To say that UNC's 80-72 win over Western Carolina was bumpy is probably an understatement. Regardless, all that matters is what the record books say, and it will say that Michael Malone started his head coaching career 1-0.
The Heels started the game looking like they were too much for the Catamounts, but that changed dramatically as the game progressed. At one point Western Carolina was prepared to take the lead, but they were never able to close the deal. They were ultimately doomed when one of their leading scorers, Jaeden Roberts, fouled out of the game late in the second half. That's when the Heels managed to rally and pull away for a slightly comfortable win.
Let's dive into three takeaways from last night's win, including an overall assessment of where the Heels are right now.
Carolina fans didn't really get to see the full vision that is the Terrence Brown/Matt Able tandem during the preseason. We finally got to see flashes of that last night, and while it was far from perfect, we saw some really good things at times from the duo, especially in the first half.
Brown and Able finished with a total of 32 points and four assists. In the first half, Brown drew a lot of attention near the rim and was able to find Able on the perimeter to knock down shots from long-range. We saw Able try to return the favor at times, but Brown's shot attempts didn't go down. It was indeed a small sample of what we hoped to see from the two guards, but even when they weren't playing off each other, both of them were able to do decent damage against the Catamounts in their own way — Brown's points were mostly from the free throw line because Western Carolina wouldn't stop fouling him near the rim. Looking forward to seeing the chemistry between these two evolve as the season progresses.
Moments of chemistry aside, the starting lineup struggled quite a bit for most of the game. At one point Sayon Keita was the only player in the positives when looking at plus/minus. Yes, we all can agree that it's a somewhat flawed stat, but when almost the entire starting lineup is at negative or zero? That is not a fluke.
Michael Malone got so frustrated during stretches of the game that he put in just about his entire bench. Thankfully, the bench players that saw action actually played pretty well. Their contributions showed less in the scoring column and more in the defense department, though Maxi Adams finished his night with 10 points. Malone has the benefit of a deep bench this season, but the definition of "deep" will probably disappoint some fans early on. What Malone has on his hands at the moment is a group that can enter the game, muck up things for the opposing team, and essentially keep things afloat until the starters can come back in and contribute to the scoreboard. That can and probably will change because the rotation guys are more than capable of scoring at a decent clip , but for right now that's all UNC needs to win games like the one against the Catamounts.
To jump ahead of what some of you may be thinking, I am not saying that UNC is incapable of figuring out their rebounding woes. But after last night's performance, it's becoming more and more evident that the Heels desperately need Cameron Fens to suit up to help in the paint, because so far the Heels just don't have it on the glass. Western Carolina was able to out-rebound the Heels 41-32, 13 of which were offensive rebounds. When the Catamounts missed shots, there were some weird bounces that the Heels weren't able to pull down, but there were also rebounds given up that were strictly an effort issue.
The frustrating thing about rebound issues is that players have to want to rebound in order to outperform their opponents. This isn't to say that the Heels don't want it badly enough, but Malone will have to figure out which buttons to press in order to get his guys to win the rebounding battle. Even if Fens becomes eligible, it will only help so much if he's mostly crashing the boards by himself.
Overall, Michael Malone has to be happy for the win, but it's clear that this team will be a work in progress for the first few weeks. It'll be hard for fans to watch the usual suspects blow out teams cut from a similar cloth, it will take time for Malone to fully re-acclimate himself to college basketball, and also for his team to adapt to what he wants them to do. Be prepared for things to look shaky for the next few games, but hopefully it'll all come together soon.
