By R.L. Bynum
CHARLOTTE — No matter what matchup a Carolina player draws after switching on a screen, Coach Hubert Davis contends that if the Tar Heels box out better, the rebounding problems of the last two games will get fixed.
Davis said that all too often, No. 11 UNC failed to box out during the 87–83 loss Saturday in Atlanta to No. 9 Kentucky. That has to change, Davis said, when the Tar Heels face No. 7 Oklahoma (10–0) at 9 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN) at the Spectrum Center in the second Jumpman Invitational, their fifth ranked opponent in the last six games.
Junior transfer Harrison Ingram said the coaches were mad about it after the game, then emphasized their point by showing the team during a 90-minute video session two days later 27 times they failed to box out.
Ingram said that in those clips, the Tar Heels were “not even hitting our man, not even touching them,” Ingram said in a press conference at the Westin Charlotte after the team practiced at the Charlotte Hornets’ practice court. “So, how are you going to get a rebound if you don’t box out your man, no matter how tall you are? A lot of teams we’re playing, they are the best teams in the country, best players in the country. You’re not going to just outjump them; you’ve got to hit them first.”
Davis said making contact first is just as crucial as boxing out, and he hasn’t seen much of that in the last two games. That led to UConn outrebounding the Heels 30–23 in the Huskies’ 87–76 win in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 5. The Wildcats owned a 42–32 edge.
It’s not about technique, Davis said, but instead having the “want to” to get the rebound.
“The hardest guys to box out on are smaller guys,” Davis said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with size. It’s just about the will and want-to to hold teams to one shot every possession. When we do that, and when we did that against Kentucky, that allowed us to get back into the game.”
There were times against Kentucky when Carolina’s switching off screens led to 6–0 RJ Davis having to try to box out Kentucky’s 7–1 center Aaron Bradshaw. RJ Davis did lead UNC in rebounding with seven, which was part of the problem, but to make the switching work, the Tar Heels have to work hard inside.
On Inside Carolina podcasts since the Kentucky game, two former Carolina players — Dewey Burke and Joel Berry II — questioned switching on all screens instead of fighting through them as was the practice under Coach Roy Williams.
Coach Davis is committed to keep switching, but with adjustments.
“I don’t think it’s hurt us at all. [Maybe] in terms of scoring in the post, maybe a couple of times in terms of rebounding, being in position because of size, tip outs, keeping balls alive, maybe in those situations,” he said. “Whatever scheme that you play, there’s things that allow you to take things away. And then there are things that you give up. Those are tweaks and pivots that I looked at, that I’m going to make to get us in a better position to hopefully rebound better.”
Size does affect rebounding, though, and when the 6–9 Jae’Lyn Withers plays 19 minutes as he did against Kentucky, that makes the Tar Heels taller because it moves the 6–7 Ingram over to the three spot.
“We have more size and more athleticism when I’m on the court,” Withers said. “So, with me on the court, rebounding should go up offensively and defensively.”
Carolina didn’t match Kentucky’s physicality, and Oklahoma will be another team that likes to be physical. Scouting the loss to the Wildcats likely increased the Sooners’ resolve to play like that on Wednesday night.
“Not only do we have to match that physicality, we’re the ones that have to give it out,” Coach Davis said, “whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s getting it off the glass, getting open, setting screens, those are things you have to do. Those are some of the things that I’ve told the team before the Kentucky game — in order to have success, you don’t have success in the trenches; that’s where the physicality part has to come in.”
The Sooners’ 10–0 start wasn’t expected, considering they were picked to finish 12th in the 14-team Big 12, and no Oklahoma players even got preseason honorable mention. That was the lowest prediction for the Sooners in the 28-year league history, but that wasn’t possible before the conference expanded from 10 to 14 for this season.
“They play together on both ends of the floor, top 15 offensive efficiency and defensively,” Coach Davis said. “They know their roles, and they accept their roles. They’re playing with tremendous confidence. So it’ll be a great test for us.”
Oklahoma, which went 15–17 last season, losing 57–49 to Oklahoma State in the first round of the Big 12 tournament, hasn’t been challenged much with its schedule, with the 336th-toughest schedule in the country.
Coach Porter Moser went through a major roster overhaul similar to UNC. In Oklahoma’s case, though, it was the third consecutive offseason like that, with sophomore guards Milos Uzan (6–4) and Otega Oweh (6–5) the only returning starters. But Moser has a deep team with a solid eight-player rotation.
Oweh, who has made 9 of 12 3-point attempts, leads the team in scoring (14.9 points per game) and steals (2.4). Junior 6–2 guard Javian McCollum is second in scoring (14.3) and assists (3.7), with Uzan averaging 8.4 points and leading the team with 4.1 assists per game.
Oklahoma lost six players, including the Sooners’ top three scorers, from last season but brought in five transfers and two highly touted freshmen.
Carolina is familiar with one of the transfers — 6–10, 275-pound redshirt junior center John Hugley IV — who averaged 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds in two seasons at Pittsburgh. He’s averaging 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds this season coming off the bench.
Hugley had 18 points, five rebounds, a block and a 3-pointer on Feb. 16, 2022, in the Panthers’ 76–67 win over the Tar Heels at the Smith Center.
NOTES — Oklahoma and UNC both beat Arkansas, the Tar Heels winning 87–72 on Nov. 24 in the Bahamas and the Sooners winning 79–70 in Tulsa, Okla., on Dec. 9. The Sooners rolled to an 81–47 victory over Green Bay in their last game on Saturday night. … Oklahoma beat Florida 62–53, and Carolina beat Michigan 80–76 in the inaugural Jumpman Invitational last season. … Dave O’Brien, Debbie Antonelli and Myron Medcalf will be on the call for the ESPN broadcast. … UNC’s game will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the 6:30 women’s game between Michigan and Florida. … Ingram said that the entire team planned to attend the No. 24 Carolina women’s team’s Tuesday night against the Sooners. … While face value for lower-level seats for Tuesday night’s doubleheader is $89.70 and upper-level seats aren’t for sale, upper-level seats for Wednesday’s doubleheader are $113.95, with lower-level seats going for $172.60. There were curtains at the bottom of the upper arena Wednesday night.
UNC season statistics
Oklahoma season statistics
KenPom comparison
| Category | UNC | Oklahoma |
| Overall ranking | 20 | 19 |
| Offensive efficiency | 118.7 (10) | 114.0 (34) |
| Defensive efficiency | 97.5 (46) | 92.5 (8) |
| Effective FG% | 52.2 (105) | 57.5 (12) |
| Turnover % | 14.7 (37) | 18.5 (218) |
| Offensive rebound % | 31.8 (113) | 36.5 (26) |
| FTA/FGA | 45.7 (16) | 34.2 (156) |
| Strength of schedule | 21 | 336 |
UNC-Oklahoma series
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 17 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 9 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | 8 p.m. | vs. East Carolina | ACCN |
| 30 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Florida State | ESPN2 |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | 2:15 | at SMU | The CW |
| 10 | Saturday | 6 p.m. | vs. Wake Forest | ACCN |
| 14 | Wednesday | 9 p.m. | at Stanford | ACCN |
| 17 | Saturday | 4 p.m. | at California | ACCN |
| 21 | Wednesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Notre Dame | ESPN2 |
| 24 | Saturday | 2 or 2:30 | at No. 23 Virginia | ESPN or ESPNU |
| 31 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | at Georgia Tech | ACCN |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | ESPN |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 3 Duke | ESPN |
| 10 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 11 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 3 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
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