UNC 90, FSU 77
Boxscore |
Recap |
Game FlowSenior night at the Dean Dome was memorable for both of our seniors Quentin Thomas and Surry Wood. It was undoubtedly Surry's best game of his career. He got the start as is the tradition on Senior night and scored 4 points in 4 minutes of action on 2-2 shooting. The rest of the team wasn't quite as hot. We had 5 turnovers in the first 6 minutes and Q didn't look good for the second straight game. He would bounce back in the second half to score on several drives and ended with an all-around nice performance.
As has been the case many times this year, we looked sloppy in the first half , but by the time the second half rolled around we were ready to play and cranked up our defense. It was close until the final minutes of the first half when we opened up a 12 point lead to go into the half. FSU didn't get near us after that.
Last time we played the Noles, Lawson got body slammed by
Ryan Reid and hasn't been the same since. Reid was up to his usual thug-like tactics again in this game swinging elbows at Hansbrough. That guy is only a sophomore too. Ugh. I guess when you don't have skill you have to resort to other things, in Reid's case, body slams and elbows.
Ty Lawson played again, but he didn't look good in the first half. He was timid and didn't even want to take jump shots. He ended up getting a hip pointer and had to leave the first half early. He didn't return until 4 minutes into the second half at which point he looked like a different player. It is clear he isn't 100%--maybe more like 75%. He can't turn the corner quite like he used to. But he nailed his jumpers! He scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting on what had to be a big confidence booster. He still makes the "right" passes most of the time and we play better even with a 75% Ty in the game. With only a month left to go in the season, I seriously doubt Ty will be 100% before the end of March.
Overall this was a very balanced game. We had 10 players score and 4 in double figures. We look in fine form at the right time of the year. Still a concern is the lack of consistency from outside. Ellington had an off night last night after putting together several good performances in a row. We need Ty, Danny, and Wayne in top form against Duke or we won't win. Simple as that.
I don't like being ranked #1 at the beginning of the season because of all the expectations put on the team, but going into the final week of regular season #1 isn't so bad.
Now it is down to
1 game. This will decide 1) if we win the ACC regular season crown, 2) end the regular season ranked #1 overall, 3) get a #1 seed in the ACC tournament, and more than likely 4) determine if we get a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in the EAST regional. Wow, there is a lot riding on this game. At least we have a few days to rest up.
P.S. Can someone please tell
Greg Fishel to only cut into a Carolina game if you need to warn people about imminent danger due to a tornado? I missed the first 5 minutes of the game because Greg wanted to show everyone exactly what a "storm signature" looks like (thanks for the zoom in Greg), and had to repeatedly tell us that he'll cut back in if he feels like it. He must not be a Carolina fan. It was bad enough that we had to watch the scroll at the bottom of the screen for almost the entire game. But then right before half Greg cut in one more time. Possible torndado? Yes. How many people impacted? Well it looks to be NO BODY because the area the "possible tornado" is at is not populated. So how many trees were in danger Greg? Did you really have to break into a game like this to tell us? Why not just say: "Possible severe storms, if you are at all interested, check out wral.com." Done. That would take about 10 seconds. But alas it would steal away from his 5 minutes of Primetime to inform the Triangle about "storm signatures". Sigh.
