Lucas: Boston College’s Quick Reflexes

Written by Adam Lucas

1. Carolina did what it needed to do in an 85-61 win over Boston College in the second round of the ACC Tournament. Carolina has now won 16 of the Final 17 against the Eagles.

2. As before, the big story between the 7pm game now and tomorrow becomes an asset Armando Pacote ankle. The big Tar Heel man turned his left ankle in the first half and went to the locker room for the rest of the first period. He came back and played the first 5:33 of the second half, but was clearly limited and didn’t have a lift. Carolina will need as much of Bacot as she can face Virginia (the graphic at the end of the game on ESPN that UNC faced Clemson was wrong). He had ten points and six boards in 18 minutes against BC.

3. Karolina ran a great offense in the first half. It’s very simple: the shots are recorded. And as you know now, if you watch this team, when the shots come in, it’s hard to beat them. Caleb Love He led the heels with 22 points on 9-for-20 from the field, and RJ Davis 18 added on shooting 7-for-12. Carolina’s offense also featured 10-for-23 from the three-point line, a healthy 43.5 percent.

4. As has often happened with this year’s team, a good offense has led to more sharpness in defence. After two intense days of practice after the Duke game, the Tar Heels locked in defensively and challenged nearly every Boston College pass and shooting game in the first 20 minutes.

5. Nance’s house Added an edge protection element to Carolina’s defense. Nance had four blocks on Wednesday, with two hostile plays denying what initially looked like an easy basket for the Eagles. Nance has now ten blocks in the past four games. He had ten blocks in 17 ACC games prior to that. Nance was also effective offensively and did all of his work at midfield, earning ten points.

6. A defensive adjustment in the first half changed the course of the game. Mackay Ashton-Langford started the game 3-3 from the field and won all three. But then the tar heels turned leaky black to Ashton-Langford, and was 1-for-3 through the rest of the half and one in the next six as Carolina built the Tar Heels’ biggest lead in any ACC game. Ashton-Langford did not score in the second half until five minutes from the end of the match.

7. Something unexpected happened Wednesday night: The Tar Heels launched Boston College out of a district. The Eagles tried to go for a 1-3-1 look midway through the first half, but Carolina’s quick offensive rebound leading to a basket and a quickly three-pointer convinced Earl Grant that this was a bad idea. The Tar Heels weren’t as successful against the area in the second half, when they were very stagnant in offense. Of course, the area won’t be a problem tomorrow night against Virginia.

8. A Rough Night’s Buff Johnsonbut a storyline very late in the season is an appearance Dontrez Styles. The Kinston native wasn’t flashy, but he also didn’t hurt Carolina off the bench. Styles’ highlight of Wednesday night was a great pass to Nance for an assist, and he also added a baseline slam drive with two minutes left.

9. STYLES WAS PART OF A UNC SEAT UNIT THAT GIVES THE HEELS SOME STRONG MINUTES. Di Marco Dunn hit a few three-pointers, Seth Trimble Scored from drive, the Tar Heel contributed 17 points. As everyone knows, you have to get production off the bench in order to win four games in four days. We even had a vision of Biscuit Boys – or at least a partial Biscuit Boys, because (ridiculous) rules limit how many players can dress up and Douy Fares And Bo May They were in the stands in street clothes – at the last minute.

10. This year marks the first season of changing seats in the ACC tournament. Traditionally, all school tickets have been grouped by section, so there is a set of seats for each school. But this year, each school took a handful of tickets in all of the “good” sections, which leads to an entirely different feeling arena.

11. Even with the changeover, Greensboro still feels right (and was a fitting place for Jim Boeheim to coach his last game). Next year, the ACC tournament returns to Washington, D.C. (which also happens to be the site of Carolina State’s last ACC tournament title in 2016). Subsequent locations have not been announced.

12. Officials wore pink whistles in honor of the 22-year-old daughter of Roger Ayers, who was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It is believed that the condition was caught early.