For No. 12 North Carolina, these are the dog days of the season.
Exams are underway, games are oddly spaced and the schedule is sprinkled with mid-major opponents before Atlantic Coast Conference play begins.
At an easy time for intensity to waiver, coach Hubert Davis will be looking for more of it from his Tar Heels (9-1) on Tuesday when they take on East Tennessee State in Chapel Hill, N.C.
During a timeout in the second half of a lackluster 80-62 win over South Carolina Upstate on Saturday, Davis lit into his team, demanding more effort.
The reason for Davis’ anger was obvious. Despite starting a lineup that included just one player taller than 6-foot-6, the Spartans finished with 11 offensive rebounds compared to seven for the Tar Heels. North Carolina starts three players that are at least 6-foot-10.
“It’s unacceptable,” Davis said. “I didn’t know what the rebound differential was during the timeout, but I knew they got multiple offensive rebounds, and they were playing harder to get those offensive rebounds than us.”
Davis traced the lack of intensity to the Tar Heels’ practices leading into the game.
“The things that you have control over, I think those are the things that are non-negotiable,” Davis said. “You have to bring it every day. That’s energy, effort, attention to detail, enthusiasm, and you can’t use the excuse that we have final exams.”
The positive was the play of Jonathan Powell, who scored 17 points, the most he has delivered in a game this season after transferring from West Virginia.
In addition to the injection of offense, Davis was pleased by the “competitive fight” and “spirit” that Powell showed.
Powell’s emergence in the backcourt can help lift a team that has been overly dependent on its powerful frontcourt.
Caleb Wilson, a 6-10 freshman, is averaging team highs of 19.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game, while Henri Veesaar, a 7-foot transfer from Arizona, is contributing 16.0 points and 9.2 rebounds.
The Tar Heels also will get backcourt help with the return of Seth Trimble, who is rehabbing from a broken forearm. Davis said Trimble is progressing well in individual workouts but has yet to be cleared for contact.
East Tennessee State (8-3) is off to its best start since the 2019-20 season when it won the Southern Conference tournament and qualified for a berth in the NCAA Tournament, which was cancelled because of the COVID pandemic.
North Carolina will be the first major conference foe this season for the Buccaneers.
The top six scorers for East Tennessee State played at different schools last season, including Cam Morris III (UMass-Lowell), Brian Taylor II (SIU Edwardsville) and Blake Barkley (Northwestern).
The Buccaneers look to rebound from a 76-75 loss Friday night at Austin Peay.
“We’re scoring 80 a game, multiple different leading scorers, we press, we make 3s, we dunk it, we defend, like elite defensively,” East Tennessee State coach Brooks Savage said.
