Carmichael wasn't as full or rowdy as it usually is this afternoon, but it didn't seem to matter much for UNC as they cruised to a 75-48 demolition of TCU. Five Tar Heels racked up double-digit scoring on the day, paced by Toddy and Alyssa's 14 points each. Des logged a career-high 10 along with seven boards, continuing the absolutely massive leap she's taken from last year's freshman performance. Deja put up a 12-6-7 and is clearly well-evolved into her role as the primary floor general this year, though her ankle was obviously still bothering her. The MVP of the day though, at least to my eyes, was Anya Poole, whose 10 points and seven boards only tell a fraction of the story in terms of what she did out there today.
The only comfort I could possibly offer the Horned Frogs (if I felt like it, which I do not) is that it could've been a whole lot worse. Had they not shot a blistering 37.5% from behind the arc, this would have been something closer to a 40- or 50- point whooping. And they bombed all those threes because they quite literally had no other choice. And this is where we need to give Anya ALL her flowers. She calmly and casually decided that absolutely no business was getting done within eight feet of the rim today. Like, none whatsoever. TCU's posts could not establish position at any point, couldn't even try to call for an entry pass, because Anya pit-bulled them all game long. Her footwork, her positioning, her strength and body control were as close to flawless as you're going to get. It was one of the best individual defensive efforts I've ever seen in Carmichael, full stop. Her control of the paint meant that the rest of Carolina's murderous defense was free to do what it does best: swarm and snuff out everything. The Frogs, even with that stellar 3PFG%, only shot 25% from the floor, and as Matt Krause pointed out on Twitter, that means they only shot 15.6% on twos. (Read that again.) Tack on UNC forcing 24 turnovers and winning the rebounding advantage 47-30 and it's a wonder the game was this close. (To give TCU their props, it's not like UNC conceded the three-point line to shut down everything else. They simply shot the lights out on what were mostly well-contested looks.)
It was a sign of how dialed in the defense is that no matter what lineup combinations Coach Bang put on the floor (and she ran out some really fun, interesting variants today), there was virtually no difference in how absolutely suffocating the are.
Look, it wasn't all great for the Heels today. The offense was choppy in stretches, and they continue what is a worrisome trend that goes back to last year of mediocrity in free-throw shooting. You can get away with that against an over-matched opponent, not so much in March. It should be noted that some of the offensive struggles today were due to TCU running a press-and-trap defense for most of the game, which is something I consider both a supremely annoying strategy and just plain cowardly for any team other than University of Alaska Anchorage, whose patented "Mayhem" defense is too dope to be mad at. They finally stopped when Coach Bang gave them a taste of their own medicine for a few possessions down the stretch which they did not enjoy one bit.
Some other quick highlights: Ali and Lu were extremely good defensively when Anya sat, and the Lu-Anya two-big lineup looks to have taken a big step forward defensively. There was also some nifty passing from the pair of them that we hadn't seen before. I'm not sure exactly how much Deja isn't trusting her jumper right now because of that ankle, but it didn't prevent her from absolute afterburner speed in transition and she was flying around like always on defense. And we must not leave before shouting out Toddy's preposterous move late in the game; a sort of modified-Eurostep-ball-fake where she exploded for a finish at the rim. I'm not sure anyone on TCU had functioning ankles left after that play. It was so filthy the whole bench was laughing about it for a solid few minutes afterwards.
Overall, it was a dominant performance from a dominant team, and UNC moves to 2-0 with some things to work on but also a lot that's already clicking in high gear. This team is on its way to big, big things, and we're lucky to bear witness. Until next game, y'all be well, and as always, Go Heels!
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