North Carolina Basketball: Playing the Opponent, Not the Score

It may not have been against a ranked opponent, or on the road in a hostile environment, but North Carolina's dominating performance Tuesday night gives UNC fans—and the team alike—a number of reasons to smile again.

After falling to Kentucky by way of a single point and an unbelievable athletic stop by Anthony Davis in the final seconds Saturday, Tar Heel faithful have waited in angst for something, anything, to rinse out the bitter taste left in their mouths from one of the most gut-wrenching UNC losses in recent memory.

Finally, on Tuesday night, a mouthwash by the likes of a 97-48 victory arrived.

No, I'm not making a big deal about Carolina dismantling a 3-4 team whose only notable win is over a much-depleted Butler team.  But in the way Carolina passionately committed to defense, rebounding, executing an efficient offense and not approaching Evansville like, well, Evansville, I am.

From the tip, there was a certain swagger about UNC—a swagger that I've only seen one other time this season (against UK).  A body language that conveyed a very profound, yet simple, message: "We're North Carolina.  And we're not playing games anymore."

Even with their 19 assists, unless you watched the game, you can't fully appreciate just how smoothly their offense flowed.  There was no selfishness, there was no "I gotta get my own numbers," there was no "Hey, watch this."  

There was only this: "Let's win. Together."

Even when UNC stretched its lead to 15, 20, 25 and even 30, there was little-to-no lapse on defense. There was no "We've got this one in the bag; we can cruise now" as we saw against South Carolina and UNC Asheville.

What I saw was UNC approaching a mid-major, barely-average team like it was a Top 10'er.  I saw UNC play with a chip on its shoulder.  And I've waited all season long to finally witness that kind of mentality.

I saw P.J. Hairston passing up his open shot to give Reggie Bullock an even better one—and conversely so.  I saw Harrison Barnes continuing to attack the basket even when a somewhat simple jump shot (for him) was readily available.  

I saw Dexter Strickland becoming increasingly comfortable running the point, passing up shots he wouldn't have thought twice about last season (or the season prior) to better facilitate the offense.  

I saw all the Carolina starters and key reserves guard for the full 20-25 minutes they played.  I saw a team that was cohesive, competitive and committed.  Furthermore, I saw a team that reminded me of what North Carolina basketball is all about.

Evansville came in as the 314th-ranked rebounding team in the country.  And UNC, the 16th-ranked rebounding team in the country, couldn't have exposed that Purple Aces' weakness much more than they did in their 59-26 advantage on the boards.

Harrison Barnes led all scorers with 17, shooting 5-for-9 from the field and connecting on six of his seven free-throw attempts.  

Henson finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds and Tyler Zeller added 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.  

Reggie Bullock had another great shooting performance, knocking down four of his seven three-point attempts.  And James Michael McAdoo had a breakout game, scoring 10 points and pulling down five rebounds.

Although UNC responded from Saturday in just about every way Tar Heel faithful—and probably Coach Williams, too—could have hoped, there were still a couple glaring weaknesses in Carolina's game.  The main one being their poor free-throw shooting.

Against the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats on their home floor, UNC shot 79 percent (11-of-14) from the line.  Tuesday against Evansville, on UNC's home floor, UNC shot a measly 61 percent, making only 26 of their 43 attempts.

So, despite Carolina winning by one more point than Evansville even had, had they knocked down a respectable amount of free throws, the final margin could have been in the 60s.  Or, in Saturday's case, the difference between knocking off No. 1 and a long, long flight home with nothing but reminders of missed opportunities.

UNC also committed 13 turnovers, Kendall Marshall being responsible for three of them.  And even though he finished with six assists to counteract them twice over, he, and the rest of the Tar Heels, especially their post players, have to be stronger—and smarter—with the basketball.

Fortunately, it's still early in the season.  Perhaps even more behooving to UNC is that they've already faced, and seemingly overcome, challenges most teams don't experience until much later on in the season.

Carolina is on the up-and-up.  They're in the midst of an eight-game home stretch and will just get better with each and every game.  And let's face it: They're already pretty good.