Three things North Carolina must do to beat Duke basketball this week
North Carolina enters Saturday’s game at Duke looking to get back into the rhythm it had established last month. The Tar Heels rely on seven freshmen in their rotation and again looked like a young team in Tuesday’s 63-50 loss at Clemson. They’ll have to grow up quickly -- even without fans in Cameron Indoor Stadium -- as they get initiated into the Duke rivalry Saturday.
Here are 3 things UNC has to do to beat the Blue Devils:
1. Back to the Boards
Carolina ranks second nationally in offensive rebounding percentage, grabbing 40 percent of their missed shots. The Heels had a season-low seven offensive boards -- which was only 25 percent of their misses -- at Clemson.
Needless to say, they can’t afford another performance like Tuesday against the Blue Devils. Since they aren’t a great shooting team, the Heels need to rack up those second-chance points to compensate. Before Tuesday, UNC never had fewer than 10 offensive boards in a game. It’ll take at least that many to beat Duke.
2. Treat the ball like it’s fragile
Turnovers have been such a recurring theme for UNC that coach Roy Williams said he’s tried every approach to getting them corrected. He’s run the players extra in practice. He’s yelled at them to punctuate how critical ball possession is. He’s taken the gentle approach of putting his arm around the perpetrator to talk through their mistake. None of it has worked.
Just went it seemed like the message was getting through, they had 17 turnovers -- which was 23 percent of their possessions -- against Clemson. The pace should certainly be faster against Duke, meaning they will have more possessions, so if they can limit turnovers to about 15 percent of their possessions, they should be positioned to come away with a win.
3. Pound the ball inside
The silver lining in sophomore forward Armando Bacot going scoreless at Clemson is he’ll be focused on being aggressive from the start -- and his teammates are likely to focus on getting him into a rhythm early -- against Duke. Bacot has been arguably the most consistent player for the Heels all season.
Carolina is most effective offensively when getting the ball to the post is the focal point. It not only allows it to score more efficiently, it usually leads to foul trouble for its opponents. If the Heels frontcourt of Bacot, Day’Ron Sharpe and Garrison Brooks can get Duke’s Jalen Johnson or Matthew Hurt in foul trouble, it increases their odds of returning to Chapel Hill with a win.
UNC at Duke
When: 6 p.m., Saturday
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
Watch: ESPN
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Three things North Carolina must do to beat Duke basketball this week."