Tar Heels Ironing Wrinkles Before Fort Myers Trip

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The Tar Heels were unanimous in their post-game assessment of Tuesday’s game against Navy, with each one of them acknowledging how much room the team has to grow.

Coming out of Tuesday night’s players-only meeting, players stressed the need to start games stronger, finish them better and cut out some of the bad habits. The team is 5-0 with a winning margin of 24.7 points per game, but the Tar Heels recognize the need to tighten some screws.

“I think it’s always an easy fix,” Caleb Wilson said on Tuesday. “We’re a talented team, we just have to get it together.”

Soon, North Carolina will hit the road for the first time in the regular season and get live opportunities to display improvement.

UNC will take part in the Fort Myers Tip-off next week, facing St. Bonaventure on Tuesday and No. 17 Michigan State on Thursday. The lead-up to next week’s games in Fort Myers serves as independent practice time for the Tar Heels, allowing them to sort out their flaws while building cohesion and connectivity with the gap between games.

“I’m excited that we get to practice on us,” Hubert Davis said on Tuesday. “I felt like over the last two to three weeks, we’ve been practicing, but we’ve been preparing, having games on Friday and Tuesday, and Friday and Tuesday (again). I feel like there have been preparation practices as opposed to just focusing on us, and so not playing until next week, we’ve got a full week where we can work on us, and that’s the thing that I’m most excited about.”

North Carolina went to the Maui Invitational last season, going 1-2 in the three-day, three-game event. The season before, Davis and the Tar Heels went to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, going 2-1 and finishing in third place.

UNC snagged itself a signature win earlier this month with an 87-74 home victory against then-No. 19 Kansas with Darryn Peterson in the lineup. Winning such games last year was a source of contention throughout the season when considering the team’s tournament resume, but the victory against the Jayhawks two weeks ago was an early indicator of how UNC may fare against elite opponents.

“We’ve worked all summer, we played great against Kansas,” Henri Veesaar said. “I think we’ve played great so far. We have won all of our games, so we just have to lock into that and then have a good week of practice and be ready for those games. Lock in on our scout, lock in on getting better, building for the season.”

For as good as North Carolina’s looked this season, it has at times played sloppily. The energy level in the first half of some of its games has been noticeably lower than the second half, where the Tar Heels typically tighten up and extend the lead.

The win against Kansas marked the only time that UNC has trailed at halftime in these first five games, but getting going from the jump is something the team identified as a necessity.

“It’s key just to maintain the rhythm on both ends of the floor, just to be aggressive on both ends of the floor to try to get good execution,” Luka Bogavac said. “And I think with (more) games, it will be better.”

The Bonnies are 5-0 this season with wins against Bradley, Canisius, Siena, Youngstown State and Robert Morris. Darryl Simmons II, a 5-foot-11 guard from Gardner-Webb, leads the team in scoring at 19.3 points per game.

Michigan State is 4-0 with a pair of Top 25 wins against Arkansas and Kentucky — a team UNC will face in Lexington just five days after playing the Spartans. Tom Izzo’s team is led by 6-foot-9 senior Jaxon Kohler, who leads the team with 15.8 points and 11.2 rebounds so far this season. Kohler is shooting 48.9% from the field, 35.7% from three and 82.4% from the free throw line. Jeremy Fears Jr. has returned as well, and he’s leading Division I basketball with 10.3 assists per game.

This will be the third straight season that the Tar Heels and Spartans are meeting up. The two teams played in the Round of 32 in Charlotte in March 2024, a game UNC won to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. North Carolina faced Michigan State again last season in Maui, losing 94-91 in overtime.

As non-conference competition continues, North Carolina will get the chance to learn more about itself in game situations and build on the success it created early this season.

“I’m just looking forward to winning,” Wilson said about next week’s games. “I don’t really care about anything else. I think it’ll be good games, I think we’ll play good competition, but I’m just looking forward to winning. I’m not going to Fort Myers to go to the beach. So that’s just how I approach it.”