After playing us close for most of the first half, we pulled away from Nevada in the closing minutes and it wasn't close after that. Ty Lawson put on a clinic during the game. See the YouTube video (thanks for the link Jeff) of Lawson single handedly taking over the game.
This was our second "good" win in a row, but it came at a cost. Bobby Frasor tore his left anterior cruciate ligament after making a steal. Bobby went to the floor in obvious pain and it looked serious. He walked off the court with a limp. Your heart has to go out to Bobby. He missed several games last year due to a foot injury. He decided not to go for a medical redshirt because he was able to come back--this year I hope it will still be an option. Bobby was having a pretty goood game going 2-3 from the floor and getting 2 steals.
Lawson finished the game with 16 points, 10 assists, 5 steals and 6 rebounds. I know a lot of people are talking about Derek Rose and DJ Augustin this year as the top point guards, but Ty has to be the best pure point guard in the country. He runs his team unlike any other PG I've seen this year (and I've seen both Augustin and Rose play).
Hansbrough had his usual kind of game: 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 charges (by my count). Danny Green started in place of Wayne Ellington because Wayne was snowed in at home in PA and missed a practice. Maybe he should come off the bench more often because he broke out of his recent shooting slump by going 8-12 from the field and 5-8 from 3 point land. Deon Thompson played pretty well for the second game in a row. I just wish he was getting to the free throw line more so he can work on that part of his game.
Overall I was very happy with our performance. The last two games have shown me that we have the talent (even when our outside shooting is poor) to beat anyone in the country. It will come to our intensity and desire to win.
UNC 105, UCSB 70
To address William's comment about whether I'm happier today than a few days ago: in some ways yes and in some ways no. We blew out UCSB in convincing fashion. This was a good blowout as opposed to a bad blowout like we've seen earlier in the year. Obviously the two hard practices Roy put the team through had an effect. Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard all had outstanding games.
Marcus scored a career high 17 points and had his best offensive game since he's been at Carolina. I was thoroughly impressed by his aggressiveness (which he's had most of the season), but he sank most of his shots this time around (going 8-10 from the floor).
Ty also put up some nice numbers (15 pts, 6 assists, 4 steals). He's as dominant a point guard as you'll find at the college level. He dribbles through double teams, drives at will, and runs the floor with the pace Roy wants. You rarely see Coach Williams telling the team to push the ball faster when Ty is in the game.
Tyler didn't get his sixth double-double, but he had 21 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals, which isn't shabby. He got a steal at half court and proceeded to do a 360 dunk! It was awesome.
Overall I was very happy with our intensity and defensive pressure. But we still have a couple of warts. Our outside shooting was pretty bad. We didn't hit a 3 pointer until 12 minutes left to go in the game. We finished 3-16 from behind the arc. Wayne went 6-13 from the field, which doesn't sound bad, but many of the makes were layups and many of the misses were from outside (including 0-4 from 3). Outside shooting isn't an issue as long as we can control the pace, but against teams that slow it down successfully, we could have some problems.
Another glaring problem yesterday was Deon's free throw shooting (1-6). His form doesn't look bad, which makes me think it is in his head now. He wasn't even close on most of his attempts. Roy said that Danny Green would be a starter, but we need a second big man when it gets to be tourney time. We need Deon to be there at the end of games, so he has to improve his free throw shooting.
UNC 88, Nicholls State 78
Yes, we recorded our 10th win last night. Yes, the last three times UNC has started 10-0 we went to the final four. Yes, we are ranked #1 in the nation. Despite all that, we just don't look very good right now. I thought we started playing a little bit better over the last two games, but last night was a step backward. Talent-wise, we should have beaten Nicholls State by at least 20, if not more, especially at home. We should have easily scored 100 points. But we didn't. A lot of credit goes to Nicholls State. They made 14-28 three pointers! That's an extremely high percentage for that many attempts. They spread the floor and passed it around until they got an open look. For the season they average a scant above 32% from beyond the arc.
Was our defense just that bad or was Nicholls St having a really good night? A bit of both. The outcome of the game was never really in question and we led by 20 at times. We denied the ball extremely well at certain points and Nicholls State had a hard time passing the ball around. Then again at other times we look uninterested and they drained threes on us.
We lack the killer instinct that we're going to need to go all the way this year. And our shooting is still inconsistent. Wayne Ellington was 7-17 last night. Sure, he scored 20 points, but missed a lot of open shots.
Ty Lawson and Danny Green had decent nights, but not outstanding. Marcus Ginyard missed a couple of shots that looked like airballs on TV. One of his free throws barely nicked the front of the rim. Maybe these guys have Christmas on their minds (although from the post-game interviews it sounds like they are just as worried about their poor play).
Tyler had his fifth straight double-double. He scored 27 and grabbed 11 rebounds. Nice job.
At this point I'd trade our next 4 "gimmes" for 1 top 25 team. Since Kentucky and Ohio State are down this year, BYU was our last win against a quality opponent (almost a month ago). I'm concerned the ACC season is going to hit us like a ton of bricks from a competition perspective.
Enough already about Danny Green's dad
Jeff commented on my UNC-Rutger's post about the game commentators discussing Danny Green's father's situation:
Was it just me, or did anyone else find the commentary from the announcers regarding Danny Green's father's situation annoying?
I think that it is a private matter for the Green family and really doesn't belong among sportscasters and color commentary. I wish the best for Danny and his family, but I really don't think he would want sportscasters speculating about his father's future, or airing out his problems and past mistakes on ESPN.
Dunno - I was just kind of miffed by the whole exchange...
I couldn't agree more. I've heard the story mentioned during at least 3 games this year (maybe it has been called out even more.) I felt the way it was mentioned in the Rutger's game was rather slimy. Do they really need to air the Green family dirty laundry like that? What if someone dug into the announcers' past and found a juicy little nugget and decided to mention it during every game they called? There is just no point in it other than sensationalism.
This brings up the larger annoyance that I raise every year: game commentators repeat the exact same storylines game after game after game. For someone like myself that watches every game, it gets tiresome. Commentators must share the same cue cards for teams. This year you'll hear frequently about Roy in the Hall of Fame (not a bad thing mind you), Danny Green's dad, the Georgetown game last year, playing Duke, etc.
Posted by Robbie Allen @ 12/19/2007 04:17:00 PM 4 comments
It may make some of you happy to know that he won't call any games for the rest of December and January, but will likely return in February.
I have mixed feelings about Dickie V calling games. I love his passion for the game, but the repetitive comments game after game and love affair with Coach K make him annoying at times. Regardless, I hope he has a speedy recovery!
Posted by Robbie Allen @ 12/18/2007 07:24:00 PM 2 comments
Comment moderation is turned on for a reason
In the last couple of weeks I've started to get negative anonymous comments on this blog. I've had comment moderation enabled for some time, so I'm not sure why someone will spew a bunch of garbage and think it will end up on this site.
Today is another example. "Anonymous" decided to go on a little rant about how it was actually Hansbrough's fault that he got run over last night. And yes, I've seen the clip many times. The Rutger's guy didn't know where the basket was, he had to make a move horizontal to the baseline just to get back to the basket and he ended up missing the shot anyway. He was out of control.
Posted by Robbie Allen @ 12/17/2007 06:45:00 PM 0 comments
UNC got another easy victory on the road. This concludes the streak of six straight road games. Next up is Nicholls State on Wednesday at the Dean Dome.
The first half may have been our best half of the year. We had only 4 turnovers and went into the locker room with a 21 point lead. Ty Lawson was surperb. In the first half alone he had 2 three pointers, 5 steals and 8 fast break points (by my count) and totaled 19 points. He ended the game with a career high 26 points.
Tyler recorded his fourth straight double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He's forcing it a little down low, which accounts for his 6-15 shooting from the floor. His free throw shooting seems to be back on track (he was 8-8 from the line).
Tyler had to leave the game early after he got run over trying to take a charge. He took a scary tumble head first into the goal post. He laid on the floor for several minutes and eventually walked back to the locker room. Crazy enough, the refs didn't call a foul. This shows the kind of abuse Hansbrough takes without always getting a foul called (despite what many anti-Carolina fans claim). I liked this line from Coach Williams after the game:
"First time in the history of college basketball a guy got a concussion with no foul called and that better be all I say," he said, laughing.
Wayne Ellington continues to struggle a bit. He was 5-17 from the field.
Besides Ty, Danny Green was our best offensive threat from outside. He shot 5-7 from the floor and 2-3 from beyond the arc. He scored 12 points and would likely have had a lot more, but had to miss much of the first half due to a cut above his eye.
I liked how we looked in this game. I'm anxious for conference play to begin so we can get a real test of our abilities and chemistry. (First conf game is against Clemson)
UNC 106, Penn 71
I know, I'm late in posting my game review, but it wasn't much of a game. We kicked their butt. Tyler scored 29 (and got another double-double). Deon also got a double-double (12pts/10rebs). Danny Green had another good game (should he be starting?). Wayne Ellington was in front of his home crowd, but slumped going 5-14 from the field. Ty didn't have the best game: 4 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls.
There have been some comments that UNC has played a soft schedule so far, but we've played 5 in a row on the road against the likes of Ohio State, Kentucky and BYU (not to mention Davidson earlier). What top 25 school has played better teams (especially on the road)? Davidson has had the toughest schedule I've seen playing Duke and UCLA on the road and UNC on a neutral court. But then again, they aren't in the top 25
UNC won another game in similar fashion to the previous six. We had moments where we looked unstoppable followed by long droughts where we couldn't hit the side of a barn. We started the game going 2-3 from the field and then followed it up by going 1-11. We closed the half by going 7-10. Danny Green provided a much needed spark toward the end of the first half by scoring 8 straight points. Danny had another solid performance going 8-11 from the field and scoring a team high (and career high) 20 points.
For a third straight year, Kentucky kept Tyler in check for much of the game although he did tally a double-double (going 10-12 from the free throw line). The refs were inconsistent again. They called a bunch of touch fouls, but Tyler got mugged on several occasions with no call. He could have gone to the line twice as much. Kentucky Coach Gillispie suggested that Hansbrough wasn't the innocent victim on all those fouls: "I think sometimes the offensive player may initiate more contact than the casual fan may think," Gillispie said. And Kentucky's freshman standout Patrick Patterson had this to say: "Coach wanted a nasty game instead of a pretty game," Patterson said.
It sucks to be Tyler sometimes. Teams are going to come out with a specific game plan to hack and whack him and then suggest that he's the one initiating the fouls.
Wayne had an off day (especially in the first half) but ended with a quiet 18 points on 6-16 shooting. He made a couple of nice shots in the second half.
Before the game, reports indicated that Ty Lawson would not play. Fortunately for us, those reports were wrong. Ty did a good job scoring 10 points and collecting 6 assists. He didn't show any ill effects from his sprained ankle.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Bobby Frasor. Bobby has struggled this year from behind the arc, but came out of his slump with a vengeance against UK by going 3-4 for 9 points. He even pulled up on a fast break and nailed a 3. I loved it!
While we are off to our best start since 1998-1999, I'm only marginally satisfied. I know it is early, but after watching UCLA (and Duke though it is painful to admit it) earlier, I'm not sure we are as explosive as those teams. We are still showing the same kind of inconsistency we had last year. We don't seem to have the killer instinct either. We should have blown out Kentucky (Gardner-Webb beat them by 16 at Kentucky).
Crap, Lawson unlikely for UK game
Looks like he's going to be out another game. According to Coach Williams, he's very skeptical Ty will play. Should make for another interesting game!
Posted by Robbie Allen @ 12/01/2007 07:07:00 AM
