Following a big win against Kentucky last week, it would’ve been understandable if UNC had a hangover going into yesterday’s game against Georgetown. It’s something we’ve seen from previous teams, and while it tends to be a really frustrating situation, it at least would’ve been predictable. However, this Carolina team was able to handily dispatch of the Hoyas in order to improve their record to 8-1.
For anybody that might’ve been discouraged by some of the things that we saw in the games against Michigan State and Kentucky, the Heels did a good job of putting some of those concerns to rest. With that said, let’s take a look at a few takeaways from UNC’s win over Georgetown.
Improved shooting blew up Georgetown’s zone defense
One thing that UNC will have to get used to this year is teams going to zone defense to keep Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson from having their way in the paint. We saw some of this in the games against the Spartans and the Wildcats, and ultimately it led to some poor shooting. Thankfully that wasn’t as much of the case yesterday — the Heels were able to finish their day shooting 32% from deep, which is largely thanks to their 38.5% shooting performance in the second half.
One thing that is important to point out is that shooting 32% from three isn’t exactly a stellar shooting night, but this is a promising development because of who was actually making shots. Freshman guard Derek Dixon led the team from the perimeter by knocking down three of his five attempts, while Henri Veesaar wasn’t far behind with a couple of makes of his own. What’s unique about this year’s team is that there are a number of capable shooters on the roster, but who can actually make them has been a bit of a different conversation. With Kyan Evans, Luka Bogavac, Jonathan Powell, and Jarin Stevenson struggling from deep lately, seeing Veesaar and Dixon step up has been huge, especially the latter. The only way the Heels will be able to deal with the zone is to make teams pay from three-point territory, so proving they can knock them down consistently will help them out quite a bit as we get deeper into the season.
Caleb Wilson proves himself as a versatile weapon
We’ve all heard the narrative that Caleb Wilson is just a player that dunks a lot, which is mainly a narrative that has been pushed by people that don’t actually watch UNC games. Anybody that actually watches the games would be able to see that Wilson can do just about everything on the floor, and yesterday he further proved that he is one of the most dangerous players on the court whether he’s able to dunk or not. Though it wasn’t without trying, and boy did he try.
Wilson finished his afternoon with 20 points, 14 rebounds, an assist, and a block. Georgetown spent most of the game double-teaming Wilson, which led to him doing one of a few things: making some impressive passes to keep the offense humming, getting fouled near the rim, or knocking down jumpers away from the rim. Some of the shots that Wilson hit were NBA-caliber shots, and even more impressive was the fact that he had 2-3 hands in his face for some of his makes. His willingness to kick the ball out instead of forcing up bad shots also says a lot about what kind of player he is. It has to be frustrating that Wilson hasn’t been able to dominate in the same ways that he has been, but this modified version of domination shows that he is truly one of the best players in college basketball.
Hubert Davis has a (good) front court problem
Doubling back to how well Derek Dixon has been playing, Hubert Davis has had to find a way to get the most out of his freshman all while finding a way to get Kyan Evans going. His mission was successful against Georgetown — Evans went 50% from the field, and while his four fouls were really frustrating, they didn’t hurt the team much because of how well Dixon was playing. It’s also worth noting that Luka Bogavac was able to add 14 points to the scoreboard himself, which led to one of the highest point totals from the guards since Seth Trimble got injured.
With Trimble allegedly returning to the team before the calendar year is over, Davis will have to find a way to manage the minutes of the talent he has in the backcourt. Does he sit Jarin Stevenson and keep Bogavac in the starting lineup? Does Bogavac take Evans’ place instead? What do the rotations look like? We have more questions than answers, but it’s worth pointing out that Davis had Dixon and Evans on the floor at the same time quite a bit in this game, which proved to have some positive results. It’s good to see that there’s some depth in this group after it looked like that could be an area of concern before the season started, mostly because we didn’t know if Bogavac would be eligible to play. This team may be the most well-rounded that Hubert Davis has ever had, but now he has to find a way to max out their potential to achieve the team’s ultimate goal in March.
