After another week off, the Tar Heels are back in action later tonight, or early Saturday morning on the East Coast, as they have traveled to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Warriors, ahead of next week’s Maui Invitational. The last time we saw Carolina, they blew out American, 107-55, behind big games from Elliot Cadeau, and Jalen Washington, as Carolina improved to 2-1 on the young season. This four-game road trip in Hawaii will offer us a glimpse into what this team is capable of achieving this season. But before we can turn our attention to the highly anticipated Maui event, Carolina has to take on a Hawaii team that is off to a 4-0 start.
Hawaii was picked to finish 7th in the Big West this season, but that hasn’t stopped them from getting off to a 4-0 start, highlighted by some great defense. In their four wins, they have yet to allow more than 70 points, and they are only allowing 4 made threes per game, with just over 15 attempts. Tanner Christensen is one of four players to average doubles figures scoring, at 17 points per game, and over 76% shooting from the field. Tonight is the biggest home game of the season for Hawaii, and to make the occasion even more special, they are dawning new uniforms, which will make for an interesting contrast on your TV.
This might be Carolina’s fourth game of the season, but it’s already the second road game for the Tar Heels, after playing at Kansas back in the first week of the season. Normally this would be a team’s first true road game, and the environment might be a little overwhelming to start, but given the environment that Carolina played in at Allen Fieldhouse, they shouldn’t be overwhelmed or surprised by whatever environment they encounter later tonight.
The American game felt important for Cade Tyson and Jalen Washington, two very important role players for UNC. Washington scored 18 points and was 6-6 from the field, and 6-7 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Tyson scored 11 points, and made his first three-pointer as a Tar Heels, as he connected on 3-7 deep shots. It will be interesting to see how both of those guys build off their last performance because Carolina needs both of them to play at a high level during this four-game road trip in Hawaii.
When Hubert Davis met with the media on Monday, he stressed the importance of getting his team to play as close to 40 minutes as possible. Carolina has played really well in the second halves of games in each of their first three games, but they need to get that engine going in the opening half, as opposed to waiting until the second half to get going. This is the final tuneup before the schedule heats up, meaning this game offers one more opportunity for this team to take that step to play at their fullest potential. Here’s what to watch during tonight’s game:
Get Off to a Fast Start: Hubert Davis has downplayed Carolina’s slow starts in their first set of games, but it is an early theme developing, that can’t carry over as the schedule starts to heat up. In the American game, where Carolina trailed 18-13 at the under-12 timeout, Davis deployed the full-court press, and that turned the game in Carolina’s favor for well. Given how this team is built to play in the open floor and dominate in transition, Davis should deploy the press to speed the game up and allow Carolina to dictate pace and tempo early on in the game. It would also help if UNC could avoid turnovers as well. Hawaii obviously doesn’t have the talent or the depth to compete with Carolina over the course of 40 minutes, and it would be nice to see Carolina take control of the game right out of the gate.
Be Efficient From the Perimeter: Carolina has yet to shoot the ball well from the outside, and they’ll need to be conscious of that in this game. Hawaii is allowing only 4 made threes per game, and just over 15 attempts, which means they’ve done a good job running teams off the three-point line. Now obviously they haven’t faced a team that has the shooting prowess that UNC has, but they’ll still look to limit their damage from the outside. RJ Davis has yet to find his rhythm from the outside, shooting just 20% from deep in the early going of the season. He needs to let the game come to him, and not force perimeter shots, because long misses, would lead to easy run-outs for Hawaii. Expect Carolina to look for contributions on the perimeter from Cade Tyson, after his last outing against American, and Ian Jackson, who should be available to play after missing the game last week.
Limit Starters Minutes: In the win over American, Elliot Cadeau played 29 minutes, the most of any starter, and Carolina needs to look to replicate that again tonight. After tonight, once Carolina arrives in Maui, three difficult games await them, where your starters might need to play 30 minutes or more, in every game, if you hope to win that prestigious event. The best way Carolina can achieve that is to get off to a good start and be able to manage the score in the second half. With Ian Jackson and James Brown back from injury, they are deeper than they were the last time out, which should make it easier to limit the minutes that the starts log tonight.
Carolina in Hawaii:
UNC has a long track record of success in winning in Hawaii, as they are 16-1 in Honolulu, and 34-5 overall on the island. The last time they played the Rainbow Warriors was back in 2016, an 83-68 win for UNC.
KenPom:
North Carolina - 12th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 118.9 (6th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 96.2 (35th)
Hawaii - 180th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 103.4 (193rd) Adjusted Defense Efficiency: 105.0 (179th)
TV Info:
Tonight's game will air at 12:30 AM, on ESPN2.
The Four Corners Podcast:
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