in the NBA, there's multiple ball handlers out there, and the more that you have that can play that way is only going to help your offense.
I thought Terrence was terrific tonight. By far his best game of the preseason. 27 points and made some big, big plays for us."
Cameron Fens' ongoing eligibility case
"Yeah, really no update other than he's still unfortunately ineligible at this time, and we are allowing this process to play out. It's one of the great mysteries for me, coming from the NBA, to have certain states allowing guys to play and other states aren't. What's the difference?
I would hope that the NCAA at some point in time tries to clean this up because Cameron Fens deserves to play. Cameron Fens deserves to be out there.
All we're doing right now is supporting him wholeheartedly, both he and his family. It's not easy for him going through practice every day knowing that, at this point in time, he's not eligible, but we believe in his case and we're going to continue to fight for Cameron Fens."
On UNC's rebounding issues
"Yeah, coming off that Indiana game when we gave up 20 offensive rebounds, 17 second-chance points, and then you look at tonight, overtime game, we gave up another 18 second-chance points. We gave up one off of a missed free throw.
It's not just on Sayon. To your point, as a starting five, he can't have two rebounds in 33 minutes. That just can't happen. But we need everybody else.
Jarin had two rebounds in 38 minutes. That's your four and five having four rebounds in a lot of minutes on the floor. Granted, in Jarin's defense, we were switching quite a bit with him, so he's on the perimeter a little bit more. But yes, I am concerned. It's been a point of emphasis, but obviously needs to continue to be emphasized as we approach our season opener."
How can UNC fix its rebounding issue
"Well, to me, rebounding is not a skill. It's a want-to. It's a desire. It's a toughness.
The greatest rebounders are guys that just have a relentless mindset to go get it. They understand the flight of the ball. They find bodies. They have a hit-first mentality.
I can't make our guys bigger and stronger. I just don't have that power. I wish I did. So, this is our roster until Cameron Fens is eligible, and we all have to share in that responsibility and continue to work on it and demand that from them."
UNC's rough first half
"That's the understatement of the night right there.
Our guys looked a little nervous, a little shook out there. There were some plays in that first half that looked like the Keystone Cops. We couldn't dribble. We couldn't pass. We couldn't shoot.
I told them early in one of the huddles, I said, 'Man, everybody take a deep breath, relax.' These guys work so hard. We've had really good practices, and then they get into these game situations, the first time in front of a home crowd, and I thought they were just very excited.
I challenged them. We still have not won a first half. We're 0-for-3 in the first half. We lost to Indiana. We lost to USC. We lost to Charlotte. The fact that we were only down three at halftime was a miracle because we played around 15 minutes of really bad basketball.
We closed the half, and I like the fact that we just stayed with it. We stayed with it. We found a way. But yeah, lots to clean up."
Terrence Brown's breakout performance
"I think it's a combination of Terrence being aggressive and being efficient. He goes 9-of-18 from the field, 7-of-9 from the foul line.
I was making a concerted effort to make sure I'm getting him the ball. He's always had the ball in his hands, and I put the ball in Neo's hands quite a bit. Tonight, I just wanted to make sure that Terrence was getting his opportunity, whether it was with Neo on the floor or running the point when Neo was not on the floor.
Give him an opportunity to make plays not just for himself, but for his teammates. I was happy for him because I think he was feeling the weight of it. But we just have to continue to work with him and with all of our guys, and hopefully each time you go out, you get a little bit better."
Conversations with Brown following first two preseason games
"Yeah. I think he understands. He came to me one day just saying, 'Listen, I understand that Neo's 6-7. He's a very good player. He's a playmaker. He makes everybody better. And I'm just going to trust in that process. I'm going to trust you. You've had great success, and I know you're going to put me in a position to have success.'
You love to hear that. You don't fight it. I will make sure I allow you to play your game within the constraints of a team.
Tonight was obviously a really good example of that. Neo goes out there, 16, nine and five. Terrence goes out there, 27 with three assists and two steals."
Jaydon Young's second-half spark
"It means a lot, especially shooting. That's what the biggest thing is. Shooting makes up for a multitude of sins, and Jaydon can get hot from three. He's one of the best shooters in the gym every single day.
To your point about being a little bit older, he's going to have a poise about him that maybe some of the younger players may not have. I thought Jaydon, in his minutes, 4-of-6 from the field, 3-of-4 from three, three rebounds, he did a pretty good job, and I thought he was competing on the defensive end as well."
On Charlotte's Keshan Tillery
"Give him credit. Last game against Indiana, Bryce Lindsay got going and kind of torched us. This kid Tillery tonight, Keshan, give him credit. I told him that after the game.
By the way, I'm getting used to that shaking hands after every game. That's a foreign thing for me.
But he can get his own shot. He can get to the rim. He creates separation, and he was knocking them down from deep tonight. Just a real threat on the offensive end.
Obviously, I have a lot of respect for Wes Miller. Those guys played hard. They had their chances to win. Obviously, the young man called the timeout, and that kind of gave us a little bit of hope and life at the end.
I appreciate Wes and these guys from Charlotte coming up here and giving us a hell of a fight, and we wish them nothing but the best this season."
Balancing three-point attempts
"Well, sometimes I just want to get a shot up, to be honest. The way we turn the damn ball over, it's those things.
The rebounding, as somebody mentioned earlier, our inability to take care of the basketball. They scored 23 points off our turnovers. We were 12-for-29 tonight. Not a great number.
I thought Jarin Stevenson made some big ones late. Sayon Keita found him from the pocket, which is really good spacing. But yeah, for us, we have to be a lot more efficient offensively, and that starts with taking care of the basketball.
If we take care of it, I think then we can worry about what kind of shots that we're generating."
Mood in the locker room following the win
"You're never satisfied. Whether you win by 40 or win by seven, you're never going to be satisfied. At least I'm not. There's always ways to get better.
I think our guys, of course you're happy that you win, but I think we all know collectively that we can and we have to play a lot better. The season is upon us. There's no exhibition games. We're done.
We open up against Western Carolina next Monday night, so we have to clean things up in a hurry. We all have to take ownership in that.
I think everybody was thankful that we got through the game, were able to pull out a win, nobody got hurt, while also fully understanding there's much work to be done."
Malone's biggest takeaways from the preseason
"I think the things that we've been harping on are, offensively, can you value the ball? We've been trying to stress rebounding. We only had, I think, six offensive rebounds, and we have to be better.
Again, defensive rebounding, offensive rebounding is a want-to, and that's not good enough right now. Then the second thing offensively is the turnovers. Through three games, we have a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.
Good teams don't beat themselves, and right now we're doing that. It starts with our primary ball handlers.
Defensively, obviously, simply stated, we're getting our butts kicked on the glass every single night, so we have to man up.
The last thing, I haven't seen the numbers yet, but our finishing. We get to the rim a lot, but we've been struggling to finish.
Those four things, aside from who we're playing, internally those are things that we know we're addressing and trying to improve upon in a hurry."
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