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It seems too early in the season for a must-win game, doesn’t it?
The heat has been turned up on Carolina basketball and head coach Hubert Davis, who hasn’t done much wrong that a few million bucks in the NIL account wouldn’t fix. And with the commitment made to Bill Belichick and football, basketball should be next.
But, with an 8-6 record after Wednesday’s disappointing loss at Louisville, it is looking more and more like a game-to-game season. And the game the Tar Heels almost have to win is Saturday at 7-6 Notre Dame, which is one of five teams tied at 1-1 in the ACC.
Maybe there will be a hangover from the Sugar Bowl, and students won’t be back in time to fill Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. At this point, Davis and the Heels need all the help they can get with 11-2 and 2-0 SMU coming to Chapel Hill Tuesday followed by a trip to N.C. State on Saturday. So beating the Fighting Irish is imperative.
Hopefully, Seth Trimble will be back in play because his defensive presence was really missed in the 83-70 loss at Louisville. And Notre Dame does not have a size advantage over the Heels, who were outrebounded by and shot 16 fewer free throws than the Cardinals.
The reviews on the loss at Louisville have been pretty harsh from the water coolers to social media with Carolina unable to finish another nice comeback before failing to make a field goal over the last five minutes as R. J. Davis never got untracked, hitting only 4 of 14 shots.
Notre Dame has one player who shows up in ACC statistics, Braden Shrewsbury, son of the head coach who averages 16 points and is tied for second in the ACC with three made 3-pointers per game.
The other player to watch is 6-4 senior guard Matt Allocco who leads the ACC in assist-turnover ratio with 49-12, compared to 55-25 by R.J. Davis and 85-45 for Elliot Cadeau. So Allocco would be guarded by Trimble if he returns, trying to bother the sure-handed Irishman.
With the hardest part of the slate behind them, the Tar Heels face a good-bad scenario. A relatively weak conference schedule is in front of them but, consequently, not many potential Quad 1 wins are in the mix. Notre Dame is among the teams they need to beat.
Carolina is not getting any taller, although Hubert Davis wants his bigs to play tougher and more physically. More production from Ven-Allen Lubin, Jalen Washington and Jae’Lyn Withers would force defenses to back up and perhaps allow R.J. more open shots and driving lanes for Cadeau, Ian Jackson and Drake Powell.
Whatever it takes, the Tar Heels have to win the winnable games. And this is one of them. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but as Roy Williams always said things look better when the ball goes in the basket.
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Featured image via Todd Melet
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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