Elliot Cadeau’s shooting slump isn’t bothering him. His UNC teammates won’t let it

The North Carolina Tar Heels weathered a few Michigan State punches early then went on a run of their own before muscling their way out of Charlotte and into the Sweet 16 — a show of toughness and great shooting and a potential that might make national punditry rear its collective head.

But for the North Carolina fans who worry over every deficiency, however idiosyncratic, a question might arise:

Is everything alright with Elliot Cadeau?

And for those fans, who are stressing over Cadeau’s 0-4 from 3-point land stat-line, there’s one critical reason why they should rest assured:

Cadeau himself isn’t worried about it.

Neither, for what it’s worth, are his teammates.

“They’re just telling me that they believe in me, and that I just need to shoot with confidence instead of hesitating a little bit and looking to pass,” Cadeau said in the locker room after his team’s 85-69 win against the Spartans on Saturday night. “That really helps me to keep on shooting, and I feel like these next two games, I’ll do much better.”

Cadeau understands the source of the worry, though. The freshman point guard out of West Orange, New Jersey, was left open virtually all game, his Michigan State defender sagging off of him as much as 6 feet, goading him to let it fly. Cadeau, who finished with six points, took those opportunities thrice in the first half and once in the second — and the last one of the first half swirled around the rim so many times before falling out it might’ve made you dizzy.

Letting a defense leave someone so open and that going unpunished isn’t ideal. It changes the geometry of the game: It clogs up post-entry passes; it leaves open the possibility for doubling in the paint with no natural risk; it makes it harder for Cadeau to blow past his defender and finish at the rim, a facet of his game reminiscent of Ty Lawson.

But all that nonetheless hasn’t seemed to shake Cadeau, the steely, joyful guard, who led the team with four assists and still found ways to impact the game on defense.

And to be clear: Don’t be quick to call this player-speak. Cadeau used the word “terrible” to describe his performance against No. 16-seeded Wagner. And when asked about the skid he currently finds himself in, he didn’t mince words, either.

“I don’t think I’ve been in a shooting slump like this ever in my life,” Cadeau said. “In high school, before I came out here, I was like a really good 3-point shooter, and I know my percentages don’t say that. But I still feel like I still got it in me, and I feel like I’ll come out of the slump.”

His teammates are equally confident.

”I mean, he’s a freshman,” fifth-year Armando Bacot said postgame of Cadeau. “It’s tough going out there and playing in these big-time games. You see it all around college basketball: Freshmen, for the most part, have been struggling in the NCAA Tournament.

“But for Elliot in the second half — from how he played, to get a big steal, get a big block, knock down those two free throws — he made amazing plays in the second half.”

As for the shooting specifically, Bacot said he spoke with Cadeau at Saturday’s pregame meal and offered him a Tar Heels history lesson, of sorts. He told him to look at the recent history of UNC point guards — from RJ Davis and Caleb Love to Cole Anthony — and noted that none of them shot well as freshmen.

Davis, this year’s ACC Player of the Year, shot 32.3% from 3 in 2020-21. Love, the Tar Heels transfer and this year’s Pac-12 Player of the Year, shot 26.6% from deep that same year. Anthony, now a standout with the Orlando Magic, shot 34.8% from deep in his only year at North Carolina in 2019-20.

Marcus Paige, an assistant coach who sits next to Cadeau on the Tar Heels’ bench when the starting PG needs a break, was a bit of an aberration — but even he only shot 34.4% from 3 as a freshman — but his advice is the same to Cadeau as everyone else’s:

Keep shooting.

“I told him it’s just one of those things where you gotta just find your shot,” Bacot continued. “It’s going to be tough your freshman year because it’s a different type of ballgame. It’s higher stakes, 3-point line is farther back. So it’s a tough transition, but we just need him to stay confident, keep shooting those shots, because we know he’ll hit a big shot. And going into next year, we know he’ll be an amazing shooter.”

Harrison Ingram, who hit 5-of-7 from deep en route to his 17-point performance Saturday, agreed with Bacot.

“That’s college basketball,” Ingram said of Cadeau’s slump. “Everyone hits that freshman wall. ... And I remember my freshman year, there was a time when I hit that wall, when I just couldn’t hit a shot and my body was tired, and I was worn out mentally because the season’s so long. But he’s a warrior, man. And for the team, we all love each other, we all got each other’s backs. At the end of the day, no matter what, whether he shoots bad or plays well or plays bad, we still love him.”

RJ Davis, who added a team-high 20 points and 3-for-7 from 3, didn’t even address the shooting when evaluating Cadeau’s game Saturday.

“Today he was poised, he was comfortable, and he’s getting more comfortable game by game,” Davis said. “So Elliot’s gonna be good.”

So much has to work for this Tar Heels team to unlock their potential. Bacot and Davis have to be on, and a third scorer has to emerge, whether that’s Ingram or Cormac Ryan or someone else. Seth Trimble has to be enough of an offensive threat to make the extreme defensive prowess he brings — two momentum-changing blocks — worthwhile.

Cadeau’s 3-point shooting, in other words, isn’t an absolute necessity to win. The Tar Heels have found ways to score outside without him this tournament. North Carolina has shot 19-of-44 from 3 (43%) over the past two games, including 10-of-26 against Michigan State on Saturday. Cadeau, too, has only hit eight 3s and is shooting at an 18.2% clip this year — a year that saw an ACC regular-season championship and an ACC Tournament final appearance and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel like three out of the four of them felt good coming out of my hands,” Cadeau said of Saturday’s shooting.

“And I just feel like if I see one go in, it’ll be different,” he added, with a smile that reflects how unconcerned he is, much like everyone else.