UNC 75, Virginia 74
Boxscore |
Recap |
Game FlowNothing comes easy this year as we squeaked out another win on the road. This time it was against the ailing Virginia Cavaliers who have lost 10 of their last 11. UNC was able to keep a lead for most of the game, but UVA was always in it. Tyler Hansbrough continued to carry the team on his back by scoring 23 points. Even though most of his points came in the first half, he had a crucial "Hansbrough hook shot" with 20 seconds left to go in the game to give us a 4 point lead.
This was our 3rd full game without Ty Lawson, but really more like our 4th since he missed most of the FSU game. All you have to do is
look at our turnovers since then to see his impact. In the last 4 games we have 21, 20, 20, and 17 turnovers. Quentin played well, but it is just not the same without Ty who has a calming effect over the whole team. He's able to start the offense just a little better and faster, which leads his teammates to make better passes, etc. With Ty, we are potentially a top 5 team. Without him I think we would be lucky to be in the top 25.
It goes without saying that we were playing banged up and hurt last night. Tyler missed practice on Monday. Ginyard was questionable again due to an ankle issue. During the game our short bench became an even bigger issue as Quentin got in early foul trouble and only played 20 minutes. Deon Thompson got hurt 5 minutes into the game and hobbled around until the end. But that just shows you the kind of heart (which I've questioned before) that this team has developed. Deon was obviously playing hurt, but he was huge on the offensive end scoring 12 points on several nice low post moves.
Wayne and Danny had a nice night. Wayne scored 19 on 7-15 shooting and Danny scored 9 on 4-6 shooting. This was an all around good team effort.
One thing I wasn't so happy about in this game was the officiating. They let Virginia's pair of thugs Mikalauskas and Pettinella run rough and ragged all night. The cameras caught Pettinutella and MikeyMousekas shove or elbow Hansbrough without a foul call on several occasions. This was our opponent's lowest foul total in 6 games. It was obvious that they didn't want to call the typical fouls for Hansbrough. Maybe they were playing by the 'no blood, no foul' rule. I'd hate to be a UVA fan and have to see MikeyMousekas pumping his fist after all 2 of his baskets. That guy was definitely picked on during high school. Heck, people may still pick on him now.
Fortunately we have a few days off before we meet up with the
Virginia Tech Hokies at the Dean Dome Saturday. This is the most banged up I can remember a Tar Heel team being in many years.
