UNC 89, Wake Forest 73
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowThis game resembled the last several. No Lawson. Hansbrough dominating. Quentin doing an admirable job at the point. High number of turnovers. Most everyone playing well. Wake kept it close in the first half, but we took over in the second. And when I say Hansbrough was dominating, he racked up 29 points. He's averaging an amazing 28 points and 12 rebounds since Ty went down in the FSU game. Wayne Ellington also had another nice night scoring 17 on 5-11 shooting. We had an all around good night from outside (Danny Green scored 15 on 4-7 shooting and Will Graves scored 6 points in 6 minutes). Our two point guards (Quentin and Marcus) were a little sloppy at times tallying 9 turnovers between them. I thought Marcus had an off night. He had 6 turnovers (a couple that were costly) and 3 fouls. Wake is a good young team, but I'm still surprised they beat Duke. The ACC has had a bit of an off year from a Top 25 teams perspective (although the ACC is still #1 in the RPI), but I imagine that will change next year as teams like Duke, Wake, (and fingers crossed) UNC lose very few players to the draft. We get a week off before we meet Boston College on Saturday. Let's hope Ty will be in good enough shape to play. He's got to get back in the lineup soon or he may not be effective come tournament time. Riding a bike doesn't keep your conditioning up quite like playing in games.
UNC 84, NC State 70
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowWe have been hitting on all cylinders over the past two games. It took a few games to adjust without Ty Lawson, but Quentin has come into his own and Tyler is playing unlike anyone else in the country. The first half of the State game wasn't a great performance by our Heels, but the second half was a different story. We took a 3 point lead going into the half and padded it to 18 with 14 minutes to go. State made a couple of runs, but eventually just gave up. I've never seen a team play like State. Both times we've played them this year, it is clear that they just give up after the game got out of reach. Marcus Ginyard had two wide open dunks due to State not bothering to try and stop him. State is full of talent, but their chemistry is obviously an issue. That has to be maddening to State fans. Tyler Hansbrough was again unstoppable. Despite double and triple teams, Tyler got his 5th career 30+ point game. He scored 32, grabbed 12 rebounds and (perhaps most impressive of all) had 5 steals. Wayne Ellington also had a big night. He scored 21 points on 8-13 shooting. Very impressive. Quentin continued his solid play with 7 assists and 2 turnovers. He has the occasional lapse, but believe me, it could be much worse. Q is getting comfortable on the court and that will only help us during March Madness. Not sure what was up with Alex Stephenson, but he had bad night: 4 fouls, 1 turnover, 2 points, and 1 missed dunk. The latest rumor is Ty will be available for the Wake game on Sunday. The way Wake has been playing lately, we are going to need him! Plus, we need to get him reacclimated so he's ready for the Duke game.
Thank you Miami
Now that Duke has lost 2 in a row, we are tied atop the ACC standings. We are in control of our own destiny in terms of winning the regular season crown. First we have to get passed a hot Wake Forest team on Sunday!
Williams vs K
Monday evening I tuned in to Roy Williams Live!, Roy's weekly radio show, which also airs on TV. I caught the tail end of Roy talking about how some unspecified person should "coach their own damn team, I'll coach my team." Wow. I didn't know who he was talking about, but turns out he was talking about Coach K. Here is the story.
Thank you Wake Forest
On several occasions this year Duke has trailed at the end of the first half, but came back to blowout their opponent in the second half. Their luck ran out against Wake tonight. Duke was trailing by 5 going into the half and despite getting all of that back and then some, Wake was able to hold out and beat the Dookies. This puts us right back into contention for the regular season ACC crown (and a first seed in the NCAA Tourney). It is imperative that we win out and beat Duke at Cameron. Come on Ty, rub a little dirt on that ankle!!
UNC 92, Virginia Tech 53
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowThis was as lopsided of a game as you'll find in the ACC. We outscored VaTech by 20 points in the first half and by 19 in the second half. Our boys looked much fresher this game than the last few. Having a few days in between games really helps. We played 3 in 6 days. We average 4.2 days between games to finish up the regular season. And we need it considering all of our ongoing injuries! Ty didn't play again, but Deon and Danny did despite rumors that they may not. Deon started, but only played 9 minutes. Fortunately we didn't really need him. In fact, the whole team got a break. The most minutes played was by Tyler at 29. Speaking of Tyler, he continued to impress with another All-America caliber performance scoring 23 points. At this point in the season he is without doubt the leading candidate for ACC Player of the Year (is it even close?) and is, in my opinion, in the front position for National Player of the Year. A lot of people will say Michael Beasley of K-State is neck in neck with him, but I'd give the edge to Tyler. As the season winds down I'll provide a stat breakdown to prove my case. Back to the game...Wayne Ellington had an excellent game shooting going 7-9 from the field including 3-4 from deep for 19 points. Quentin Thomas continued his solid play with 7 assists and 6 rebounds on only 3 turnovers. We still had 19 turnovers which is a touch high and we played erratic at times, but what's new right? Alex Stephenson had a heck of a game grabbing a game high 9 rebounds and scoring 11 points. But does he need to work on his free throws or what?? Not pretty. But he is coming along on the offensive end. He also had 2 blocks. Will Graves got to see more PT than usual and made the best of it. He scored 10 points in just 10 minutes of action. With his size, he's potential is off the charts. Next up is a rematch against NC State. The Wolfpack will dry to avenge their 31 point thumbing at the Dean Dome last month. After winning two in a row, NC State has lost their last 3. I'm predicting a much closer game this time around for us.
UNC 75, Virginia 74
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowNothing comes easy this year as we squeaked out another win on the road. This time it was against the ailing Virginia Cavaliers who have lost 10 of their last 11. UNC was able to keep a lead for most of the game, but UVA was always in it. Tyler Hansbrough continued to carry the team on his back by scoring 23 points. Even though most of his points came in the first half, he had a crucial "Hansbrough hook shot" with 20 seconds left to go in the game to give us a 4 point lead. This was our 3rd full game without Ty Lawson, but really more like our 4th since he missed most of the FSU game. All you have to do is look at our turnovers since then to see his impact. In the last 4 games we have 21, 20, 20, and 17 turnovers. Quentin played well, but it is just not the same without Ty who has a calming effect over the whole team. He's able to start the offense just a little better and faster, which leads his teammates to make better passes, etc. With Ty, we are potentially a top 5 team. Without him I think we would be lucky to be in the top 25. It goes without saying that we were playing banged up and hurt last night. Tyler missed practice on Monday. Ginyard was questionable again due to an ankle issue. During the game our short bench became an even bigger issue as Quentin got in early foul trouble and only played 20 minutes. Deon Thompson got hurt 5 minutes into the game and hobbled around until the end. But that just shows you the kind of heart (which I've questioned before) that this team has developed. Deon was obviously playing hurt, but he was huge on the offensive end scoring 12 points on several nice low post moves. Wayne and Danny had a nice night. Wayne scored 19 on 7-15 shooting and Danny scored 9 on 4-6 shooting. This was an all around good team effort. One thing I wasn't so happy about in this game was the officiating. They let Virginia's pair of thugs Mikalauskas and Pettinella run rough and ragged all night. The cameras caught Pettinutella and MikeyMousekas shove or elbow Hansbrough without a foul call on several occasions. This was our opponent's lowest foul total in 6 games. It was obvious that they didn't want to call the typical fouls for Hansbrough. Maybe they were playing by the 'no blood, no foul' rule. I'd hate to be a UVA fan and have to see MikeyMousekas pumping his fist after all 2 of his baskets. That guy was definitely picked on during high school. Heck, people may still pick on him now. Fortunately we have a few days off before we meet up with the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Dean Dome Saturday. This is the most banged up I can remember a Tar Heel team being in many years.
UNC 103, Clemson 93
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowWhat a game! After an uninspired first half, the Tar Heels came roaring back to cut an 11 point deficit to 0 in the final minutes of the second half. I thought for sure we had lost this one after the consecutive layups Clemson was able to score by simply penetrating to the basket. Our defense, especially in the first half was weak. We couldn't get into a rhythm on offense (again). But despite being down 15 in the second half, we showed a lot of character to get the game into overtime, not once but twice, before securing the win at home (I don't think I could have swallowed another home loss). That means Carolina extended its home win streak against Clemson to 53-0! This was the second straight game Ty Lawson sat out due to an injured ankle. It goes without saying that we would have done better with him in the game, but Quentin Thomas didn't do a bad job. In fact I'd call it a solid performance with 9 assists and 5 turnovers. He made a clutch layup with 20 seconds left in the second half to tie the game, and he later nailed two critical free throws. The big performance of this game goes to Tyler Hansbrough (surprise). He scored 39 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in 47 minutes. He's picking up the slack while Ty is out. Both Danny Green and Wayne Ellington bounced back from their disappointing performances against Duke to go a combined 14-34 from the floor including 7-14 from three point range. Danny made two huge 3s in the final two minutes of regulation. The first matchup between these teams went to overtime with the score tied 81-81. This time the score was tied at 82 all before the first overtime. While Clemson hung tough during the first OT, foul trouble and fatigue got the better of them. UNC was 31-36 from the line while Clemson was a measly 1-7! They wanted to play rough and foul trouble was the result. We nailed so many free throws as the clock wound down, it was the difference in the game. Next up is Virginia on Tuesday. Our guys are tired for sure. Hansbrough was quoted after the game saying he was drained. He played all but 3 minutes of a 2OT game so he should be! Wayne played the same amount. After saying this was one of his proudest moments as a coach, I imagine Roy will take it easy on them today at practice.
UNC 78, Duke 89
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowWe played very well for the first 7 minutes of the game, but after that Duke got hot from 3 point range and never trailed again. Tyler Hansbrough played his butt off. He is the only reason the game was close. There was much talk about Quentin starting in place of the injured Ty Lawson, but Q played well. I was impressed. He looked like a different player than the one that played so poorly against Clemson. Don't get me wrong, he's no Ty. He did have 6 turnovers and he doesn't run the offense nearly as well, but I think he played to the best of his ability and didn't negatively impact us as much as in the past. I hate to pin a loss on one or two people, but Wayne Ellington and Danny Green were no ops for us on the floor. When your "sharp" shooters are shooting so poorly, it will be hard to beat the #2 team in the country. Wayne and Danny really let the team down. Tyler stepped up. Deon stepped up. Marcus stepped up. Quentin stepped up. Wayne and Danny did not. We scored at will inside and even did a decent job of penetrating. Our outside shooting was non-existent. I know Wayne had a couple go in and out of the hoop, but it has always been like that with him. At what point does that sweet stroke and "almost in" shots start going in consistently? Let's hope we are at full strength when we travel to Cameron in a few weeks. And lets hope Wayne and/or Danny are having a good day.
Blogger Showdown: Duke vs UNC
I was approached last week by MSNBC to participate in an interview about the upcoming Duke/UNC game. A moderator asked me and Duke Blogger JD King various questions. Below is the result. They didn't include most of my jabs at Duke which is unfortunate. This was done before the FSU game and if you listen you'll hear me talk about the importance of Ty Lawson. Based on everything I've been reading, Ty is highly doubtful for the Duke game, and many rumor boards are suggesting he'll be out 2 weeks. Can we win without Ty? Of course, but our guards are going to have to play their best games of the year ON BOTH ENDS.
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.
UNC 91, BC 69
Boxscore | Recap | Game FlowWhat a great win for UNC. Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the game. I was on a business trip on the west coast. But I checked out StatSheet.com to break the game down statistically. The game flow shows that the game was over by the end of the first half. This is perhaps one of the most balanced games we've played this year with 5 players scoring in double figures and no one scoring above 19. The biggest stat of the game is Ty Lawson's 10 assists and 0 turnovers. In his last two games he's tallied 20 assists and 1 turnover. Alex Stephenson also had a career high night leading the team with 11 rebounds. Next up is FSU on Super Sunday. The game doesn't conflict with the Super Bowl, but even if it did my set would be on the Heels!
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