The ACC Tournament officially got underway yesterday, and the Tar Heels learned about their second-round opponent, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after they got past Pittsburgh 55-54, to earn the right to play Carolina. The Tar Heels squandered a chance to get the double bye with the loss to Duke in the regular season finale, and will now have to win four games in four days if they want to win their first ACC title since 2016.
Notre Dame is 15-17 on the season, and they went 8-12 in the ACC during the regular season. Markus Burton led the ACC in scoring at over 22 points per game, but the lack of depth hindered the Irish from taking a step in year two under Micah Shrewsberry, one of the bright, young coaches in the game right now. Away from South Bend, Notre Dame is just 1-3 in neutral site games, and they went 3-12 in road games as they struggled all season long from start to finish.
Carolina won at Notre Dame back in early January, on the heroics of Elliot Cadeau, who converted a four-point play in the final seconds, to give the Tar Heels a dramatic road victory. That version of Carolina, isn’t the same version of the team now, as Hubert Davis has a different starting lineup, a firmer grasp on his rotations, and more importantly, this is a more confident group, than the group that barely won in South Bend earlier this season. While Carolina is playing at a higher level, the first night of the ACC Tournament produced its fair share of upsets, so they need to be ready to go from the opening tip.
The Tar Heels arrive in Charlotte, needing to win at least two, probably three games to hope to make the NCAA Tournament, as an at-large qualifier. With the team on the outside looking in, every time Carolina takes the floor, it could be the final time for RJ Davis, Jae’Lyn Withers, and Ty Claude, all to wear the UNC uniform, which means Carolina’s sense of urgency has to be the highest it’s been this season, starting later today against Notre Dame,
Defend Right Away: In the loss to Duke, Carolina allowed the Blue Devils to race out to a 36-21 lead, as they made 12 of their first 16 shots. They shot over 50% from the field for the game, and nearly 48% from behind the arc in the win in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels just never found their footing defensively, and that can’t happen in this game, because Burton and Tae Davis are capable scorers. Notre Dame played a four-overtime game last Saturday and was pushed the entire 40 minutes yesterday in their win over, so their legs are going to be heavier than usual. Carolina needs to apply the full-court press, speed Notre Dame up, and see if they can lose their legs early in the first or second half.
Own the Glass: At the under-12 timeout of the game on Saturday, Duke held a 13-2 advantage on the glass and never looked back. Ven-Allen Lubin struggled to make his presence felt on the offensive glass, and Carolina suffered because of it. That needs ot change starting today, and Carolina needs to get back to rebounding the way they did in the six-game winning streak, where they lived on the offensive glass and limited the opponent to one and own on the other end. If Carolina controls the glass, they control the tempo, and we saw what this team is capable of, when they control those aspects of the game.
Get Hot From Deep: If Carolina is going to win the games necessary to make the NCAA Tournament, they’ll need to shoot the basketball at a high level. But it can’t all be just RJ Davis making perimeter shots, he needs help from Ian Jackson, Jae’Lyn Withers, and Seth Trimble. The ball movement needs to get back to where it was before the Duke game, with the ball going inside-out, reversing sides of the court, making the defense rotate, and chasing. If they can get back to generating quality looks from the outside, they proved they are capable of shooting the ball better than numbers would suggest. It’s hard to grind out four wins in four days, so Carolina needs to get in rhythm and set themselves up for some easy wins.
Series History:
Carolina is 31-9 all-time against Notre Dame and has won four straight games against the Irish. On neutral floors, UNC is 14-4 against Notre Dame, including being 2-1 in the ACC Tournament. Furthermore, Carolina has won 13 of the last 15 games against Notre Dame.
UNC in the ACC Tournament:
Carolina is 180-52 all-time in the ACC Tournament, having won it all 18 times, and played in the championship game an ACC best, 36 times. In the second round, Carolina is 4-1.
UNC in Charlotte:
In the Queen City, Carolina is 168-28, despite a loss earlier this season to Florida in the Jumpman Invitational. In Spectrum Center, Carolina is 18-3.
KenPom:
North Carolina - 37th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 119.9 (19th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 101.6 (72nd)
Notre Dame - 93rd overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 112.3 (87th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 104.6 (119th)
NET:
North Carolina - 40th.
Notre Dame - 99th.
TV Info:
Today’s game will tip at approximately 2:30 PM on ESPN.
The Four Corners Podcast:
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