Duke vs. North Carolina: 2019-20 biggest keys for game at Dean Smith Center
A look at the 2019-20 Tar Heels
UNC lost another heart breaker which has become an overriding and unfortunate theme this season. This time it was in Tallahassee to an FSU squad that looked out of sorts and off-target for much of the night. The Noles only shot 26.7% from three and only had nine assists to 16 turnovers.
North Carolina wasn’t any better, shooting 31% from the field and from three while only hitting 11 of 17 free throws for 65%. The Heels only had nine turnovers, but they also had only ten assists and were blocked ten times while being outrebounded by six.
UNC was in the game for its’ entirety despite going eleven minutes without a field goal from the 16:22 mark of the second half. They only scored five points, all from the free throw line, and missed 17 shots in a row during that stretch.
This has been a historic season for UNC, but not in a good way. The Tar Heels average 71 points per game which would their lowest output since the shot clock was introduced in 1985. They also shoot only 40.8% from the field which would be their lowest since 1957 and 29.6% on threes which is the lowest mark in team history.
Brandon Robinson did not play due to an ankle injury and is questionable for the Duke game. UNC misses his three-point shooting and he is the only other reliable option on the Tar Heel perimeter although there was a Christian Keeling sighting against the Seminoles.
He played 18 minutes and had a career-high with 14 points including a three. Cole Anthony played in his second game back from injury and played inefficiently. He was 5-22 on the night with three assists but also three turnovers, and after hitting 14-14 from the stripe against BC was only 3-8 in Tallahassee.
He has faced some unexpected criticism for his ball-dominant play and failure to get others involved. This is not an unfair critique. There were no assists on Anthony’s makes and he had only five passes into the post or paint area for the entire game. Four of these passes came early in the first half and the last one came on an out of bounds play where Anthony threw it up for a Garrison Brooks dunk towards the end.
That being said, Anthony was playing the hardest of any player on the floor. He dove for loose balls, he took a charge, he hit the floor twice from collisions with FSU players and always got back up to remain in the game. He also challenged a wide-open dunk attempt from 6’8″ 225lb Patrick Williams when the game was still in question. He could have been posterized or sent crashing back to the hardwood, but he broke up the attempt and sent Williams to the line where he hit only one of two.
Anthony has no real incentive to play after the injury, but he is playing harder and with more abandon than any other Tar Heel player. Those types of efforts will be needed across the board to win against Duke.