CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- It was just an exhibition game against UNC Pembroke, but North Carolina coach Roy Williams looked down at the stat sheet before beginning his postgame remarks. He was not amused.
The Tar Heels allowed the NCAA Division II school to set a new Dean E. Smith Center record for an opponent by grabbing 30 offensive rebounds.
Williams' response didn't immediately sound the panic alarm, but it put the Heels on alert.
Williams still talks about his rebounding concerns, even after Carolina has emerged with an average of 17 more rebounds than its opponent through its initial four games. Williams is looking inside the numbers, such as when the Heels outrebounded Long Beach State 45-33 last week, but the 49ers outscored them 17-14 in second-chance points.
"They made us look bad on the backboards, we've got to find a way to cure that. ... We have to do a better job there," Williams said.
Rebounding has defined the Tar Heels during Williams' tenure. It's the backbone of how they want to play.
The Tar Heels led the ACC last season and ranked ninth nationally with an 8.6-per-game positive rebounding margin. They've also ranked in the top 25 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage in 10 of Williams' 13 seasons, according to Ken Pomeroy.
"That's always been our focus as a team no matter what year it is," said senior forward Kennedy Meeks, who leads the team with 10.3 boards per game this season. "Rebounding is the most important part because it's a change of possession. We want to do a great job of hitting the boards, hopefully getting it out to the guards and running the floor."
Dominating the boards won't be easy without Brice Johnson, though. Johnson not only led the Tar Heels in rebounding, he was the best player they had at rebounding outside of his own space, and he could clean up others' mistakes. The current team doesn't have a player who has proved to have those abilities.
Williams generally likes to have five post players in his rotation, but he has just four this season with Meeks and senior Isaiah Hicks starting. Sophomore Luke Maye and freshman Tony Bradley are coming off the bench.
"Brice was the best rebounder in the ACC, but look around, does anybody see Brice in here?" Williams said. "Isaiah, Kennedy, they've got to really step up and do some better things. Luke has got to step up. And Tony Bradley has got to give us some of those enthusiastic, young moments where he can produce against big-time teams."
Hicks is averaging 4.8 rebounds per game, which is nearly identical to last season (4.6), but Bradley is currently second on the team at 7.8 rebounds per game in just 17.5 minutes.
Maye is now sidelined with a mild ankle sprain, and Williams said the forward will miss the Maui Invitational. With Maye out, the Tar Heels can expect to go small with a four-guard lineup in which Justin Jackson plays power forward.
Jackson has played a few times at power forward this season, and he has produced mixed results. He grabbed 10 rebounds against Long Beach State; he played the longest stretch in a small lineup. But in the Tar Heels' other three games, he has just six total rebounds.
"Individually, I know I have to get to the boards more," Jackson said. "As a team, last year that was one of our biggest assets, so if we can get that fixed and make sure that everybody knows that that's a big key for us, I think we'll be all right."
Part of North Carolina's emphasis is simply getting more players going after the ball. The Tar Heels' guards usually trickle out when the ball goes up so they can be in position to start the break. Now, they're trying to secure the ball. Guards Joel Berry II and Kenny Williams are both averaging about five rebounds this season. Berry averaged only 3.4 boards last season.
So far, it hasn't slowed them down offensively. The Heels are actually playing faster than they did last season, according to Pomeroy's adjusted tempo metric. Whether or not they can continue to rebound well and play fast will be tested as the competition level increases.
"With Brice being gone, we have to rebound as a group and not just our two big men down there rebounding," Berry said. "I think we've gotten better at it."