By R.L. Bynum

RALEIGH — In starting ACC play 4–0, No. 7 North Carolina has shown it is one of the best teams in the country with the productive combination of relentless play on defense and under the boards.

But if the league-leading Tar Heels (12–3) can improve offensively, they will be a solid threat to win the national championship.

“This is the fourth straight game that we’ve outrebounded an opponent,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said after Wednesday’s 67–54 victory at N.C. State. “We’ve identified what allows us to be really good at rebounding and defending.”

Davis said his team’s experience during a rigorous non-conference schedule, including games against No. 4 UConn, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Kentucky and No. 9 Oklahoma, is paying dividends in ACC play.

“I just believe the level of teams that we play — in the different situations that we’ve been in — has hardened us and given us a toughness,” Davis said. “Our guys are just gaining strength from being in those situations. I just really feel like the experience in the early season has given us the confidence to be able to step into environments like this and be able to execute on both ends.”

The numbers show how good Carolina has been on defense and under the boards but not as good offensively.

Since the Oklahoma game, according to the Bart Torvick website, Carolina has the second-best adjusted defensive efficiency in the country (81.0) but the 137th-best offensive efficiency (107.3).

The lockdown defense kicked in after Davis delivered a message to his team before the win over the Sooners.

“I said, ‘We haven’t committed, made a full commitment, and there’s no half-commitment. You’re either committed or not.’ And that’s it,” Davis said. “We have been committed to us being the best defensive team that we can become — or the best rebounding team — and I said, ‘For us to have success, that commitment has to come.’

Davis said that commitment has been there since the start of the 81–69 win on Dec. 20 over Oklahoma in Charlotte.

“It doesn’t guarantee that we’ll win,” Davis said. “But it does guarantee that it keeps us in games. We’re contesting shots. We’re staying with shooters; we’re getting through screens. We’re making it difficult for shooters to come off, and we’re rebounding and boxing out and keeping them out of the paint.”

Carolina’s rebounding domination has been impressive, snagging 78.2% of the opponents’ misses since getting outrebounded 42–32 by Kentucky, according to Chris Gallo. Carolina has allowed only 16 second-chance points in the last three games: one to Pittsburgh, eight to Clemson and seven to N.C. State.

There are plenty of other numbers that show how impressive UNC has been defensively:
— UNC’s three lowest points-per-100-possessions values by Power 6 opponents have been in the last three games: 81.4 against Pittsburgh, 87.3 against Clemson and 75.0 against N.C. State.
— The Heels have held three consecutive road opponents to fewer than 60 points for the first time since 1999 (72–54 win at Florida State on Jan. 6, a 56–51 win at N.C. State on Jan. 16 and a 52–40 win at Wake Forest on Jan. 23).
— The last three ACC opponents, according to Gallo, have an effective field-goal percentage of 37.3, the three lowest by opponents this season (Pitt 34.6%, Clemson 37.1% and N.C. State 28.8%) and have made only 20.8% of their 3-point attempts (Clemson and State combined to make only 3 of 38 3-point attempts, which is 7.9%).
— The Wolfpack’s 54 points were their fewest by that program against UNC in 23 seasons (60–52 UNC win on Jan. 28, 2001).
— State’s 23.9% shooting was its worst against Carolina in at least 70 years.
— The Pack had the lowest points-per-possession value by a UNC opponent this season at 0.78 of a point (according to StatBroadcast).

Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, plenty of numbers show how the offense has sputtered of late and that they aren’t playing at the sort of pace that the program has been known for over the years.

Here are a few:
— UNC’s three worst shooting games this season have been the last three: 36.5% at Pittsburgh, 41.7% at Clemson and 38.7 at N.C. State.
— Carolina scored a season-low 93.1 points per 100 possessions against N.C. State after it matched the value for the Kentucky game against Pitt (100.0) and had the fifth-worst against Clemson (103.2).
— The number of possessions in the last three games (according to StatBroadcast data) was the fewest this season: 66 against Pittsburgh, 59 against Clemson and 68 against N.C. State.
— The State game was the least-efficient offensive game of the season with 0.985 of a point per possession (according to StatBroadcast), the first time it’s been below 1.0 this season.
— The Tar Heels have the 14th-best effective field-goal percentage in the ACC (according to Gallo).
— Carolina has only 28 fast-break points in the last three games and had none against Clemson.

Despite all of that, UNC keeps winning.

With freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau getting better every game, and showing the sort of aggressiveness he had in the second half against N.C. State, the Tar Heels have plenty of room to grow offensively.

UNC season statistics

Team	League	Overall	NET*
No. 3 Duke	0–0	11–0	2
California	0–0	10–1	66
No. 12 North Carolina	0–0	10–1	16
No. 23 Virginia	0–0	9–1	21
Miami	0–0	10–2	33
Virginia Tech	0–0	10–2	59
No. 11 Louisville	0–0	9–2	17
SMU	0–0	9–2	41
Stanford	0–0	8–2	109
Clemson	0–0	9–3	31
Notre Dame	0–0	9–3	67
Wake Forest	0–0	9–3	48
N.C. State	0–0	8–4	36
Georgia Tech	0–0	7–4	191
Syracuse	0–0	7–4	90
Pittsburgh	0–0	6–6	169
Boston College	0–0	5–6	180
Florida State	0–0	5–6	143

* — Through Tuesday games
Tuesday’s results
No. 12 North Carolina 77, East Tennessee State 58
No. 3 Duke 97, Lipscomb 73
No. 20 Tennessee 83, No. 11 Louisville 62
Dayton 97, Florida State 69
Clemson 68, South Carolina 61
Miami 98, Florida International 81
Georgia Tech 87, Marist 76
Wednesday’s games
N.C. State 108, Texas Southern 72
Pittsburgh 103, Binghamton 6
Syracuse 76, Mercyhurst 62
Wake Forest 71, Longwood 68
UT Arlington at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Friday’s games
Mississippi Valley State at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Morgan State at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Saturday’s games
Montana at No. 11 Louisville, noon, ACCN Extra
Lafayette at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Elon at Virginia Tech, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Ohio State vs. No. 12 North Carolina at CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta, 3 p.m., CBS
Northeastern at Syracuse, 4 p.m., ACCN Extra
Maryland at No. 23 Virginia, 6 p.m., ESPN
No. 3 Duke at No. 16 Texas Tech, 8 p.m., ESPN
Stanford at Colorado, 8 p.m., ESPNU
Sunday’s games
Penn State vs. Pittsburgh in Hershey, Pa., noon, Big Ten Network
Ole Miss vs. N.C. State in Greensboro, 1 p.m., ESPN
No. 13 Vanderbilt at Wake Forest, 1 p.m., The CW
Purdue Ft. Wayne at Notre Dame, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Central Arkansas at SMU, 2 p.m., ACCN Extra
Cincinnati vs. Clemson in Greenville, S.C., 3 p.m., ESPN
North Florida at Miami, 4 p.m., ACC Network
Columbia at California, 5 p.m., ACCN Extra
Monday’s games
American at Virginia, 6 p.m., ACCN Extra
Jacksonville at Florida State, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Stonehill at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
Fairleigh Dickinson at Boston College, 7 p.m., ACCN Extra
East Carolina at No. 12 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ACC Network

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. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
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