By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — The drills have no hoops, and in some cases a cone sits on top of the basket, a setup North Carolina’s coaches hope will teach players that they win rebounds through positioning and effort.
After the Tar Heels got outrebounded in their last two exhibition games, it happened again in Monday’s 80–72 opening-game win at the Smith Center over Western Carolina. The coaches are trying to fix the problem, but the progress was hard to spot.
Guard Terrence Brown described those practice drills after Carolina got outrebounded 41–32. The last time an opponent outside of the power conferences did that by that margin was Winthrop in 2000 (40–31 in a 66–61 win during Matt Doherty’s first season as coach). Coach Michael Malone has said he will keep hammering the issue, and Brown explained how.
“Practice doing drills with no hoops, having a cone on the basket, being able to go out there,” Brown said. “We’ve got to play against each other, play hard to get rebounds, and we play a lot of games where the score is kept on stops, not buckets. So, that’s how he’s been trying to pound in our heads the rebounding game.”
Malone’s message has been consistent. After the game, he said the problem is not a lack of defensive success, since the Tar Heels have defended the shot well through four games (counting exhibitions).
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The trouble is that the work is erased when the opponent gets a second chance. The Catamounts had edges of 13–7 on offensive rebounds and 13–8 on second-chance points.
“So, you do all that hard work, only to see the shot taken, and then now they get an extra opportunity,” Malone said.
The frontcourt numbers explain his concern. Frontcourt starters Jarin Stevenson and Sayon Keita combined for four rebounds. The three guards combined for 15: Neo Avdalas (team-high seven), Brown (five) and Matt Able (three).
Malone made it clear he doesn’t question the effort of his big men, but he wants more from them.
“It’s not like they’re not playing hard. It’s not like they’re out there not giving effort,” he said. “We need Sayon and Jarin to be seven to 10 boards every night. It’s great that our guards are rebounding to the level that they are, but we need other guys to step up.”
Malone said the staff will study video to find the cause, and he added that Stevenson’s role makes the job harder because he often defends on the perimeter.
“We switch quite a bit with one through four, so sometimes he’s on the perimeter,” Malone said. “But he’s got to find a way to get back into that paint and help us out.”
Because the big men aren’t securing enough rebounds, the Tar Heels have talked about sending all five players to the glass.
“When we talk about rebounding, we talk about gang rebounding,” Malone said. “When you’re on defense, we want all five on the glass.”
Malone said he accepts the trade-off in transition for now.
“Before you can run, you have to rebound,” Malone said. “We can’t worry about guys leaking out right now.”
Brown said he has tried to adjust his game accordingly, pointing to his three-rebound performance in the 89–82 overtime exhibition win over Charlotte as motivation.
“I took it upon myself to not get out in transition as much and try to step into the paint,” Brown said. “When I’m guarding a guard, a lot of those guys get back, so I don’t have to worry about boxing somebody out a lot of the time.”
He said the guards have a responsibility to help those inside.
“All of our jobs are going there and cleaning up for them.”
Brown also spoke highly of the players inside, and he acknowledged that his contribution is part of the fix.
“Keita and Jarin do a great job every single night of going to the boards,” Brown said, “and I need to do it myself with the rebounding.”
Freshman Maxi Adams, who had four rebounds off the bench, said the solution comes down to a simple choice.
“I think that’s just effort,” Adams said. “You all have to crash. You have to rebound the ball, and that’s pretty much it.”
He said the topic comes up daily in practice.
“[Malone] talks about it every day,” Adams said. “We have a ton of rebounding drills that we do during practice, and that’s one of the main differences right now.”
Adams also offered a reason for the issue on Monday, noting that Western Carolina launched plenty of 3-pointers.
“They shot a lot of threes, so a lot of long rebounds,” he said. “We’ve just got to box out and crash.”
Avdalas took accountability even though he led the team in rebounding for the second consecutive game.
“I’m disappointed. Have to be better on that part. I’m trying to go rebound the ball every time,” he said, noting that opponents are taking notice. “The teams that are scouting us, they know that we’re not getting the rebound, and they’re going to punish us.”
Avdalas said the cause is partly mental and partly about passion.
“It’s energy too,” he said. “It’s passion to go get the ball.”
Able pointed to the potential return of 7-footer Cameron Fens, who has been ineligible, as a possible boost while insisting that the group can handle the task on its own.
“It needs to be 100% team effort,” Able said. “Cam being back would be awesome because he’s seven foot, 250, and he’s an absolute monster. I think we can do it by ourselves without Cam, but Cam would be an amazing addition.”
For now, Malone is leaning on repetition and patience and expressed confidence that the problem will be fixed.
“I’m going to keep on pounding that rock. It’s going to break one day. Hopefully it breaks by Friday night,” he said. “It’s just not there yet. But it will. I promise you that we’ll get there.”
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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