North Carolina Basketball: UNC Starts Sloppy, Finishes Strong in Exhibition Game

On Friday, Oct. 28, North Carolina opened its doors to the Dean Dome for their home-opener exhibition game against Division II UNC Pembroke.

The game didn't start out exactly as the 16,852 people in attendance would have anticipated, as UNC trailed for what seemed like an eternity in the opening 12 minutes.

Pembroke led by as many as eight points and impressively maintained leads of six and eight in that time.

UNC's effort was embarrassingly outmatched by Pembroke's, who came out like this was a national championship game.  UNC came out like it was just another scrimmage—and it showed.

UNC committed four turnovers in the opening five minutes of the game, most coming from point guard Kendall Marshall by making sloppy decisions with trying to thread the needle.  

Harrison Barnes wasn't hitting anything but free throws, and Tyler Zeller and John Henson played well but were outdone on both ends of the glass by a much smaller Pembroke front line.  And shots from Reggie Bullock and Dexter Strickland just weren't falling (although shots from Strickland rarely fall).

Then entered the newbies James Michael McAdoo and P.J. Hairston.

McAdoo contributed five quick points and played great on both ends of the floor—there seemed to be no jitters on his end.  Hairston shot as advertised, but it was his defensive intensity that set an example.

And it didn't stop there.

Coach Roy Williams did something spur of the moment—something that probably raised some eyebrows.

He did something that just makes Roy Williams Roy Williams.

He put in four freshmen and one sophomore who, based on the injury that sidelined him for most of last season, was pretty much a freshman, too.

Stillman White ran the point, Hairston was at the 2, Bullock the 3, McAdoo at the 4 and Desmond Hubert was the 5.

And boy, did that combo work.

That group brought in a much-needed spark for Carolina.  They brought intensity, they brought effort and they brought pride.

They were actually less timid and more productive in their three short minutes than the starting five seemed to have been all game, as the majority of the starters' points came from free throws.  In the final three minutes of the first half, this group led a 14-0 run to close out the half.

"Right before the half, we put in three or four of the freshmen," Coach Roy Williams said in his post-game press conference. "They gave us a great lift. And then early in the second half, the starters were back in and they were so much better, defensively. [Pembroke] had one field goal in the first four or five minutes, that was basically the basketball game."

This new-guy group changed the game.  It was their initial performance that would lead to a subsequent 41-6 run made by the Tar Heels going into the second half, eventually sealing a 100-58 win over Pembroke.

That second-half run really made Carolina look like the Preseason No. 1 team in the country that we expected to see all game long.

Everything started clicking on both offense and defense after halftime, as UNC shot seven percent better from the field and a whopping 20 percent better from three in the second half.

Tyler Zeller led all scorers with 18 and grabbed 11 rebounds.  Hairston was right behind him with 17 points and Preseason ACC Player of the Year Harrison Barnes added 13, although he shot only 2-for-8 for the game and failed to connect on any of his three three-point attempts.

Kendall Marshall had four uncharacteristic turnovers, but he settled down in the second half and looked like his old self again.  He finished with five assists.  Reggie Bullock had arguably the best all around game, slating 10 points, five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block.  He shot 4-for-10 from the field and 2-for-5 from three.

This was one of the earliest exhibition games UNC has ever played.  UNC only had two weeks of practice under their belt before this game, but so did UNC Pembroke.

Frankly, if UNC had a first half similar to last night's against Michigan State, Wisconsin or Kentucky, they would have faced a much larger deficit than eight—one that would likely take another 41-6 run to overcome.

North Carolina knows where it needs to improve, though, and Roy Williams will make sure they do.

I expect to see a lot more of the second-half North Carolina team when they officially open their season against Michigan State on November 11.