Michael Malone Keeps Telling UNC Players Same Thing, but It Isn't Changing

There's no beating around the bush when it comes to North Carolina's rebounding issues, as they will be a legitimate reason why this team does or doesn't win games at a high level in the ACC. 

At the end of the day, rebounding and defense win games, no matter how good North Carolina's offense can be.

If there have been any positives coming out of North Carolina and all the problems on the glass, it's the fact that head coach Michael Malone isn't going to deal with it for any longer. 

Malone isn't a guy who is going to allow his team to not rebound at a high level, whether it ends up taking longer than anybody wants. The unfortunate part is that North Carolina is in a position where it's going to have to figure this out sooner rather than later, as a college basketball season isn't exactly nine months long.

Speaking to reporters after North Carolina's win against Western Carolina, in which it won just 80-72 and was outrebounded 36 to 28, Malone once again made that a point of emphasis. 

However, this time, he brought up some reasons as to why the rebounding might be an issue. The more interesting part here was that he said they have to get the rebound before they can run. 

It's very possible that players on North Carolina's roster are trying to do too much in too short of a time before focusing on what actually has to be done. Instead of rebounding the basketball, a lot of these guys are trying to get out in transition to score.

"Before you can run, you have to rebound," Malone said, per Rodd Baxley.

"We can't worry about guys leaking out. Four games now where our field-goal percentage defense has been terrific in my eyes. You do all that hard work only to see the shot taken, and then they get an extra opportunity. … It's something we just have to continue to harp on it, drill it, demand it."

"When we talk about rebounding, we talk about gang rebounding. When you're on defense, we want all five in the glass," Malone said. "… It's not just on the bigs. With Jarin, we switch quite a bit 1-4 (defensively). So, sometimes he's on the perimeter. But he's got to find a way to get back into that paint and help us out on that glass.”

Like I've said in the past about Malone, this is a problem that's going to be fixed. I don't want to say North Carolina is going to be an elite rebounding team by any means, but he's going to ensure that it's a lot better than it currently is. 

We're going to find out relatively soon whether the Tar Heels can rebound at a somewhat decent level, as North Carolina takes on Georgia next Friday night.

Once we get into ACC play, if this is still a problem, I think we might have to have a legitimate conversation about what needs to change. Even now, it feels like this could be the reason why the Tar Heels lose some games in out-of-conference play, which is the last thing the program wants to deal with.