Though most of the story lines stayed the same - John Henson showing off his new and improved offensive arsenal, Harrison Barnes looking like Harrison Barnes with a couple of particularly sweet moves, Kendall Marshall dropping a record number of dimes - there was some actual new news from Carolina's latest romp over 'a team that will or has made the NCAA tournament in 2011 or 2012 but isn't nearly as good as Carolina."
The Heels were led by Reggie Bullock's 23 points on their way to a relatively easy 102-69 win. Coming into the season the Heels only had one semi-legit concern, at least talent wise. With Leslie McDonald, arguably the Heels' best outside shooter, out for the season there were - are? - concerns regarding whether Carolina has enough outside shooting.
North Carolina's imposing front line of Tyler Zeller, Henson and Barnes is practically unstoppable. But the Heels will still need outside shooting to keep teams from playing a packed-in zone (a la Virginia) and daring Carolina to beat them from the outside. Barnes is part of that solution; though he will likely take fewer threes he is also expected to make a higher percentage.
But the other half of the answer to the McDonald question is Bullock. He had his moments last year despite battling a balky knee that eventually ended his season early. This year, a healthy Bullock needs to actually turn into the McDonald of last year, especially the version down the stretch in 2011. McDonald eventually developed into a confident offensive player off the bench, one the Heels relied on.
[It could be a three-part answer if you factor in P.J. Hairston, but I don't want to make that kind of assumption for a freshman even though Hairston is very, very good].
Bullock had been a little underwhelming so far this season but against Tennessee State looked fantastic. He was confidently stepping into his shot and even drove a few times to the hole. Shooting is as much mental as it is physical, so that kind of night could launch a great sophomore campaign for Bullock - and answer the one question that lingers with this year's Carolina team.
GO HEELS!
Extra points
- How great was Bullock's night? It rendered a 15-assist night for Marshall a mere footnote. K-Mar now has 38 assists in his last 3 games, which I think is a Carolina record, including 2 fifteen assist efforts. The Heels shot 62 percent versus Tennessee State, and are shooting 53 percent for the season. The main reason for those gaudy stats is Marshall (and playing teams that were on the short side so we could easily feed the post). Henson has gotten better, but so has Marshall.
- Tennessee State head coach John Cooper was once an assistant coach at Fayetteville State University, located in the city in which I am blogging from right now!
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