UNC plays much better but lineup change much ado about nothing

Coach Roy Williams.
Coach Roy Williams.
The Tar Heels certainly played with more energy and aggressiveness in a strong 78-56 whipping of UCLA.

Carolina had 13 steals and did a better job of guarding the three-pointer. Perhaps Butler, who scored nine threes, is a better three-point shooting team but UNC held UCLA to one of 14 from beyond the arc.

With only normal starters Marcus Paige and Justin Jackson in the opening lineup, the Tar Heels responded. But while new starters Isiah Hicks and Nate Britt did well during the game, the Tar Heels trailed 16-9 after the first six minutes.

Switching up the starting lineup can energize the benched players – Tokoto, Johnson and Meeks – going forward. While it might hurt their feelings a bit, the three ended up playing more minutes than the starters.

Starting isn’t really that important on a team as deep as Carolina (10 players played at least 10 minutes). But eventually some players will start seeing less playing time as Coach Roy Williams settles in on maybe eight main players.

To read the game story, please click here.

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