Busting Brackets
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UNC Basketball: 2019-20 keys to home victory against Notre Dame

By Trevor Marks

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 15: D.J. Harvey #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battles Seventh Woods #0 of the North Carolina Tar Heels for a loose ball during the first half of a game at the Dean Smith Center on January 15, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - JANUARY 15: D.J. Harvey #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battles Seventh Woods #0 of the North Carolina Tar Heels for a loose ball during the first half of a game at the Dean Smith Center on January 15, 2019 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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FORT MYERS, FL – DECEMBER 21: Cole Anthony #3 of Oak Hill Academy drives to the basket against Imhotep Charter High School during the City Of Palms Classic at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 21, 2018 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
FORT MYERS, FL – DECEMBER 21: Cole Anthony #3 of Oak Hill Academy drives to the basket against Imhotep Charter High School during the City Of Palms Classic at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on December 21, 2018 in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

2. Limit Turnovers

Turnovers. So many turnovers.

Cole Anthony had four. So did a pair of big men, Armando Bacot and Garrison Brooks. Justin Pierce had three. Christian Keeling had a pair himself. Hell, Walker Miller even had two, and four different Tar Heels had one, too.

In total, against the lowly D-II Winston-Salem State Rams, North Carolina managed to turn the ball over 23 — twenty-three — times during Friday’s exhibition.

Sure, those turnovers don’t count, but such ball control issues can’t persist into the regular season, not when the season opener involves an ACC foe in Notre Dame. Too many passes were thrown carelessly, too many post possessions saw bigs bring the ball down too low and get stripped, and too many possessions saw sloppy decision-making end in intercepted passes, travels, or lost balls.

Notre Dame isn’t exactly a force on the defensive end, nor are they a team that regularly forces turnovers — they ranked 107th in KenPom’s defensive metric and only sported a meager 8.2% steal rate, which ranked 238th in the nation. But, nonetheless, it’s a lot easier for a team to rack up steals if the opposing team is throwing the ball away every possession.

After Friday’s exhibition, Roy Williams only had one word to explain the cause for so many turnovers: “Stupidity.” Against Notre Dame on Wednesday, UNC has to be much, much smarter.

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