UNC 80, Maryland 82
Boxscore |
Recap |
Game FlowUNC battled back from a 10 point deficit in the second half to take a 4 point lead with 2:29 left to go in the game. However, it wasn't enough as Maryland took advantage of their opportunities when our guys didn't to pull out a two win at the Dean Dome.
The thing that killed us in this game was shooting--on both ends of the court. We shot 38% for the game when we normally average 49% and Maryland shot 48% when they normally shoot 46%. Specifically, Danny Green and Wayne Ellington went a combined 10-29. If just one of those guys would have been on tonight, we would have probably won, but having both of our outside shooting threats have such subpar games really killed us.
So much for getting any kind of home court favoritism from the refs. They were bad all game and missed several calls (again on both ends, although I saw more on the UNC side). Little touch fouls here, letting muggings slide there--it was frustrating.
We started the game very sluggish. Our intensity wasn't nearly as strong as Maryland's. On offense we played erratic in the first half: sloppy passes, bad shots, etc. It wasn't until the first timeout in the second half that we finally turned it around. You could just tell UNC all of a sudden had a lot more intensity. And in under 5 minutes we erased a 10 point deficit. Coach Williams said we started playing with more emotion then, but it wasn't enough to overcome the consecutive fouls we committed in the closing minutes to give Maryland 6 easy points at the charity strip.
Wayne Ellington had a good look to pull us ahead in the final seconds, but it rimmed out. Hansbrough got his hands on the ball for the final shot at the 3 point line. but it wasn't to be. Was the play designed to go to Hansbrough that far away from the rim?? It sure looked like it. I love Hansbrough and all, but I'd much rather have a cold Ellington or even Marcus Ginyard (who was 2-3 from 3 in the game) shoot that far out to win the game. Oh well.
On the plus side we fought hard to get the lead back after being down 10. On the down side, we lacked intensity for much of the game. I'm not sure why our guys have a hard time getting up for games sometimes. Maybe they were a little drained from the recent games? Let's hope that's it!
Next up: Miami on Wednesday night
