Profile of the North Carolina Tar Heels
By Mark Knight
Profile of North Carolina:
Important Win: 81-67 over Duke at Home
Important Loss: 78-58 at Georgia Tech
Playing Style: They play fast, and love to run the floor. Whether they are on the fast break or just after a made basket, they go fast. They can play when the other team slows it down, but love to play fast and put up lots of points.
Defensive Style: Man-to-Man with plenty of help when someone gets in the lane.
Strengths: Their biggest strength is rebounding. They lead the nation in rebounding at 42.9 a game. The Tar Heels starting point guard Kendall Marshall is a threat in the passing game, he seems to propel the offense to victory when he is on the floor.
Weaknesses: They tend to struggle with their FG pct. However, leading the nation in rebounding gives you that ability to struggle with your FG pct. and yet still score the basketball on second chance points. They also don’t have much depth, if two or three guys get in foul trouble, the Tar Heels could struggle mightily. Finally, they don’t like to rely on 3 point shooting, they have guys that can make threes but they would rather score in the paint before throwing up a shot from the perimeter.
Best Player: Both of their forwards are excellent, Harrison Barnes averages about 15 points a game and 6 rebounds a game. And Tyler Zeller also averages about 15 points per game and 7 rebounds a game. Zeller also has the ability to block shots at a consistent rate.
Important Team Stats:
FG Pct.- 45.2
FG Pct. Allowed- 40.3
FT Pct.- 66.3
3PT Pct.- 32.9
Rebound Per Game Avg.- 42.9
Assists Per Game Avg.- 15.5
Turnover Per Game Avg.- 13.6
How to Beat North Carolina:
The Tar Heels haven’t been beaten a lot this year and often when they were beat it was due to zone play that collapse their forwards from being over effective. However, they can be beaten if they are not given second chance points, and are forced into turnovers. Also, North Carolina loves to make their opponents put up forced/ugly shots and then they pull down the rebound and run it the other way. To beat them, take good shots, and be ready to bring in the offensive rebound if necessary.
Sweet Charts:
Here are some charts that may interest you in regards to North Carolina.
The above chart provides info on the player with the most impact in each category for the Tar Heels.
College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com
The above chart shows points per possession for North Carolina as well as their opponents points per possession in each game.
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