Everyone seems to be chipping in on the Heels’ performance just two games into the season, so I’ll make a summary thus far of what I’ve read elsewhere and then add my own two cents:

-Nolan Hayes over at the Herald Sun seems to think Marcus Ginyard was the spark Wednesday night, and most tend to agree.  Although I love Wes Miller (who doesn’t, really?), Torrell Martin was routinely abusing him on the perimeter not with fancy moves, but simply by being bigger and being able to catch and shoot.  I was a little surprised Roy didn’t keep Danny Green or Ginyard on him in the first half, but the halftime adjustment certainly paid off.

-Colleague Eddy Landreth of Carolina Blue says the Heels are learning toughness, but I really don’t think it was a lack of toughness that had them fall behind in the first half, despite a number of quotes to that point from Williams.  I’ll get to my analysis later.

-The Tar Heel Fan blog makes some terrific observations about things that need to be worked on, and seemed to have taken several of them right out of my mouth/brain.  I think the best point on that list is about the perimeter defense, which wasn’t exactly stellar for North Carolina last season, either.

-UNC alum Zack Mansfield makes a number of good observations, including valid points about Ty Lawson maybe being too fast for his own good right now, and I would argue his prep pedigree is showing.  Sure, Oak Hill is the biggest name in high school basketball, but having watched them play, I tend to think they don’t learn much about half-court sets.

Photo Credit, Inside Carolina: Jim Hawkins

Alright, so now for my input: sure, it was surprising to be down 8 at halftime to an unranked team from the Big South, sure it was shocking to go without a field goal for almost five minutes in the first half, and yes it definitely was upsetting to have Winthrop score 17 unanswered.  But really, I didn’t think we looked all that bad in the first half.

The biggest killer for the Heels was not being able to run the break (or the secondary break, for that matter).  Ty Lawson will take some heat for a number of his first-half turnovers, but he wasn’t the only culprit slowing UNC’s momentum.  Tyler got some hard-earned points as usual, but he and Wright both picked up dumb offensive fouls trying to get position.  The team was settling for jumpers waaaaayyyy too often, and not knocking down threes at all.  You know what? Those kinds of things are to be expected.

The biggest differences I hope to see from this team in the coming months are:

1)      An improved ability to find holes in zone defenses, namely a little bit of confidence from Lawson and Frasor to drive and dish.  We’ve seen some great alley-oops these first few games, but I’d love to see more penetration from the guards to find the big guys.  Both Wright and Hansbrough have a knack for finishing around the basket, even with contact, as Jay Bilas pointed out numerous times.  And speaking of the announcing crew, my absolute favorite moment from last night was when Bill Raftery said that Lawson has “some nice ability to get in the crack and kick it.”

2)      Perimeter defense, as Tar Heel Fan already pointed out.  I think some of the guards, and especially the freshmen, are getting eager playing passing lanes or helping down low and not trying to put a hand in the face of a three-point shooter, which has already manifested itself in the Heels’ first two games.  Two sub-par opponents who could shoot well from outside, two games that were much closer than they should have been.

All in all, though, I never really felt uncomfortable watching the Winthrop game.  Every team has to get kinks out early in the season, and you’re seeing that from UNC.  The boys still have highlight-reel ability on both sides of the floor (see: Brandan Wright’s left-handed block midway through the first half, and the Frasor-to-Wright alley from halfcourt five minutes later) and a National Player of the Year candidate who’s playing like it.

Let’s not panic yet.