Harrison Barnes spoke today about why he may have struggled to begin the season and how he feels his game has improved.
“The college game was so much different from high school,” Barnes explained.
“Coming from a system at Ames High where I was so influential to not only the team, but kind of the coaching of the team ‹ from the standpoint of, I could run my own plays. I had the ball in my hands. I could dominate a basketball game if needed to; that’s how the team kind of ran.
“(From that), to a system where if you don’t have the ball, you have to come off screens, you have to set picks and different stuff like that. You’ve got to learn how to play college-level defense. Now defense at this level is second-nature to me. I can do it like snapping my fingers ... now you’re able to go out there and just play the game.”
Barnes totes a wingspan that’s roughly 7-feet
“People underestimate him,” noted John Henson. “But he knows how to use his length, and he’s hard to score on.”
Barnes became the first North Carolina freshman to score 20 points in each of his first three NCAA Tournament games.
Ever. Think about that for a minute.
10th straight tilts with at least 16 points; The Heels are 15-0 when Barnes nets 17 or more points. They may not necessarily go as he goes. But they wouldn’t have gotten this far without him, either.
Said Barnes: “I just try to do the little things — try to play really good defense, try to rebound, and try to provide energy for my team, even though I wasn’t able to score early.”
The 6-foot-8 forward has been credited with seven game-winning or go-ahead shots this winter, including one in the victory against Washington that clinched a berth in the Sweet 16.
“I feel I can carry the burden if you miss that shot,” was how Harrison Barnes explained it Saturday afternoon. “That’s why I have no problem taking the shot. If you’ve put in enough work, you’ve shot the shot a million times, you have no problem shooting it again.”
From Jan. 13 through March 13, in the eight Carolina games that were decided by single digits, Barnes went a combined 12-for-17 from the field in the final four minutes.
