UNC 86, Arizona 69
Best game of the year for our young Tar Heels!!! I was concerned about Arizona early on because they were very athletic and had some good shooters. They aren't in the top 25, but easily could be. We showed a little of the killer instinct I've talked about recently. We came out firing in the second half and never let up on the way to a 17 point victory at home. This was the best all around performance by UNC as a team and easily our best shooting game. Most of the main players had outstanding games. Of course there is Hansbrough with 21 points and 11 rebounds (3rd double-double of the year). He was a monster down-low again fending off two and sometimes three defenders. He had a slow start at the beginning of the game with a couple balls going right through his hands, but he picked up his game by mid-way through the first half. Then there was Wes Miller. Wes was on the court a lot, playing 29 minutes. I love his defensive pressure and he is a constant offensive threat from behind the arc. He went 4-5 from three point land. Bobby Frasor had an outstanding game. Get this, 9 assist and 0 turnovers. That's unheard of for a point guard. I haven't talked much about Bobby lately, but he continues to dish the assists (2nd in the ACC) and have limited turnovers. He hasn't been shooting much lately, but with 2 seconds left in the first half he launched a deep three pointer and nailed it to give UNC an 8 point lead going into the half! Danny Green was a spark off the bench again scoring 13 points (3-4 from behind the arc). He made a couple of huge 3 pointers. Reshawn Terry played with a lot of heart. He left the court during the first half after receiving a "jolt to the chest". He came back later in the half and picked up where he left off. A much better performance for the Winston-Salem native. Mr. Quentin Thomas also had a great game. He only had 1 assist, but had 6 points (a career high), 2 steals and a couple of big rebounds. Ahh, if we could get this kind of performance out of him every night... I wish I could say the refs performed as well as UNC, but I can't. In fact they were horrible. It is amazing how you can tell some nights that the officiating crew doesn't have a clue. They were calling absolutely nothing, especially early on. Then they charged a bogus charge on Terry (I swear he has to get at least one of those against him per game). They missed a travel violation on Arizona after which led to a 3 pointer. It wasn't one sided though. The refs were equally bad for both teams. They missed a call against Quentin when he lost the ball out of bounds but they gave the ball back to UNC. The second half was more of the first half. Terry was very aggressive on the offensive end. He had a highlight reel dunk in the second half. We broke open a 20 point lead in the final 6 minutes and were able to coast from there. Other key stats: + UNC FG%: 58% + UNC 3 Pt FG%: 50% + UNC FT%: 70% + UNC Assists: 23
UNC 74, BC 81
Tyler Hansbrough had another monster performance, but couldn’t help the Heels get passed Boston College in the Dean Dome. Fortunately, we didn't start off slow like in the last several games. It was tied at 13 all after the first 10 minutes. Then Danny Green came in and nailed 2 three pointers and Hansbrough got fouled while dunking the ball and made the free throw for us to go up 22-15. Hansbrough could not be stopped most of the game. It is scary how good this freshman is. I just hope and pray we don't start to hear NBA draft rumors in the next couple of months. Byron Sanders also had another stand up game. He looks like a different player on the court this year. He has gone from a liability to a asset. He is definitely the most improved player on the team. After the great run we had to go up 7, BC came back and we went cold. BC took the lead with 6 minutes to go (26-27). UNC went cold and BC closed out the half on a 26-6 streak to take a 12 point lead (30-42). It seemed like BC couldn't miss for most of the game. They shot 58% from the field in the first half and 54% for the game. Another issue was how they manhandled us inside. They scored 22 points in the paint in the first half to our 10. They were also really good with the ball only committing 4 turnovers to our 9 in the first. Going into the second half I was predicting we'd make a run because we have done it so many times this year. We play our best ball the first 10 minutes out of the second half. On the back of Hansbrough and Green, we got it down to a 5 point deficit with 9 minutes to go. We just didn't have enough firepower from the outside to bring it back all the way. BC played very good D on Wes Miller and he rarely had an open look. I guess the secret about him is out. Reyshawn Terry had a decent game, but not great. He continued to rack up the charge calls against him. He had a whopping 3 in this game (at least one was questionable). We got it down to a 2 point deficit (63-65) with 5:35 to go, but we couldn't consistently stop BC to close out the game. They had tons of open backdoor passes for easy buckets. Craig Smith was a load inside. Every time we missed on our end, they'd make it on their end. We played well, but couldn't match up against their size inside. Hansbrough had a career high 26 points on 9-13 shooting and even had a 3 pointer! I've said it before, but if we didn't have him this year, we'd be in deep trouble. David Noel still had problems turning the ball over. He led the team with 5 turnovers and only had 5 points. I can't complain with our effort tonight. We played hard, we just didn't match up well against BC and couldn't stop then when needed. I'm still concerned our team doesn't have a killer instinct, but that comes with experience and confidence, both of which are lacking in a young team. Other key stats: - Assist/Turnover: .9 (UNC), 2.55 (BC) - Turnovers: 19 (UNC), 9 (BC) + Rebounds: 31 (UNC), 27 (BC) + Free throws: 17-22 (UNC), 11-20 (BC)
Roy Williams Radio Show Quotes
During this week's Roy Williams Radio Show, the coach talks about some of the topics I've blogged about recently: Reyshawn stepping up. Wes becoming a starter. Bryon's big improvement. Quentin's continued struggles. He gave the team Monday off because they were so spent. The Wednesday game against BC is going to be another tough one. Then Arizona on Saturday. I wish we could take a trip to Cup Cake City instead playing so many tough teams in a row.
Hansbrough Wins 6th ACC Rookie of the Week
I've watched Duke's Josh McRoberts (the #1 recruit in the nation last year) and I wouldn't trade him for Hansbrough in a second. This week, Hansbrough tallied his 6th ACC Rookie of the Week award. More than any other freshman. At this point he is a lock for the ACC Rookie of the Year.
Quentin Thomas still struggling
I had a line in my FSU notes about Quentin Thomas's performance but I didn't mention him in my game summary. Astute reader, Jessie Cochran, commented: "Ok so what the heck is going on with Quentin Thomas. The boy can't hang onto the ball to save his life...." The box score for the FSU game had Quentin down for 2 minutes and 2 turnovers. By my count he had 3 turnovers in 2 minutes. He came in the game and just couldn't hold on to the ball. I'm not sure what is going on with him. He has a lot of potential, but he is still struggling at this level. I wish we could combine Quentin's speed with Bobby Frasor's floor savvy. Maybe we will have that next year when Tywon Lawson comes to town.
Better job by Reyshawn Terry
Reyshawn Terry played much better in the FSU game. He had 17 points and didn't make as many bad passes or silly fouls. One reason for his increased focus might be the fact that Coach Williams told him that he considered starting Danny Green in his place. Coach Williams shook up the starting line up putting Wes Miller in for Marcus Ginyard and it payed off. Perhaps the threat of getting yanked out of the starting line up also inspired Terry. Let's hope he keeps it up!
UNC 81, Florida State 80
Florida State is more athletic. Florida State is faster. Florida State shoots the ball better (second in the ACC in FG%). Someway, somehow our scrappy young Tar Heels overcame these facts and a two game losing streak to beat FSU on the road 81-80. During the first half, things didn't look very good for us. We had 12 turnovers and were out-rebounded 11-16 in the first half alone. We didn't come out of the gates playing as poorly as in recent game and even had an early lead (9-8) after 3.5 minutes. But FSU went on a 12-0 run and made 10 field goals in a row to blow it open 11-22. Reyshawn Terry helped keep us in it early with some outstanding play. During one stretch he scored a 3 pointer, and then had a steal for a layup. The story of the first half however was Isaiah Swann and our turnovers. Swann was on fire and scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half. It is hard to counterbalance that kind of scoring when you make as many silly turnovers as we did. There were at least 3 pass and catch turnovers in the first 10 minutes. We didn't look good at all. The team wasn't very sharp. Two players that helped keep the game from turning into a blowout were Wes Miller and Byron Sanders. Yes, Wes and Byron. Wes started the game in place of Marcus Ginyard. Coach Williams later said he did it to try and inject more offensive threats and ease some of the pressure on Hansbrough. Wes didn't disappoint. On the game he made 6-10 3 pointers for a career high 18 points. I don't know what has gotten into Byron Sanders of late, but he is playing much better. During one stretch when Hansbrough was sitting on the bench, Sanders scored on two straight baskets. He is playing good D and scoring well around the basket. The refs weren't helping our cause at all. They made a bunch of bad calls during the game. Hansbrough got called on a couple of cheap fouls and had to sit with 3 fouls with 3 minutes to go in the first half. We were down 13 points, but Danny Green scored 5 points in the final 2 minutes to get us back to 42-50 at the half. It is clear that UNC is a second half team this year. Or at least a beginning of the second half team. I don't know what Coach Williams says to the boys in the locker room, but we always seem to play our best ball for the first 5 minutes after the half. Hansbrough scored on 2 straight old fashioned 3 point plays in a row to cut the lead to 2. FSU maintained a slight lead, but then we scored 5 straight three pointers (3 from Wes Miller and 2 from Danny Green) to take the lead, 61-59, with 12:47 to go. We were a whopping 10 of 14 from the 3 point line at this point. It was tied at 76 all with 2 minutes to go. It went back and forth. At one point, Wes Miller threw the ball away but came back on the next possession to score a huge 3 pointer. We played some great defense to close out the game and on the back of two big free throws from Reyshawn Terry, won 81-80. Other key stats: + 3 pointers: 13-21/62% (UNC), 7-19/37% (FSU) - UNC free throws: 8-13 (62%) - Turnovers: 23 (UNC), 14 (FSU)
Duke lost!
My wife and I watched Georgetown hand Duke its first loss of the year. I haven't talked much about Duke on this blog, but it should be known how much I dislike them. Even if Duke was in the NCAA championship game against a Big 10 or Big East team, I'd root against Duke. My hatred for the team runs that deep. Nothing against their ability, they have some great players. I just don't like them. As much as carolina blue runs in my veins, puke blue causes an allergic reaction. One reason I wasn't looking forward to this season was because Duke was ranked so highly and we...well...weren't. Georgetown played out of their shoes (shooting above 60%) and barely squeaked the game out. Duke is really good this year...unfortunately.
UNC 68, Virginia 72
For the third game in a row, UNC showed its youth with sloppy play and an inability to step up offensively which resulted in a second straight defeat. We had yet another slow start -- Virginia was up 9-19 early on. If it wasn't for Tyler Hansbrough, we'd be in some major trouble this year. He continued his dominant play and provides the only semblance of consistency. He led the team in scoring again with 18 points on 7-14 shooting. I hate to highlight this again, but David Noel and Reyshawn Terry struggled mightily in the first half. Terry fouled a 3 point shooter for the second game in a row. Noel had what seemed like turnover after turnover (he led the team with 6). I've said it before, but he has to be smarter with his passes. Danny Green picked up the slack in the first half scoring 8 points (2 three pointers and a 2) within a span of a couple of minutes. It was all tied at 24 with 6:33 to go in the first half and we got our first lead (27-25) with 3:14 to go. Virginia doubled and sometimes tripled team Hansbrough. Anytime he'd get the ball, guys would swarm him. He made a few amazing baskets despite the increased pressure. However, he did commit 4 turnovers primarily in faulty passes after being double-teamed. I believe we are going to see more of this type of defensive from other teams. Hansbrough is our only consistent offensive threat so it makes sense to focus on him defensively. He'll need to make better passes to the open man and other guys on the team will need to do a better job of sinking shots. Following our standard MO, during the first 10 minutes of the second half we picked up the defensive intensity significantly. We forced 2 straight shot clock violations on Virginia. VA went 8 minutes without scoring a field goal, but we weren't able to establish a lead. At about the 9 minute mark Virginia went on a run and UNC never was able to catch up. We were down 9 with 8 to go and clawed back to be down just 5 with 2 to go, but we ran out of time. An embarrassing stat worth mentioning is blocks. Virginia had a whopping 12 blocked shots, many coming in the final minutes. Other key stats: + Rebounds: 45 (UNC), 37 (UVA) - Free throws made: 10 (UNC), 23 (UVA) - Pts from the bench: 14 (UNC), 23 (UVA)
Wayne Ellington Hits Game-winner on ESPN2
Last night I had the pleasure of watching UNC recruit Wayne Ellington hit the game winning shot to pull Episcopal ahead of Neumann-Goretti, 65-64. Ellington had an off night shooting (9-26), but looked smooth on the court. The kid definitely has no fear -- driving the length of the court to take a fade away shot to win the game after such an off night. I look forward to seeing him next year!
UNC 70, Miami 81
Marred by 17 turnovers and another slow start, Carolina wasn't able to pull out a victory against Miami in the Dean Dome. This game looked like a continuation from the Virginia Tech game except in this one, Miami got hot in the final 2 minutes to pull away from the Tar Heels. We started off cold again, going 1-9 from the field but somehow were able to stay in there. If we do that against a better team (like Duke), we could get blown out early. The team went 4-15 from the field in the first 12 minutes but were never more than a half dozen points down. Miami used the zone on defense, which slowed the game down and kept UNC from getting in a rhythm most of the game. The Hurricanes packed it down low on Tyler Hansbrough often double and sometimes triple teaming the freshman. Tyler was 8-8 from the free throw line in the first half and he was able to lead the team in scoring with 25 despite not getting the ball near enough in the last 10 minutes of the game. UNC went on a little run with 6 minutes to go in the first half to take their first lead of the game, 23-22. Wes Miller had his best game of the year scoring 2 threes in the first half and playing excellent defense. On the negative side, David Noel (5 turnovers) and Reyshawn Terry (3 turnovers) did not play well. Surprisingly, reserve Dewey Burke came in during the final minute of half, I assume because Coach wasn't happy with Terry's play. Byron Sanders scored the final basket of the half on a Wes Miller entry pass to put us up 31-30. We came out firing to start the second half. In the first 7 minutes, Hansbrough was huge for us scoring 10 points. He'd only score 5 points over the remaining 13 minutes. Terry picked up the pace scoring 2 three pointers in a row (he tried for a third but missed badly). He ended up scoring 18 for the game. We were up 39-32, but Miami roared back to take the lead 39-44. Throughout the game we had several opportunities to get a comfortable lead, but we weren't able to capitalize. Miami killed us on the boards collecting 43 rebounds (21 offensive) to our 34. There were a couple of trips where they got 3 or more offensive rebounds in a row. We were only down 62-65 with 3:25 to go, but on the back of Miami's star guards Diaz and Hite, Miami pulled away. Overall it was a good effort from the Tar Heels, but we didn't look very sound. Obviously, we made way too many turnovers. Many of our entry passes down low weren't crisp. We were lucky to pull out the last game against Va Tech, but our luck ran out today. We need to start playing better soon or we may end up in the bottom half of the ACC as everyone predicted. Reyshawn Terry needs to start playing smarter and more aggressive on offense (but not get hit with charges as he seems prone to do). David Noel has made a lot of turnovers in recent games and needs to be more careful with the ball. The only thing we can count on so far is Tyler. We need to keep getting him the ball. Other Key Stats: - Steals: 1 (UNC), 8 (Miami) + Assists: 17 (UNC), 8 (Miami) + UNC Free Throws: 18-20 (90%) + Tyler Free Throws: 13-14 (93%) - UNC Field Goals: 22-55 (40%)
UNC 64, Virginia Tech 61
Despite 25 turnovers and lackluster play from Reyshawn Terry and Quentin Thomas, UNC was able to pull out a tough one in Blacksburg. Tyler Hansbrough continued his solid play scoring a game high 20 points while making 8-9 free throws (he has made 22 of his last 23 free throws!) David Noel was in foul trouble most of the game, but made 2-3 from beyond the arc to score 10 points. For the second straight game, UNC came out of the gates sluggish and Va Tech took advantage. The score was 9-15 at the 15 minute mark in the first half. Quentin Thomas came in and despite getting 3 straight rebounds, he made 3 straight turnovers. Byron Sanders gave us a lift, but was only 1-4 from the free throw line. UNC gained their composure and pulled it back to 20-19 around the 9 minute mark. Then David Noel received his 3rd foul and had to sit out the rest of the half. Terry had an awful first half but ended up scoring 9 points after playing a little better in the second half. Danny Green scored a three pointer at the end of the half to put UNC up 34-30. The second half was more of the same. It was back and forth all night. Coach Williams yanked the starters after the first 2 minutes in the 2nd half because of uninspired play and mental mistakes. He was quoted in the post game for saying we made 5 turnovers on simple pass and catch mistakes. At the 10 minute mark the game was tied at 48 all. Wes Miller got into the action by nailing 2 three pointers from a foot outside the NBA line. It was crazy. At the 4 minute mark, we were only up 1 point, 57-56. We had a little cushion with 1:20 left in the game with a 2 point lead and the ball. We ended the game with a lot of poise. Hansbrough made a big basket down low, we got 2 offensive rebounds, and Hansbrough nailed 2 clutch free throws. It wasn't pretty, but I'll take a win on the road in the ACC any day. Other key stats: - Free Throws: 13-20 (65%) - Field Goals: 22-46 (47%) + 3 pointers: 7-15 (47%) + Rebounds: 39 (UNC), 26 (VaTech) - Quentin Thomas turnovers: 7 + Bobby Frasor assists: 6 - Steals: 4 (UNC), 13 (VaTech)
Coach Williams in position
During the State game, Coach Williams yelled at the team a few times for not getting low enough on defense. The cameras caught him at least twice screaming at the team while demonstrating good defensive posture. It was actually pretty funny... 
UNC 82, NCSU 69
It was back and forth most of the game until we pulled it out in the final minute on the strength of our…get this…free throw shooting! Carolina shot an amazing 93% (23-26) from the free throw line including 14-14 from Mr. Hansbrough. Even with Tyler's great game, my game ball goes to Bobby Frasor who scored a career high 17 points on 6-9 shooting and made 4 assists. 12th ranked State started off on an 11-0 run over the first 4.5 minutes. It didn't look like it was going to be a good day for Carolina blue. But we roared back starting with a Ginyard 3 pointer and a Noel windmill dunk to take a 13-11 lead with 13 minutes to go in the first half. NC State ran the floor very well and looked extremely athletic. After their run to start the game, UNC did a much better job defensively. Two players I haven't talked about much recently stepped up big time in the first half. Bryon Sanders played with intensity and gave us some quality minutes. He had a great dunk off a give and go with Noel. Quentin Thomas also played very well in the first half. He's looked much sharper of late tallying 11 assists and only 2 turnovers in the last 2 games. UNC faltered in the closing minutes of the first half and let State's Tony Bethel score a couple of 3 pointers. The score at the half was UNC 36, NCSU 39. Quentin Thomas played well enough in the first half to earn a starting spot in place in of Frasor to begin the second half. With 14 minutes to go in the game, State's talented sophomore big man Cedric Simmons was called for his 4th foul which sent him to the bench (bringing a smile to my face). We crawled back to go up 48-45 with 13:38 to go. Two minutes later we were up 54-48 after going on a run highlighted by some big baskets by Bobby Frasor and key free throws by Hansbrough. We were only up by 4 with 2 minutes to go, but then on the back of our great free throw shooting were able to push it out to an 8 point lead with 1:20 to go. Frasor made a long outlet pass to Noel for an uncontested monster dunk to seal the victory. When it was all said and done, UNC went on a 13-0 run over the final 2:15. Whatever Coach said to Frasor at the half apparently worked because I was about ready to call for Quentin to replace Bobby as a starter. But after his second half performance, Bobby showed that he can not only be a good floor general, but score when needed. What can you say about Hansbrough's performance except I'm glad he is on our team. He may not be the biggest player on the floor, but he has a determination to go after the ball and has solid fundamentals. Reyshawn Terry wasn't very active in the first half, but ended up shooting 8-8 from the free throw line and 2-3 from the floor for 13 points. I'd like to see a little more aggression on his part on the offensive side of the ball. David Noel had another monster game including 2 highlight reel dunks. He scored 14 points and made a couple of big 3s (he went 2-4 from 3) not to mention leading the game in assists with 6. Other key stats: + Danny Green had a game high 7 rebounds in only 13 minutes of play + 3pt FG: 6-13, 46% (UNC), 8-20, 40% (NCSU) + Rebounds: 34 (UNC), 26 (NCSU) - Turnovers: 18 (UNC), 15 (NCSU)
UNC 82, Davidson 58
I was traveling on business this week so I missed my first (and hopefully only) Carolina game of the year. Just looking at the box score would lead me to believe it was a very solid game by the Tar Heels, but Coach Williams wasn't very happy with the performance (but is he ever?). A couple of stats that jump out include Hansbrough scoring a career high 23 points on 7-13 shooting and 10 rebounds and 7 assists by Noel (although he did have 7 turnovers). It looks like Reyshawn Terry played better shooting 5-7 from the floor and scoring 16 points. Quentin Thomas had 6 assists and NO turnovers. He has been playing much better of late. Coach Williams was disappointed by the mental mistakes. We've done pretty well this year in that area considering how many "youngsters" are on the team. NC State will show just how prepared we are for the long ACC season.
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