No. 16 North Carolina keeps checking off significant boxes early in the season and will try to maintain momentum against Georgetown on Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Tar Heels (7-1) already own victories against traditional powers Kansas and Kentucky.
“It’s just great for our growth as a young team,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “We’re only eight games in, but it’s just real good for our team.”
The Hoyas (6-2) are looking for another notable victory after topping Maryland and Clemson, though more recently they’ve lost to Miami and Dayton.
North Carolina edged No. 18 Kentucky 67-64 on Tuesday in the team’s first true road venture of the season. The Tar Heels learned there are different ways to finish the task.
“The end of the game is never going to be perfect,” center Henri Veesaar said. “It’s just whoever plays harder and whoever plays with confidence wins.”
Freshman forward Caleb Wilson has recorded five double-doubles for North Carolina while Veesaar has four.
Yet Wilson was contained at times by Kentucky, so that’s something the Tar Heels will look to remedy as opponents have strategies for dealing with the freshman.
“More teams are now loading up on him, double-teaming him, trying to make him a passer more than a scorer,” Davis said. “That actually benefits us, because he’s such an elite passer, and we always talk about making plays, not just in scoring, but what can you do out there on the floor that can be a benefit to the team.”
North Carolina’s 20 offensive rebounds in the Kentucky game might have been the most telling statistic.
“I always go back and say that rebounding is the most important factor in the outcome of a game,” Davis said. “I really feel like we can be a great offensive rebounding team. … I’ve been telling them every second of the day, every day that we meet, how important it is to the success of this team.”
The Tar Heels learned from their Thanksgiving loss to Michigan State the value of rebounding. Veesaar said North Carolina “got kind of punked” by the Spartans, so that has put heightened emphasis on the boards.
“We’ve got to hit first,” Veesaar said of work on the boards. “Everybody was tipping balls, getting it back, getting second-, third-chance shots. Big time for us.”
Georgetown defeated visiting UMBC 90-81 on Wednesday, yet Hoyas coach Ed Cooley felt uneasy about how things played out, particularly with the team outrebounded 32-30.
“Defensively, we’ve got our work cut out,” he said. “That’s something we have a couple days to work on before we head down … to play UNC.”
Georgetown’s offense made strides, particularly with 25 assists. Caleb Williams was a beneficiary of the ball movement, scoring 18 points for the Hoyas.
“My coaches and my teammates put all the trust in me,” Williams said. “They know it’s my shot. It’s something that I worked on a lot this summer, so they just keep telling me to be aggressive, and then for me, just looking to see when I can be aggressive within our offense so that it doesn’t disrupt the flow.”
KJ Lewis (16.6 points per game) and Malik Mack (16.5) are the two leading scorers for Georgetown.
