Love, Davis change tactics to secure 94-83 men's basketball win over Charleston

Who’s setting the table?

For opponents of the North Carolina men’s basketball team, they’ve known it's junior Armando Bacot.

In UNC’s 94-83 win over the College of Charleston, the 6-foot-10 big man scored 16 first-half points on 6-for-7 shooting and reminded the Cougars that the word “mismatch” is irrelevant. 

With the shifty and bulky Bacot, if he’s on the block, everything’s a mismatch. That much is known. How about when the pass to the post is cut off? Bacot can’t always get his own buckets.

So who’s setting the table, then?

For the first half of Tuesday’s game, UNC gave the same answer it gave last year. Or more accurately, like last year, they didn’t have an answer. They only had hope that points off of post-ups, offensive rebounding and fast breaks were enough to make ends meet.

And the Tar Heels’ lead guards, sophomores Caleb Love and RJ Davis, were powerless to change this. Love and Davis attacked the basket with speed, but against a frenetic Charleston perimeter defense the dribble drive alone was futile.

In the first half, Love put up four points, two assists and three turnovers. Davis? Zero points, one assist, two turnovers. Outside of Bacot's post-ups, UNC’s offense looked desperate and predictable, coughing the ball up 11 times in the first half.

A new plan was installed in the second half: no more forcing the issue against the stubborn Cougars. Instead, the guards kept it simple and let Charleston come to them.

In graduate transfer Brady Manek, UNC had one of the best pick-and-pop specialists in the country, who was dying to put that specialty to use. More pick-and-rolls with Manek popping to the three-point line in the second half helped the forward improve on his five points in the first half to 12 more in the second half.

The pick-and-pop didn’t just help Manek, though. Charleston's big men couldn't just leave Manek open, but if they closed in on him, who's going to stop Love and Davis from speeding to the rim off the screen?

“They couldn’t guard the ball screen,” Love said. “So I had the big on me or a defender that couldn’t really guard. So the coaches was telling me to attack, attack, attack and make plays for my team.”

Charleston had three options: a third man needed to leave someone else open and join the defense, the big man had to switch onto Love or Davis, or the guard was left helpless against a pair of Tar Heels who are deadly when they turn the corner.

In the first scenario, that results in open threes. UNC improved from 2-for-9 on three-point attempts in the first half to 5-for-11 in the second half. Sophomore guard Kerwin Walton, who went 4-for-6 from three against Charleston, pointed this out. 

“I’m a shooter, so I’ll space it out for (Love and Davis),” Walton said. “It’s gonna be really hard for them to help. And if they do help, then there’s just gonna be a kick-out, and it’ll be an easy bucket for me.”

The second and third scenarios create a worse fate: Love and Davis attacking a slower big man or a guard who’s a step or two behind them.

All of Love’s 12 free throw attempts came in the second half. Eighteen of his 22 points also came in the second half. A result of the dribble drive? Yes. But the dribble drive opened up because Love stopped attacking as soon as he got the ball.

Instead, he waited for Charleston to respond to him. If he drew the big man’s help, he kicked it to Manek. If he got a switch, he attacked the rim.

“(Love) had a good understanding of when to dip into his bag offensively and shoot the basketball, but also when to penetrate and dish,” head coach Hubert Davis said. “He had some beautiful bounce passes for layups to Manek and Bacot. I thought he did an outstanding job running the team in the second half.”

Love and Davis’ facilitation improved too with seven assists and one turnover between the two in the second half.

The table was set.

@dmtwumasi

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