North Carolina Tar Heels: Five Lessons from Gonzaga-USC

The North Carolina Tar Heels need a crash course on the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Here’s one particular narrow view based on one game.

The North Carolina Tar Heels will play the Gonzaga Bulldogs tonight to decide the 2017 Men’s Basketball National Championship. The best picture to get of the Bulldogs is their last game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Just like Oregon’s tilt with Kansas, the most recent outing tells us what the Bulldogs are like right now.

Let’s look at some lessons to learn about Gonzaga from their game against our neighbors to the South.

1. Holy Cow, It’s a Five Man!

The college game has always dealt with two concepts. Teams with size win and not everyone has size. When you don’t have size, you improvise and try to put as much skill as you can on the court. The Tar Heels have playing teams like that all through the tournament.

North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball

The Bulldogs, however, used not one but two traditional five men to control the paint against the Gamecocks. PolishPrzemek Karnowskiled the charge at 7’1” and three hundred pounds. When he got hit in the face, the Bulldogs really did not miss a beat with seven foot freshmanZach Collinson the floor for fourteen points and thirteen rebounds.

Karnowski returned to guide Gonzaga through the final minutes and the team held off the final charge. He had thirteen points on the night.

Facing these two bigs is a mixed blessing. Karnowski is bigger thanKennedy Meeks, but the use of him andJohnathan Williamswill allowIsaiah Hicksto not run around the court in pursuit of perimeter players for the first time in a while. That may allow Hicks a more natural, if challenging, game.

1. BewareJosh Perkins

Perkins laid the goose egg against South Carolina, but he averages eight points a game on the year. This could be aDylan Ennissituation in the making if the Heels ignore him just because of one game.

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1. They will still try to shoot

It is easy to be stuck looking at Karnowski, but he was not their leading scorer against South Carolina. That would be guardNigel Williams-Goss, who had twenty-three points and shot 40% from the three point line. Williams-Goss looks like a prime candidate to seeTheo Pinsontonight.

However Williams-Goss was not the most dangerous three point threat on the floor for Gonzaga. That honor belonged to wing Jordan Matthews, who was 50% from the three point line and gathered all twelve of his points from distance. The Gonzaga bench also holdsSilas Melson, whose only two made field goals were three pointers.

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1. Rotation Rotation Rotation

The Bulldogs played eight guys against South Carolina. Two of those guys are big centers that probably don’t do a ton of running up and down the floor. The Tar Heels played ten against Kansas and fatigue could be a reason that Kansas could not rebound at the end of the game. A good pace will be a big deal to see if the Heels can tire the Bulldogs.

1. They Make Free Throws

Down the stretch the Bulldogs made all of their free throws. Just a reminder although I don’t want to put everything onJoel Berry’s ankles.

Next: Tar Heels: Starting to Defy Description

These are the things I noticed from the last Gonzaga game. There could easily be something that I missed from earlier Gonzaga games. South Carolina was able to play them close without having as much size as the Tar Heels will have. Maybe that’s a good sign or maybeJustin Jacksonwill have to score fifty.

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