Another blowout win for the Tar Heels. What can you say? We continue to dominate our opponents, but don't look extremely good doing it. Sure, we won by 22, how can I complain? In fact, we played really well in most aspects of the game except we gave too many open shots which Rutgers sank. Roy said after the game that it is not unreasonable that with a gambling, pressing defense that we play that other teams will get open shots. But he said "I'm greedy enough to think we can do both" (ie, press/gamble AND not give the team open looks). Rutgers shot 47% from the floor which is up from the 40% average our opponents have had in prior games.
The usual suspects played well again. Ty Lawson is definitely the best point guard in the nation (6 assists and ZERO turnovers). Tyler Hansbrough scored 26 and grabbed 10 rebounds (the only double-double of the game). Danny Green shot 72% from the floor for 18 points.
Deon Thompson wasn't quite as sharp this game. He scored 10 points on 3-8 shooting. Wayne Ellington continues to struggle. He went 2-7 from the floor (0-2 from 3) for 9 points. If we have a "go-to" shooter right now, it has to be Danny Green.
This game also marked the return of fan-favorite Marcus Ginyard! Marcus received a very warm welcome when he first entered the game. It will be interesting to see if he makes it back in the starting lineup. At this point, I'd sit Wayne if anyone in favor of Marcus. He only played 11 minutes, but tallied 4 rebounds (3 offensive), 2 assists and 2 steals. He's as intelligent a player as you'll find in college basketball.
A week from Sunday we open ACC conference play against BC. But before that we play Nevada on Wednesday. They are 7-5 right now so hopefully they'll give us a decent game.
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.
Tyler will break the ACC Scoring Record
We all know Tyler Hansbrough broke the UNC scoring record last night. Huge accomplishment for sure. An even bigger accomplishment would be to set the scoring record among all ACC players. Duke's much maligned JJ Redick currently holds the record with 2,796 points. Tyler currently has 2,302 points. So instead of waffling like the TV commentators have been doing about this record, I'll go out on a limb (not a very long limb) and say Tyler WILL BREAK THE ACC SCORING RECORD. As of now, he needs 494 points.
Why am I so confident? The numbers speak for themselves. UNC has 20 regular season games left to play. With the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, UNC could play another 9 games for a total of 29 remaining games. Here is what Tyler needs to average to break the record.
Worst case scenario is UNC loses the first round of both ACC Tourney and NCAA Tourney. That means UNC plays 22 more games, so Tyler would need to average 22.45 points per game from here on out.
Best case scenario is UNC gets to the ACC Tourney Championship and NCAA Tourney Championship. That means UNC plays 29 more games and Tyler needs to average 17.0 points per game.
Conservative case (actually this would be a disaster) is UNC plays 2 games in the ACC Tourney (ie, loses 2nd round) and 3 games in the NCAA Tourney (loses in the Sweet 16). That's 25 remaining games and Tyler would need to average 19.76 points.
Likely case is UNC plays 3 games in the ACC Tourney (makes the final) and at least 5 games in the NCAA Tourney (makes it to the Final Four like last year). That's 28 games and Tyler would need 17.6 PPG.
If Tyler maintains the same scoring average he had last year (22.6 PPG), he'll break the record regardless of the scenario. If the "likely" scenario happens, Tyler could score below his Freshman and Sophomore levels and still break the record.
Of course, this assume Tyler plays all remaining games. The big unknown in all of this is if Tyler has to sit due to injury. If that happens, all bets are off.
Posted by Robbie Allen @ 12/19/2008 06:39:00 AM 7 comments
Evansville 73, UNC 91
This game had a distinct intermission, but it wasn't the usual one you expect at a game. No, it wasn't halftime, but after the record breaking bucket Tyler Hansbrough made in the first half to surpass Phil Ford as the leading scorer in UNC history. Up to that point, we didn't look very good. In fact, Evansville kept the game close. We couldn't make shots from outside and some of our big men (notably Deon Thompson) was having a hard time down low. After Tyler broke the record and there was a brief pause to o
After the little ceremony, it seemed like a collective weight had been lifted off the players and they finally started playing some decent ball. Not great mind you, but much better than pre-record. Speaking of milestones, Danny Green surpassed 1,000 points in his career during the game as well!
You can see from the Game Flow that the game was out of reach with almost 9 minutes to go in the second half:
I thought Danny Green, Ty Lawson and Will Graves had decent nights while Deon and Wayne Ellington struggled. Deon did better as the second half wore on.
Evansville was a scrappy bunch, but we beat them pretty easily in the Four Factors:
Oral Roberts 84, UNC 100
Oral Roberts was never in striking range of UNC, but they also never collapsed. In fact, they scored more points than us in the second half (54 vs 46), but that includes UNC's subs in for the last couple minutes of the game. Overall we looked pretty good especially considering we hadn't played in 10 days.
Hansbrough scored 26 and will undoubtedly break Phil Ford's career scoring record when UNC plays Evansville on Thursday. The game was so lopsided that the commentators spent a lot of air time debating whether ol Roy would leave Tyler in so he could break the record against Oral Roberts. Smart money was "no" because Phil Ford wasn't in attendance, but plans to be against Evansville. Ahh, the kind of things one has to worry about when you are the prohibitive favorite from day 1 to win the National Championship.
While both Tyler and Ty Lawson played very well, my game ball goes to Deon Thompson. Deon scored 22 points after going 10-12 from the floor! I've heard it discussed during several games now, and I tend to agree that Deon should be in consideration for most improved player in the nation. He's playing like an all-star. If Tyler is the #1 post player in the ACC, who is #2? Deon has to be in the running. His has a flow to his game that is enjoyable to watch. He takes shots sometimes I question (mainly the turnaround shots), but he's shooting at such a high percentage, it is hard to argue.
On the injury front, both Marcus Ginyard and Mike Copeland suited up for this game, but did not play. Reportedly, Marcus will start to get some playing time soon, but Copeland is still a few weeks off.
Danny Green banged heads with a Golden Eagle and required 5 stitches to close the wound. I bet that hurt the next day. Tyler ran into the scorers table and got a gash in his leg which required 2 stitches.
If we can just make it to the end of the season with at least 5 players we might have a chance!!
ACC/Big Ten Challenge not much of a Challenge
UNC's win last night secured ACC's 10th win (out of 10 seasons) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. If you look at the conference head-to-head records, you can see ACC has consistently dominated with a few exceptions since 1980. Check it out: http://statsheet.com/mcb/conferences/acc/h2h?conf=big-tenPosted by Robbie Allen @ 12/04/2008 07:46:00 AM 5 comments
UNC 98, Michigan State 63
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo summed things up nicely when he said, "You didn't see our real team tonight, but our real team might have lost by 20. They're definitely one of the best teams I've seen in my 25 years at Michigan State."
My biggest concern coming into the season and even through the first 3 games of the season was that the Tar Heels this year would be an identical team to last year's team. And while we went 36-3, we didn't quite have the moxy it took to go to the championship. I can say after watching the last 4 games that this isn't last year's team. We are better at every position and every player is better. From Ty Lawson to Deon Thompson, each player is more mature, experienced and well better. And this game showed it in spades as we beat the #12 team in the country by 35 points.
Ty Lawson continued his All-American level play with 17 points, 2-3 from three (including a couple from really deep), 8 assists, 7 steals and ZERO turnovers. I've always thought Ty should be considered the top point guard in the country. Finally tonight even Dickie V was saying that.
Tyler Hansbrough didn't disappoint either. He scored a game high 25 points including going 13-13 from the free throw line! He had the only double-double of the game after getting 11 rebounds too.
Danny Green, Will Graves, Deon Thompson and Ed Davis also had nice games.
Things sure are looking good for the Heels right now, but I'll remind everyone that no matter how well we play now it doesn't guarantee a championship. The NCAA Tournament history is littered with "can't be beat teams" that didn't win the final game. So lets not crown our favorite team just yet. Let's just enjoy these blowouts!
