UNC 84, Florida State 73
Boxscore |
Recap |
Game FlowWhat a game. We didn't play that well, especially in the first half but you have to hand it to our Tar Heels for overcoming much adversity to rack up another win on the road. I heard a quote by Coach K before the game about the game being too physical these days. This is one (maybe the first time?) that I have to agree with him. Florida State's Ryan Reid played like a thug. He threw Ty Lawson to the ground, which caused a high ankle sprain and sent him to the bench for the rest of the game. The refs called a tie ball. The refs were bad. I wonder if they've ever played basketball? I bet if they got hit the way our guys did, they might have a different perspective. On the numerous replays it was so obvious it was a foul against Ty I don't think it could be any more clear cut. Reid also mugged Hansbrough on at least two occasions I saw in addition to Julian Vaughn taking a couple of shots at Tyler.
So many people complain about all of the fouls that get called in favor of Hansbrough. Why don't I ever hear anyone talk about the big men playing too physical in the first place?? It is not like the refs just love Hansbrough and he gets a bunch of gimme calls. It is part of teams' game plan to be physical with Tyler and as a result a lot of fouls get called. The sad thing about it is that even with all of the fouls that get called, a bunch more could get called but don't.
Back to the game. Yes, Ty went out of the game after just 4 minutes (grumble, grumble). It is not clear if he'll be available for the Duke game on Wednesday. Ty said it will likely be a "game time decision". Quentin had to play a lot of minutes. As I wrote about in this blog, Q didn't look very good during the Clemson game, but against FSU he did everything we could ask for: 36 minutes, 9 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and just 2 turnovers. Great job! While his individual numbers look good, the team played significantly worse without Lawson in the game. We tied our season high in turnovers with 21. We couldn't get into a rhythm on offense and didn't have the back court pressure we normally do on defense.
Despite all this, we were able to maintain a small lead for much of the game. Tyler Hansbrough finished the game with an eye popping double-double: 22 points and 21 boards, with most of his points coming in the second half. We had a 4 point lead with a couple minutes left in the game, but FSU was able to tie it when the aforementioned Ryan Reid launched a prayer (his first three for the season) and it went in. During overtime we took control and led the whole way.
Apparently, Marcus Ginyard was very close to not playing in the game as he has been battling a case of turf toe. He didn't put up any big numbers, but was a big presence on defense as usual. As far as our two streaky shooters, Ellington and Green, this time it was Green stepping up. He scored 19 points and made a couple of critical three pointers. On the negative side, Danny led the team with 5 turnovers. Wayne scored 9 points and had 3 turnovers. We need those guys to do better than combining for 8 turnovers. I liked how Deon Thompson played on the offensive end. He made some good post moves and ended up with 11 points.
Next up we have Duke on Wednesday. Cross your fingers that Ty will be close to 100% -- we'll need him. I've watched Duke play several times this year and they are good.
