North Carolina Tar Heels: Can’t Ignore Dillon Brooks
The North Carolina Tar Heels have to be concerned about Oregon forward Dillon Brooks if they wish to get to Monday night.
We get closer and closer to the Saturday tip off between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Oregon Ducks. Last time we broached the topic of the Ducks it was to point out the things that enabled them to beat Kansas. There was a focus on the unusual and so that article overlooked Dillon Brooks on the one hand and much of Jordan Hill’s shot blocking contribution on the other. Those things cannot be ignored as the Heels prepare.
This time, let’s look at Brooks. Brooks is a fiery player from Canada. He plays small forward, but injuries and adjustments have turned him into a small ball power forward. That makes him not unlike Jayson Tatum from Duke in the way that he plays. He becomes a problematic matchup for either Isaiah Hicks or Luke Maye on the defensive end.
Brooks averages sixteen a game and is a 41% shooter from the three point line. Those things make him dangerous enough.
More from North Carolina Tar Heels
- NC Colleges Provide Coronavirus Results from Athletic Departments
- UNC Football gets Commitment from Top Cornerback
- Four North Carolina players selected in first round of MLB Draft
- UNC Destroyed by Coach Duggs and Tennessee in NCAA Football 14
- UNC Basketball: Former Tar Heel star calls out Roy Williams
He also he has a chip that gets less coverage in ACC country due to our infatuation with Grayson Allen. Brooks has kicked a Washington State player. He has been assessed a technical for taunting Rhode Island earlier in the NCAA Tournament. He has a competitive edge that perhaps is sharpened to too fine a point.
That is unlikely to change against the Tar Heels. That should be a warning sign for Hicks, considering that drawing charges might be the best defense Brooks can muster on the Tar Heel forward. He went to great lengths to draw such a call against the Utah Utes. Hicks will also have to avoid the early fouls on defense or the fans will start to call for Maye.
Oregon basketball, the last two years, has been inextricably about this guy. They made it to the Final Four stage because he and his teammates decided to overcome the loss of their key big man. Brooks will not want to end it Saturday night, and he must be accounted for.
One possibility to derail Brooks could lie on the offensive end. That is where Kennedy Meeks and Hicks might work the middle, though that has been less certain the past two games. The duo might also cause a rebounding foul or two if they can hold their ground against the smaller Ducks.