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Three Key Takeaways.
- Nobody can keep North Carolina off the offensive glass. It didn’t matter how much size Indiana had in the low post. The simple truth is that the Tar Heels have more frontcourt depth than any other team in the field and can attack the glass in waves. A starting lineup of 6’8″, 6’10” and 6’10” creates instant mismatches and posed a problem all night long for a group of Hoosiers that only wanted to get out and run. The team is impressively connected when it comes to timing and anticipation and each forward is skilled in maneuvering himself to gain good rebounding position inside.
- Indiana’s defensive struggles became its downfall. The Hoosiers’ 13-of-31 performance from three and 41 percent shooting night from the field was not disparate from their season averages. In fact, their 1.23 points per possession tonight was better than its season average of 1.18 PPP. In the wake of a 15-point defeat, there was no degree of shooting that could have saved Indiana in this game. The effort instead needed to come on the defensive end, and it wasn’t there. The Tar Heels, normally a subpar 31 percent three-point shooting team, shot an uncanny 11-of-20 from deep and complemented it with a 50 percent shooting inside. That long-range shooting performance was certainly not something Tom Crean expected and the added focus on defending the perimeter resulted in wide-open driving lanes.
- Does any team have the personnel to beat the Tar Heels? With a string of outright dominant performances starting with its rout of the ACC Tournament field, the question lingers. Yes, UNC shot abnormally well against Indiana, but the fact remains that few teams have the frontcourt depth and defensive wherewithal to slow it down. Moreover, attempting to beat Roy Williams at his own game by pushing the tempo is a recipe for disaster. Interestingly, five of the Tar Heels’ six losses this season have been in games played well below the team’s average tempo.
Star of the Game. Marcus Paige was on point tonight from the moment the ball was tipped. The senior point guard got off to an explosive start, connecting on four consecutive threes in the opening five minutes to give his team an early lead. He ultimately finished with 21 points — his highest output since February 6 — along with six assists. His outside shooting sparked what was North Carolina’s second-most efficient offensive performance of the season.
Sights & Sounds. Unsurprisingly, North Carolina and Indiana fans represented the majority of attendees tonight in Philadelphia. It also helped that most Wisconsin and Notre Dame fans stuck around to watch the second game, keeping the Wells Fargo Center at near-capacity crowd throughout. The second game of the night easily surpassed the first in terms of scoring, and the blue/red color contrast in the stands created an equally colorful and noisy crowd.
Quotable.
- Tom Crean, reflecting on the loss of his seniors: “Every team goes through different stages, and they either bond together or fracture apart. All this team did was bond together.”
- Crean, on what went wrong: “We never really got the post game under control. The threes hurt… but the post-ups, they destroyed us.”
- Brice Johnson, on the team’s offensive performance tonight: “It’s definitely one of the most impressive, just based on the way Marcus came out.”
- Marcus Paige, on the team’s outside shooting: “We’ve had a lot of offensive games where we’ve scored all our points in the paint… so getting some outside balance helped us.”
What’s Next? North Carolina earned a date with a Notre Dame team it has already faced twice this season. The first was a free-throw filled affair in South Bend where the Irish garnered 20 offensive rebounds and got to the line 38 times, ultimately winning the game by four points. The second, an ACC Tournament game, was an outright beatdown, with the Tar Heels trouncing the Irish by 31 points thanks to stellar defense and control of the glass. Indiana ended its season on a negative note in the midst of an otherwise positive season.