Court Vision: No. 13 North Carolina heats up vs. Syracuse zone
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- No. 13 North Carolina (17-4, 7-1 ACC) won an unexpected shootout against Syracuse (14-7, 5-3) with a 93-83 final, a throwback to the days of college basketball when teams used to score points. North Carolina's 93 points against Syracuse were the most it allowed in regulation since 2009, and the 55.4 percent shooting was the highest against Syracuse all season. It wasn't a perfect performance by any stretch, but the Tar Heels have now won six in a row.
1. Keep zoning the Tar Heels -- they don't mind
A caveat -- Syracuse's zone is not the same as most zones employed by college teams nationwide. It's what they do full-time, and it's what helped Jim Boeheim develop that program into what it is today. Their perimeter players are long, athletic and have great hands, as they showed in the first half when they had nine steals on 13 North Carolina turnovers.
Zones aren't necessarily designed to be passive, obviously, but they're seen that way -- almost a defensive retreat, mucking up the interior so that big teams are forced to shoot from the outside because they can't get it into the paint.
Obviously, Syracuse plays zone full-time and it is a tenet of their program. So facing a zone like that compared to a team that isn't customarily used to running zone and breaks it out against the Tar Heels from time to time is an enormous challenge for North Carolina.
The customary skip-passes over the top North Carolina is used to making to loosen up the zone a bit and get their big guys a post touch? Not there in the first half. Or at least they weren't crisp enough -- North Carolina, which turned it over just five times against Florida State on Saturday, had 13 in the first half and finished with 20 for the game.
Yes, they were lazy passes at times, but there is just no room for that against this zone and North Carolina learned that in a hurry.
"You can't have 13 turnovers in a half and have the other team outscore you 16-2 (off turnovers)," North Carolina head coach Roy Williams said. "So I challenged them and their toughness in the second half. We still turned it over a couple of times, but I did think that we were much tougher physically and mentally -- probably more so mentally."
With every defense, there's a counter to it that can work if it's executed well. Syracuse's is no different.
"There is a hole right in the middle of the zone. But they cover up for it better than anybody. Last year (at Syracuse), we were really good the first 5-6 minutes and then they just closed it off and we didn't get it there anymore," Williams said.
North Carolina scored just 45 points in the loss at Syracuse, and Williams is right -- after the first few possessions, it lost patience.
Not this time, even though both of North Carolina's big men -- a combined 3-of-8 at the half (with Brice Johnson having just one shot attempt and Meeks going 2-for-7) -- were outwardly and inwardly frustrated at first.
"I was a little frustrated. But at the same time, it's a whole other half to play," Meeks said. "Can't be discouraged, keep giving the effort, keep grinding it out, keep grinding it out. There was a big stretch where me and Brice didn't come out of the game for a long time. Coach just said at timeouts 'just keep grinding it out, being smart, no silly fouls and just play as a team'."
That's what they both did -- and the plan was to attack Syracuse's X5 man (in this case, center Rakeem Christmas), getting right into the teeth of that zone defense and going inside-out. That's what the Tar Heels were able to do in the second half.
"Getting the ball in the ACC -- ACC logo actually. Just attacking the basket, whether it's a short jumpshot or demanding the ball and getting fouled, just being aggressive the entire game," Meeks said. "The first half, I think we kind of shied away from it and settled for those jumpshots and boneheaded plays and turnovers and stuff like that."
There's this notion that since the Tar Heels don't shoot well from the perimeter, typically, they're more susceptible to being zoned. But North Carolina hit 9-of-16 three-pointers, and many of the seven three-point attempts in the second half came within the rhythm and flow of the offense rather than just settling for a shot.
And yes, the play of the bigs opened things up -- Meeks was 4-of-6 in the second half, while Johnson was 5-for-5. They combined for 26 second-half points (34 total) and 19 rebounds (after pulling down just four in the first half).
But the biggest benefit to their good play was to open things up for everyone else.
"That was the biggest factor for us that changed from the first half to the second half is being able to get the ball to the high post consistently and with (Johnson) having enough space to operate so that we could get some shots," Paige said.
"Whereas in the first half, we were just passing the ball around the perimeter and the zone just shifts back and forth. We couldn't get anything going. So the biggest thing against their zone is getting penetration by the pass or the dribble. Ninety percent of our penetration today came from the pass, and we were able to be effective in that way."
2. Quietly, Marcus Paige is back to being who everyone thought he was
First, it was the game-winner against Louisville. Then, his season-high 23 point at N.C. State back on January 14 were loud. Every big moment when North Carolina needed a bucket, Paige seemed to provide it. He hit all five of his three-point attempts and had nine assists, four steals and no turnovers.
After that game, he scored eight in an ugly win over Virginia Tech the following Sunday, still dealing with that plantar fasciitis.
In the last three games, though, he's been more the Paige everyone thought we'd see all year -- steady, efficient and controlled. He has averaged 17.7 points in the last three games on 16-of-31 shooting (8-of-16 from three), with 19 assists to four turnovers.
And in the last two games alone, he's averaged 20.5 points. He hasn't had to carry his team, so it hasn't been quite as loud. But his head coach insisted that this Paige has been here all along, even if he was struggling shooting it.
"His shot's going in, he's getting a little more healthy is a big thing too. But he's getting a little bit more help now, too. I told you guys more than once, if Marcus was my biggest concern I've got a really blessed life," Williams said.
Paige, for one, is just relieved that he doesn't have to answer questions he himself didn't have the answers to, like -- what's wrong?
And he's glad that he has scoring help, the kind of help he often didn't have last year when he was forced to take over in the second half of games to lead the team to a win.
But he still has a knack for hitting that big momentum-shifting shot, and he did that several times against Syracuse. In a sense, he's still balancing out being the floor general with being a scorer, knowing when he needs to be each. But he's getting there.
"It just depends on the flow of the game. A lot of times, I won't shoot a quick shot or anything but if I feel we need a basket and it comes to me and I have an opportunity, I'll take that shot," Paige said.
"If I sense a little lull in our offense or a shift in momentum, I'll try to be more aggressive. Because I'm out on the court for 35 minutes. A lot of the guys sub in and sub out and provide us energy lifts. But I'm out there the whole time, so I kind of chip away steadily with my production."
Any questions about where Paige had been, though -- at least to Johnson -- were erroneous.
"He's never left. Marcus has always been there. Some games, he hasn't hit shots, but if you think about it, he doesn't really have to do that this year," Johnson said. "He doesn't really have to go out there and average 17 a night for us. He can just go out there and just be a point guard, not try to be a legitimate scorer. He can score the ball, but at the end of the day, we do have other scorers."
3. Rakeem Christmas has been fantastic for a banged-up Syracuse team
He's put up great numbers all season long, and the senior center has just been everything and more to this bunch. He's shooting nearly 73 percent (he's only attempted one three-pointer), and he's a fantastic rebounder.
He was relatively ineffective in the first half, finishing with eight points on 1-of-5 shooting (but seven rebounds), then he got going in the second half with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
"He's played great for us from the beginning of the year," Boeheim said. "From the first game, he's been tremendous. We just don't have enough size in there to help him."
North Carolina knew that, too -- which was why they went straight at him.
"He's their best player, to me. He played great tonight. So that was just our plan (on offense) was to attack him and see what happens on the perimeter," Meeks said.
5-of-7, 4-of-5, 3-of-4, 17 points -- That was sophomore point guard Nate Britt's final stat line, setting a new career-high in points (17) and three-pointers made (four). North Carolina needed every last one of those, particularly the three-pointers against that zone defense.
4 with 17 -- North Carolina had four players score 17 or more points (Paige 22, Johnson 17, Britt 17 and Meeks 17) for the first time this year.
