PHILADELPHIA — The No. 1 seed North Carolina men's basketball team hit the floor of the Wells Fargo Center Thursday afternoon for a brief practice and spent some time talking to the media ahead of its Sweet Sixteen matchup against No. 5 seed Indiana Friday night.
Before hitting the court, Coach Roy Williams talked about the challenges the Hoosiers offer under Coach Tom Crean.
"They're effective at both ends of the court. You have to cover the 3-point shot. They make 9.8 per game. I think we make less than five," Williams said. "We've got to get out and try to cut their percentage down. They're going to shoot a lot of threes. (Senior point guard Yogi Ferrell) gives them so much threat with his penetration and pinching that they're going to get some threes.
"(Junior forward Troy Williams) attacks the basket well. Almost everybody on their team shoots ... But defensively we know they do a good job of walling the guy inside. They trap when they want to. They jam when they want to."
The Hoosiers enter Friday's matchup with a 50.5 team shooting percentage, and according to KenPom.com, their effective field goal percentage — which weights 3-pointers more than twos — is the best in the nation at 58.9 percent. For some context, UNC's effective field goal percentage sits at 52, good for 73rd in the country.
For Crean, the challenges the Tar Heels pose for his team involve a handful of different things.
"I think one of the things that separates this Carolina team so much is the way they pass the ball," he said. "So it all starts with your transition, because they get out and run. The only thing in our league that's close to this is Iowa, when it comes to how quick they get out after a made basket.
"The other thing that they do such a great job at, it's not just the offensive rebounding in the court, it's offensive rebounding in transition ... But you can't give them live ball turnovers. They do as good a job as anybody in the country at turning your turnover into a dunk or a layup. They have a lot of length, and they try to really shrink the court, because of the way they come off the wings and because of the length of the forwards."
The Daily Tar Heel was on the scene to watch both practices, and you can check out some of the pictures and video from the day below:
