The North Carolina men’s basketball team had a solid win over a struggling Miami team, 85-76, bringing No. 13 UNC’s record to 14-4 and 4-1 in the ACC. Both teams struggled to defend for portions of the game, but the Tar Heels' veterans and superior talent willed them to a win over a short-handed Hurricanes squad (9-8, 1-4 ACC) that played just seven players.
Kenny Williams locked in
Kenny Williams had maybe his best showing of the season, scoring a season-high 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting and 3 of 5 from three. It’s a positive sign for the senior guard, who so far has been shooting 26.5 percent on 3-pointers, after shooting 40.2 percent last year. Williams has still been making his impact known, often starting on the opponent’s toughest perimeter scorer while also leading the team in assists. But his offensive production is vital to the long term success of the team.
There’s signs of improvement for Williams on his shot making. Over the past four games, he’s shot over 43 percent from distance at 7 of 16 and 50 percent from the field (17-34). With senior forward Luke Maye also struggling from distance this year, North Carolina’s starting lineup would get a huge benefit from Williams heating up while creating space for its post players.
Cameron Johnson steps up again
Through 18 games this season, Cameron Johnson has far and away been the Tar Heels’ best player and best offensive weapon. He’s shooting a blistering 46.8 percent on 3-point shots and averaging a team high 15.9 points per game. For the fifth time this season, he scored 20 or more points (he had a game-high 22). With apologies to Maye, who has been decent this season but inconsistent, it should be Johnson’s name appearing on the Wooden Award midseason top 25 list.
Johnson continued to show on Saturday that going forward, he needs to be the team’s lead option on the offensive end. He had a terrific bounce-back game in terms of shooting, making 5 of 7 from three after going collectively 0-for-7 in North Carolina’s last two games. Johnson’s quick release and seemingly limitless range, combined with his 6-foot-9 frame, allow him to shoot over most players before they can close out on him. UNC hasn’t been winning games with its defense this season, so the team will need Johnson to continue to fill it up from deep to win games.
Defensive struggles continue
This North Carolina team is not nationally known for its defense, probably for good reason. The team's struggles continued against Miami, as the Tar Heels allowed the Hurricane guards to get into the lane. UNC then lacked the rim protection to stop the guards once they got there. As good as sophomore forward Garrison Brooks has been for UNC, he’s still only 6-foot-9 playing against starting centers and hasn’t shown to be much of a shot blocker so far — he's averaging less than one block per game. In fact, North Carolina’s only block against Miami came on a Nassir Little chase down on Dejan Vasiljevic in the closing minutes of the game.
