UNC 85, Valparaiso 63
Over the last three games, we haven't looked very crisp and that was definitely true against Valpo. Sure, we overcame a 12-3 deficit to start the first half, but we had that same look in our eyes that we did against Kansas last year. In fact, we could have seen the same result if we were playing a better team. We committed 6 turnovers in the first 4 minutes and couldn't do anything right. We were lucky to be down only 9. I'd hate to think what it would have been if we were playing against UConn.
But we did muscle our way back in the game, in big part thanks to Tyler Hansbrough. We committed 12 turnovers in the first half and considering our season average is 12.3, that gives you an indication of just how bad it was. Ty Lawson was taken out after just 3.5 minutes in the first half because he committed two uncharacteristic turnovers. Ty still finished with a positive A/T ratio (5/3).
The second half was much better. We started on a 9-0 run. Overall our three point shooting was pretty bad (29%). Wayne continues to struggle from deep. Bobby Frasor nailed his two first 3's of the game, but missed his last 4 attempts. We were playing Valpo because of Carolina's time-honored tradition of visiting each player's hometown at least once. This game was at the United Center in Chicago which is not too far from Bobby's hometown of Blue Island, IL.
Sure, we won the game by 22 points, but the point spread was 28 which shows how much people thought we'd blow out Valpo by. Hard to complain with a win, but concerns still remain about how we are playing at times. We still seem to play at the level of our competition (especially in the first half). It will be interesting with ACC conference play starts to see how we handle tough teams day in and day out.
Seven days until the
next game against Rutgers at the Dean Dome.
