UNC Basketball Update News and game summaries from a life-long North Carolina Basketball fan(atic)

UNC 90, Clemson 88   Boxscore | Recap | Game Flow Wow, what a game. This is the best game I've watched in a while. UNC didn't lead at all in the second half and I thought we would lose for sure. But Wayne Ellington put us on his back (with some help from Tyler of course) to get us in to overtime and eventually the win. It has been a while since Carolina has had to come from behind on a good team like Clemson and pull it out in the end (on the road no less). This was a great experience for the team. Both teams played really well for most of the game. UNC played good defense and Clemson was also very stingy, especially on Tyler. However, we weren't clicking as well on offense. Hansbrough only got off 7 attempts all game. Mays and Booker were very physical (as is typical for a Clemson team). This game really showed me how much losing Bobby Frasor and Alex Stephenson (to a lessor degree) has hurt. It was painfully obvious how much we lose when Quentin comes in the game. All an opposing team needs to do is press against Quentin and you'll likely get turnovers. In the first half he took a bad shot and followed it up with two turnovers in a row. He just doesn't look comfortable dribbling when pressured. Even though Marcus Ginyard has a tendency to make an errand pass every once in a while, I'd almost rather see him bring the ball up the court when Ty is not in the game. Bobby was a solid PG coming off the bench and a great defender. Quentin is neither. Speaking of the PG position, Ty had a uncharacteristically sloppy game. He was out of control several times and was called for 4 fouls. He pushed the ball pretty well, but wasn't as smooth trying to navigate among Clemson's bigs. Tyler also didn't have his usual game, which had a lot to do with the Clemson big men. He did draw a critical charge with 47 seconds to go which gave UNC a chance to take the lead. But let me get back to Wayne Ellington. He had an absolutely huge night, even before his final second three pointer to seal the deal. He scored a career high 36 points on 11-19 shooting, 9-9 from the free throw line, and 5-8 from downtown. This is what I was talking about earlier in the season when I said we need Ellington to be our go-to scorer when things aren't going well down low. If he would have played like he did against Valpo or Rutgers, we would not have won. Plain and simple. Lastly I'll mention two poor performances. Will Graves (who I've recently been praising) came off the bench early, but couldn't hit the side of a bus (going 0-4). Then there are the refs. In the first half I was willing to let a couple of calls slide, but they got progressively worse as the game went on. They missed several calls (and admitedly missed a couple against UNC). They weren't consistent in their calls at all. This game would have been a good loss for us, but it has made for an even better win. Next up: UNC Asheville College Basketball Stats by StatSheet.com Posted by Robbie Allen @ 1/06/2008 09:24:00 PM Comments: Yep, UNC definitely whiffed on Quentin Thomas. Oh well, they all can't be great players. I was on sensory overload last night, switching between the game and AG. It definitely felt like UNC would lose. I'm wondering if Booker hadn't fouled out, things would have turned out differently. Clemson is definitely legit. # posted by  Anonymous : 10:47 AM   I prefer to focus on the positive. Quentin played well during his sophomore year, especially at Duke. Injuries may have robbed him of the progress he made that year. # posted by  William O. Douglas Loeffler : 10:53 AM   I think it definately showed we miss Bobby. This could kill us at times this year. When Ty is out we are a completely different team since we cannot push the ball like we can with Ty. Bobby Frasor played solid basketball and sees the court much better than Q. After watching the game lastnight I am now worried about this. I also prefer Marcus to the run the point over Quentin as i have never really been a Quentin fan. With this said I think this game was great for us and this only makes us a better team. # posted by  Anonymous : 12:19 PM   On the radio, Montross was playing down the fact that Ty was very much contained by Clemson. He was saying that the extreme up-tempo game didn't yield Ty many of his normal looks. I can understand this a little, but I don't buy it completely. They also pointed out on the radio that until very late in regulation, Carolina had not scored more than once between Clemson scores (in other words, every time UNC scored, Clemson scored before UNC did again). That wasn't surprising given the way the second half felt like as I was watching. I agree with you Robbie - it would have been a good loss, but to get a win out of it was fantastic. # posted by  Dave : 1:41 PM   Yep, good to see we're living up to the name. NC was named the tar heels b/c we fought a battle where we were out numbered but would not give up and eventually one. The opposing army said it was like we held our positions like we had tar on our heels. # posted by  Anonymous : 4:48 PM   i was really worried the whole game that they werent goin to win but i had faith in them. they did a good job not letting quentin play. we nedded bobby n alex really bad . we needed alex so we could have another big guy to help tyler a little bit since he was getting tired trying to stop them from scoring. quentin has never really been a good player i have not ever been avle to stand him all he can do is turnover the ball i dont think he has done nething good at all this year since bobby got hert. we needed bobby realyy bad last night to sub ty and we wouldnt have to worry bout turnover turnin the ball over which would be a blessing im so gald that he is a senoir and this is the last year that we will have to deal with him. tyler did not have his best game either last night. which is very unlike him but i think he was so tired and hot. he missed 3 foul shots i was really surprised he has never done that in his college career i dont think. it was a very interesting game thugh and i am very glad that we won but i think that we should have lead the wole game by a lot though. wayne didnt play a good game the first half but the second he came back which was a very good thing. and of course he n ty were the reason that we won the game at the end. tyler was also a big help as always. we are a very different team when ty is out and quentin is in but hopefully he will get better but i dont think he could but i am still keeping my hopes up but idk. durng the whole game i was on my feet worried to death that it wasnt goin to turn out the way i wanted it to and other carolina fans. i hope that we will win when they come to the dean dome since they havent won in like 50 years at the cean dome or maybe even more and i hope it stays that way for a very long time hopefully for ever and ever. ty wasnt as fast as he has been in the last couple pf games but that is ok he hopefully it was just them. # posted by  Anonymous : 5:23 PM   i was really worried that we werent goin to win our team wasnt themselves. we were very different with ty not in there when he was taking a rest. thanks to ty n wayne we won at the very last second. tyler was a really big help as always. # posted by  Anonymous : 5:26 PM   Clemson was the superior team last night - they played really well for most of the game - they shut Tyler and Ty down. UNC was the luckiest team - they played poorly for most of the game. Clemson's poor 3 pt and FT shooting kept UNC in the game or they would have been blown away. Clemson kept UNC from looking like a top 10 team. This was UNC's first credible opponent and, on the road, they were out played and out hustled - 19 turnovers, weak bench performance, a lone blocked shot. Ellington (36 min) was the only UNC guy to show up - 59% shooting, 100% FT, 5 of UNC's 6 three pt shots (pro prospect). Tyler was being held in check an no one else could or would step up. Tyler (42 min) and Ty (36 min) had combined shooting of only 36%, 70% on FT, and were 0 for 2 on 3 pt shots with Ty turning the ball over 5 times. Green (29 mins) had 9 pts, shot 25% from the charity stripe and fouled out. Clemson is a very good team and won the stats: Pts in paint: 46 vs 36 Turnover pts: 27 vs 6 Turnovers: 15 vs 19 2nd chance pts: 16 vs 15 Off rebounds: 17 vs 16 Bench pts: 17 vs 11 Largest lead: 7 vs 6 Blocked shots: 11 vs 1 Steals: 11 vs 6 FG%: 43 vs 41.7 ACC forcast: Except for the two Tech teams, there are more Clemson style challenges coming up. Roy cannot play Tyler for 42 minutes if he expects to have a chance in March. If the bench does not step up ... it'll be a very cold March ... and Hansbrough will (should) turn pro along with Ellington. Three other guys played 36 mins each, a fourth played 31 mins and Green played 26 mins - surely the late B. Frasor (avg 3.2 pts, 30% of 3 pt shots, 50% from the charity stripe) wasn't the UNC "deep bench" being bantered about? # posted by  Anonymous : 9:00 PM   Yes..we had a bad game...but lets not get nasty now...we are still a very good team # posted by  Anonymous : 11:10 PM   Post a Comment << Home