By Adam Lucas
1. Carolina closed the nonconference portion of the schedule with a 99-51 rout over East Carolina.
2. The 12-1 start to the season puts this year’s team in some lofty company. The last Tar Heel squads to get off to a better start were the 2008 and 2009 teams, both of which stood 13-0 through 13 games. In total, this year’s team joins only four other UNC teams this century that have started the year at least 12-1. The others include those two 13-0 squads, plus 12-1 teams in 2005 and 2007.
3. The Tar Heels put four players in double figures, led by Caleb Wilson with 21 points. Henri Veesaar had 16, Luka Bogavac had 15 and Seth Trimble added 12. It was nice to see Bogavac get reinvolved in the offense after going 1-for-5 combined in the last two games. He hit five of his nine field goals and also went to the free throw line five times while grabbing four rebounds. A more engaged Bogavac makes the Heels a much better team.
4. Caleb Wilson continues to pile up the dunks. After coming into the game with a nation-leading 36 (six more than the next-closest player), he had five more on Monday. The highlight was probably a nice lob from Jonathan Powell in the first half. Five of his seven field goals were slams and 41 of his 87 made baskets this year are dunks. Forty-one of his 83 two-point baskets are dunks. He also now has at least 20 points in five straight games; the only other freshman to reach that mark five straight times in UNC history was Phil Ford.
5. Veesaar shot 27 percent and 32 percent from three in his two seasons at Arizona. After going 4-for-5 from the arc in the game, he’s now at 50 percent this season and has made the shot–especially at the top of the key–a legitimate part of his arsenal and an important source of points and spacing for the UNC offense.
6. Both Veesaar and Wilson had double-doubles on Monday. That’s the sixth time this year they’ve had double-doubles in the same game. Only three Tar Heel pairs in history have had more double-double games as a duo: Tyler Zeller and John Henson had nine, Rusty Clark and Larry Miller had eight, and Pete Brennan and Lennie Rosenbluth had seven.
7. As you would hope in a game like that, the Tar Heels also got to work on some things that might be useful down the road. They even played a handful of possessions of zone in the second half, the first appearance for that defense this season. If you have to have something to worry about from that game, ECU’s burly Giovanni Emejuru did have some success muscling his way around the paint. That’s something other teams will try to emulate down the road if they have the personnel available.
8. Carolina was extremely efficient with East Carolina turnovers. The Pirates coughed it up seven times in the first half and the Heels turned it into 14 points. As assistant coach Jeff Lebo said at halftime on the Tar Heel Sports Network, “That’s Carolina Basketball.” Those turnovers ignited the UNC transition game; the Heels led the fast break points category 16-0.
9. The Heels continue to be very good defensively. No opponent has yet cracked the 75-point mark in a game, and ECU shot just 26.0 percent from the field.
10. Carolina is now 9-0 at the Smith Center this season, with those nine victories by an average of 22.7 points per game.
11. Isaiah Denis is behind some other very talented players. But he’s found a way to contribute when he gets a chance, and had six points late in the game. The coaches continue to want him to defend as well as he scores, and when he does–whether this year or future years–he has a chance to contribute.
12. Carolina finishes the nonconference portion of the schedule with a 12-1 record, the lone blemish coming on Thanksgiving Day against Michigan State. The Tar Heels have wins over Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State, plus a victory over Georgetown that appears solid. They’re undefeated at home and have put themselves in position to be part of the national conversation in the weeks and months to come. Even better, the Atlantic Coast Conference seems stronger than last year, so the league should provide some quality win opportunities that could bolster Carolina’s credentials even further if they can amass ACC wins in the same way they piled them up in nonconference play. This part of the schedule–especially considering the fact that Seth Trimble missed nine games–was an undeniable success.
