The UNC basketball program finally had the chance to compete against an opponent in a different uniform on Friday night, and Michael Malone saw his squad in action for the first time.
Friday night was full of experimentation and on-the-fly learning. It was new territory for mostly everyone involved, especially Malone, who was coaching in a real game for the first time since his days with the Denver Nuggets.
Preseason games are especially valuable in today's college athletics landscape, particularly for a program like North Carolina, which has undergone profound changes since last season ended.
Following the victory over USC in Greensboro, Malone spoke to the media about his team's performance. The head coach of the Tar Heels had a lot of good things to say, but he also knows there's plenty of work to be done to prepare for November 2.
The win was nice, but the lessons mattered more for Michael Malone
Here's what Malone had to say following the exhibition matchup:
Thoughts on Maximo Adams' unofficial Tar Heel debut
"What I saw tonight, what you guys saw tonight, is what we see every day in practice. Maxi gives relentless effort on the glass. You can impact the game in so many ways without just scoring the ball.
Maxi is a wonderful young man from a great family, but his ability to rebound the basketball and give you extra possessions is huge. Obviously, I told him he can’t go 1-for-4 from the foul line. He’s got to stick his free throws for us. But Maxi has a chance to be a special player, and I love working with him every single day."
Isaiah Denis' impact on the game
"He’s (Isaiah) another guy who came up to me after the game and said, “Thanks for taking a chance on me.” And I told him, “No, thanks for taking a chance on me.”
He didn’t have to stay. Him, Jarin (Stevenson) and Jaden Young all wanted to be a part of something. Isaiah tonight played big minutes and was really impactful running his team, scoring and putting pressure on the defense.
He’s had a really good stretch of practices from summer into the fall and into the practices that started in September. I’m not surprised by Isaiah’s performance. He has been waiting for this opportunity, and he took it and ran with it tonight. Now the challenge is: can he continue to do so?"
Malone's thoughts on Sayon Keita and Alexander Samodurov's debut
"At first, I think with Sayon, there was a lot going on. I thought the game was kind of fast for him. Then, in the second half, I felt he showed glimpses of the player that we know he can be, blocking shots.
You can tell a lot about a team and a player when he has a play like he had and the whole bench is up going crazy because they’re happy for him. That’s the kind of young man that Sayon Keita is.
Then Samo, I thought he did some really good things for us out there. He can stretch the floor. He’s skilled. He rebounded. He blocked a shot. I was really happy with the way Sayon worked his way into the game and Samo’s maturity when he came into the game. I thought we got positive minutes from him."
The experience of coaching UNC in a game for the first time
"It was really cool to come through that tunnel. Obviously, I can’t wait for November 2, our first home opener, regular season, a real game.
But I have to give a lot of credit to the fans who came tonight for their first glimpse of watching our team. The reception, I don’t take that lightly. To have a warm reception, people clapping for you and welcoming you here, that means a lot to me.
When you haven’t coached a game in over a year, and the college game is different, timeouts are different, there are so many different things. I have to give a lot of credit to my staff because those guys were really helpful in helping me navigate along the way.
I’m thrilled that we were able to get the win. The best thing about tonight was, win or lose, we were going to be able to find out who we are and what we really need to work on."
On Matt Able and Terrence Brown's rough outings
"I think both Matt Able and Terrence Brown are a lot better players than they showed tonight, and we’re going to need them to be a lot better players than they were. That’s not just on them. I always put it on myself as well. My job as a head coach is to help those guys get into the game.
But we have a deep team. It could be somebody’s night each game. We just have to understand that. We went with a certain lineup down the stretch, but it was a great starting-off point.
I can’t wait to watch the film to see all the areas that we have to work on and clean up."
Jarin Stevenson's outstanding effort
"Jarin Stevenson playing the way he did, that’s really pivotal for us. Him being a guy that we can play through, exploit a mismatch, knock down the three-point shot, that is a real weapon, and we look forward to using that to the fullest."
Support from the former Tar Heel players
"It’s been tremendous. I didn’t even know that Ty Lawson was here. I’d love to have a chance to say hello.
Ever since I got the job, being a non-Carolina guy and an outside-the-family guy, if you will, the reception and the love from so many former Carolina players has just been tremendous.
I’ve really enjoyed getting to know people that I haven’t known. I’ve known Antawn Jamison, Harrison Barnes, Jawad Williams and Danny Green, but getting to know guys like Tyler Hansbrough and guys who are around all the time — that’s what makes Carolina special. It’s a family, and that’s something that I just feel really fortunate to be a part of."
The importance of balance and roster depth
"I think that’s a huge positive and a huge benefit. If you want to win at the highest level, if you want to be a team that’s a tough outcome tournament time, you have to have depth.
You have to have quality depth that you can rely on because guys at this stage are going to have off nights. You have to be able to go to guys on your bench and trust them.
Trust is a big part of our culture. I can’t just talk about trust. I have to exhibit it and live it every single day. I’ve got to trust my players and even help them through mistakes.
I love the fact that we have the depth that we have. I love the fact that our bench came out there and scored 35 points and produced at a high level. They were a big part of us getting the win tonight."
Did the approach to shooting threes change in the second half?
"I don’t know if it really changed. I felt that we got a lot more aggressive. I felt we were getting downhill more to the rim. We played in the post more.
We got to the foul line 30 times. We really spend a lot of time talking about our shot spectrum. We do not want to be a mid-range shooting team. It’s just the worst shot in the game.
We want to live at the rim, we want to live at the foul line and we want to get quality threes up.
I felt that our players tonight had a lot of discipline in shooting the right shots. We had a ton of looks early in that first half, really good looks that just weren’t going down.
A good shot is not one that goes in. A good shot is a wide-open, uncontested shot. I felt, for the most part, we did a pretty good job of generating those."
Was this game a sample of how fast UNC wants to play?
"That’s a big part of it. That’s a great point because sometimes we talk about running, but it’s running with discipline. That means running and taking care of it. That means running and taking good shots.
We only had, on paper, two fast-break points. We got outscored 11-2. When we were getting a stop and a defensive rebound, I was imploring them to get out and run. I was imploring them to get ahead of the ball and throw the ball ahead so we could look to attack before they get set.
Tonight was okay. There’s a lot of room for improvement. We wound up scoring, I think, 88 points. Not a bad number. It may not be reflected in true fast-break points, but I do feel that we were playing with pretty good pace and putting pressure on their defense."
Excitement of getting the guys in the film room
"So excited. You know why? Because the problem is, for the last couple of months, you show film and say, “Hey, this is a really good offensive possession,” but you know what the problem is? The defense was horseshit, and it was your team.
So how do you celebrate? “Hey, great offense,” but then you run the same clip back and it was really bad defense.
Now you have the luxury of finally playing against another opponent where you can show film and really break down a defensive possession or an offensive possession.
Obviously, watching film and cleaning things up after a win is always more enjoyable than the alternative.
Add us as a preferred source on Google