Scouting Report: North Carolina Tar Heels

It has been a whirlwind last 48 hours or so for the Kentucky Wildcats. Just before the team was getting on the plane to Las Vegas, it was announced that the Ohio State Buckeyes would not be making the trip. However, a replacement opponent would not be announced until just after 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Friday morning. Due to health issues within UCLA’s team, the North Carolina Tar Heels slid over to take on the Wildcats.

With just over 24 hours to prepare, this scouting report had a SEC Tournament feel to it. However, in the SEC Tournament, at least you have past scouting reports to go off of. The circumstances may be less than ideal, but once the ball is tipped at 5:30 p.m. ET this evening none of that will matter.

The Tar Heels enter tonight’s game with an 8-2 record and winners of five straight. Their only two losses this season came on a neutral floor to Purdue and Tennessee. While their resume isn’t outstanding, it is much more solid than Kentucky’s right now. Also, North Carolina is playing like one of the best offensive teams in the country. This will be an excellent win for the Wildcats if they can come away with the victory.

A quick turnaround didn’t stop us from putting together a thorough scouting report on the North Carolina Tar Heels. We immediately hunkered down in the film room watching several of their games to figure out how to guard their potent offense. As always, we have a complete personnel breakdown, a look at their offensive scheme and structure, commentary on their defense, and the keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and get to know everything there is to know about the North Carolina Tar Heels.

North Carolina Tar Heels Personnel

Starters

#4 R.J. Davis: 6’0″ 175 lbs, Sophomore Guard

13.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.7 apg

Smaller, thin guard. Will share the primary ball handling duties with #2 Love when they are in together. Shooter! No 3’s! Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3’s. 19/42 from 3. Shooting the same percentage from 3 as he is from 2. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Pick him up in transition. Loves to shoot the transition 3’s. Really attacks the basket hard driving it right. No right hand drives! Need to move your feet to cut him off going right. Stay on his hip and make him finish over you when he drives it. Pushes hard in transition. Get the ball stopped. Be active when ball goes in the post, but ready to closeout aggressively. No 3’s and no layups for him.

#2 Caleb Love: 6’4″ 195 lbs, Sophomore Guard

16.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.9 apg

Bigger guard. Will share the primary ball handling duties with #4 Davis when they are in together. Shooter! No 3’s! Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3’s. 21/49 from 3. Have to get up into him and break his rhythm when he is bouncing it on the perimeter. Very good shooter off of the dribble. Active feet and hands when guarding him. Will drive it right as you pressure him. Stay on his hip and make him finish over you when he drives it. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Have your hands up to contest the floater as he drives. Hard contest to all jump shots. Be active when ball goes in the post, but ready to closeout aggressively. No 3’s for him. More shots than points.

#1 Leaky Black: 6’8″ 200 lbs, Senior Forward

5.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.1 apg

Athletic wing/forward. Non-shooter. Closeout short! Do not guard him on the perimeter. He is not even looking at the rim from beyond the three-point arc. Wants to attack closeouts and drive it right. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! You should stay between him and the basket by closing out short. Go under any ballscreens and handoffs. Runs the floor hard in transition. They will throw it ahead to him. Get back and protect the basket. Very good offensive rebounder. Be physical when the shot goes up. Have to check him out on the perimeter. Help off of him when the ball goes into the post. He will cut to the rim, but be aggressive going to help on #13 Garcia, #45 Manek, and #5 Bacot. No right hand drives. No offensive rebounds.

#13 Dawson Garcia: 6’11” 235 lbs, Sophomore Forward

12.2 ppg, 6.1. rpg, 1.0 apg

Lefty, skilled 4-man. Be physical with him and make him uncomfortable. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! 47.8% from 3. Have to be there on the catch to take away the initial catch-and-shoot. Be willing to switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. Will slip ballscreens. If there is no screen there is no switch. Get up and pressure him on the perimeter. Make him handle the ball. When he lifts away from the basket you have to go with him and be tight. Give a hard contest to any mid-range jumpers. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Be active when he has it in the post. Stunt and fake hard at him. Mix up going hard and doubling him. Much better scorer than passer. Be physical on his right shoulder. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out! Make him turn it over. 10 assists to 18 turnovers. No catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#5 Armando Bacot: 6’10” 240 lbs, Junior Center

14.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 1.6 apg

Extremely physical 5-man. Wants to play with his back to the basket on the block. Very physical. Must be ready to match his physicality and not let him play harder than you. Looking to duck you in around the basket. Work 3/4 the way around in front and make it hard for him to get a catch. No post catches with two feet in the paint. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical on his left shoulder. Loves to ballscreen and roll. Must give room on the “shadow” to stay between him and the basket. Make him score over you. Be active when he has it in the post. Stunt and fake hard at him. Mix up going hard and doubling him. Much better scorer than passer. 16 assists to 16 turnovers. Elite offensive rebounder. Box out!!! Foul if you are beat. No And-1s.

Bench

#45 Brady Manek: 6’9″ 230 lbs, Graduate Student Forward

13.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.2 apg

Pick-and-pop 4-man. Shooter! No 3’s! 50 of 96 shots have been 3’s. Have to be tight to him and take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. When he lifts away from the basket you have to go with him and be tight. Be willing to switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. Will use the shot fake on the perimeter to drive it right. Stay down. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be active when he has it in the post. Stunt and fake hard at him. Mix up going hard and doubling him. Much better scorer than passer. 12 assists to 17 turnovers. Take him away from 3 and take it off of him when he puts it on the floor.

#24 Kerwin Walton: 6’5″ 210 lbs, Sophomore Guard

4.0 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.7 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 29 of 41 shots have been 3’s. Have to be tight to him at all times. All he wants to do is catch-and-shoot. Get over any ballscreens or handoffs. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space to take away the 3’s. When you are guarding him you are only worried about taking him away from 3. No help off of him. Tighten up as the ball is driven towards you. No 3’s!

#0 Anthony Harris: 6’4″ 195 lbs, Redshirt Sophomore Guard

1.9 ppg, 0.3 rpg, 0.3 apg

Backup guard. Non-shooter. Closeout short. Not looking to shoot from the perimeter. Closeout short to stay between him and the basket. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! You need to stay between him and the basket. Not really thinking about passing it when he drives. Just make him finish. Go under ballscreens and handoffs. No layups for him.

#22 Justin McKoy: 6’8″ 220 lbs, Junior Forward

0.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.6 apg

Backup forward. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Just be physical with him and make him score over you. Ballscreens and rolls to the basket. Contest if he shoots. Will crash the offensive glass. Box out!

North Carolina Tar Heels Offense

There are both similarities and differences between how Hubert Davis runs his offense compared to Roy Williams. For starters, we will still see some of that historic Carolina Secondary break. Also, the personnel looks pretty similar with having a bigger roster in terms of size and strength. However, this Tar Heels team shoots more 3’s than we are used to seeing and are not as dominant on the offensive glass.

While North Carolina still has size, instead of a typical twin towers type of feel, this team has a lot of skill at the 4-spot. Both Dawson Garcia and Brady Manek can stretch the floor and score in a variety of ways. Coach Hubert Davis will set more ballscreens offensively and try to space things out to allow for driving lanes for his guards. This isn’t a group that will just look to throw it inside and then rebound when they miss.

This is the slowest paced Tar Heels team in nearly two decades according to KenPom. They don’t play slow by any means, but compared to the typical high-tempo offense under Coach Roy Williams this group will play more in the half court. Still, we have to be ready for them to take the first good look in transition when it is there, especially from beyond the arc.

The name of the game this evening when guarding the North Carolina Tar Heels will be activity. You need to be doing SOMETHING at all times defensively. They are hard to guard and will put us in tough spots regardless of what decisions we make. So, if you want to go double the post then get in there and double the post. If you are taking away a shooter then make sure they don’t get a shot off. When you help on a drive get all the way over and stuff the lane. Even if it isn’t perfect in terms of the scouting report you need to be committed to your decision and make sure you are doing SOMETHING!

Ballscreen Continuity

The Tar Heels are able to score off of the first ballscreen on this possession, but here is a look at their ballscreen continuity. With their starting five in, which means #13 Garcia is at the “4,” we need to switch the ballscreens that he sets. It’ll make it easier to take him away and we want to bring a lot of help when he catches it inside anyway, so the “mismatch” is fine.

Middle Ballscreen

We are in “shadow”/”drop” coverage when #5 Bacot sets the ballscreens. When guarding him you need to keep giving ground to keep the ball handler in front of you while not allowing Bacot to roll deeper than you. Keep everything in front and then recover once the on-ball defender is back in position. The Furman defender is way too high here and it leaves him wide open on the roll. Also, this is a good example of where we want do be doing “something” defensively. The help defender on the right block certainly wasn’t taking away #13 Garcia from 3, but also wasn’t all the way in at the rim to take away the roll. Make a decision and commit! Don’t be in no mans land!

Secondary Side Ballscreen

There are two major problems defensively in this clip. First, when #0 Black catches it on the perimeter we want to closeout short and go under the ballscreens or handoffs. Despite closing out far too aggressively, the defender does still hop under the ballscreen, but then the guy guarding #13 Garcia still hedges as well. That is no good. When going under just give room and then stay with your man. Also, when Garcia sets ballscreens at the “4,” especially on #0 Black, just switch it and keep a guy on a guy. We cannot give up these catch-and-shoot 3’s on the pop.

High-Low into Motion

This is a good example of what an average North Carolina possession can look like. They start setting the downscreens on either side, flash the high post, and give a look to the high-low game. Then, they are just into 4-around-1 Motion. On this possession they actually end up setting a little ballscreen for #13 Garcia with #0 Black. Regardless of any other scouting report specific material, anytime a “big” is screened for like this it is an automatic switch. You cannot let Garcia come off and get this open mid-range jumper. Need to give a hard contest to all his mid-range looks. Switch when he is involved in ball screening.

Garcia-Bacot High-Low

The North Carolina Tar Heels are really hard to guard. There is no getting around it. However, if we stick to our plan and play really hard we can get enough stops to win. This is another look at their high-low action. Anytime #13 Garcia lifts towards the perimeter you have to go with him and stay tight. He is too good of a shooter from mid-range and beyond to help on the Bacot drive, especially when he is going left. Help from the perimeter and come take it off of him, but when guarding Garcia you have to stay with him. Hard contest on his mid-range jumpers. This is too easy.

Carolina Secondary

We could spend hours just breaking down the famous Carolina Secondary break. Under Coach Hubert Davis the Tar Heels aren’t as married to it, but it is still a big part of what they do. Here is a good example of them getting pretty far through all of their reads. The ball is reversed through the trail spot and a backscreen is set for #45 Manek. He is actually open at the rim but doesn’t get it due to good ball pressure by Purdue. At that point the ball is reversed again and they go inside to Manek. There is nothing wrong with aggressively doubling like Purdue does here. However, you need to be more committed to protecting the rim when we do trap. Also, when you go and trap the goal is to either force a turnover or foul. Do not let them out!

North Carolina Tar Heels Defense

After a very poor start to the season on the defensive end, the Tar Heels have tightened the screws recently. On their recent five game winning streak, UNC hasn’t allowed more than 63 points in a game. However, this is still a team with some holes on that end of the floor. First and foremost, North Carolina is primarily a man-to-man defensive team.

They have been one of the worst in the country this season at forcing turnovers so we need to keep that trend alive today. UNC is more interested in staying between you and the basket than they are forcing turnovers. Along with not giving forcing turnovers comes not fouling either. We cannot expect to get to the line much this evening. Also, despite their size inside, teams have had success finishing 2’s against them. Opponents are shooting over 50% from 2-point range. Lastly, one thing they do extremely well, is defensive rebound. They may have some holes, but they end possessions after just one shot. Opponents get just 18.4% of their misses while we average a nation’s best 45% on the offensive glass. It will be strength-versus-strength on the glass.

Keys to the Game

• Contain #13 Garcia, #5 Bacot, & #45 Manek. No catch-and-shoot 3’s for Garcia or Manek, no deep post catches for Bacot. Lots of help when they have it. Be active. Make them turn it over. More shots than points combined at 6+ turnovers.
• No 3’s for #2 Love or #24 Walton. Break Love’s rhythm on the perimeter. No pull-up 3’s for him. Stay tight to Walton. No catch-and-shoot 3’s for him.
• Win rebounding battle. UNC is 2nd nationally in defensive rebounding, we are 1st in offensive rebounding. Strength vs. strength. We must win the glass.
• Limit turnovers. Tar Heels aren’t look to force turnovers. Scoring is important tonight and we need a shot each possession. 10 or fewer turnovers will get the job done.