North Carolina (UNC) Basketball Update Blog

Anyone seen Dook?

2009-04-07T15:06:00.009-04:00

Makhtar N'Diaye having a little fun at the NCAA Tournament game with his buddies Vince Carter, Julius Peppers and Antawn Jamison:

Photo by Zeke Smith. Great job Zeke!

Timelapse: Franklin Street after the victory

2009-04-07T15:06:00.005-04:00

Timelapse: Franklin Street after the victory from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

Michigan State 72, UNC 89

2009-04-07T14:41:00.004-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

Vindication! After starting the season with such lofty expectations, the boys in blue were vindicated with a dominating performance in the National Championship game against Michigan State. Where do I begin? The first half was by far our BEST half of the season, and there couldn't have been a better time for it. No other school in country could have stayed with us in the first half. It was a thing of beauty. We set NCAA tourney records for most points in the first half and largest halftime lead.

The usual suspects played really well. Heck, the whole team contributed at a high level. Wayne Ellington (Finals MVP), Ty Lawson (set the NCAA Championship record for steals in a game), and Tyler Hansbrough (in the top 4 all time scorers in NCAA Tourney history) all had really good games. They all complimented each other so nicely. Deon Thompson came out on fire in the first half. Danny Green was playing through a strained muscle in his stomach and had some nice plays.

MSU was just outmatched (for the second time this season against us). Everyone liked to say how MSU was on a mission. They were trying to save the state of Michigan (or something like that). UNC was the team on a mission. No one on the team forgot the stinging loss to Kansas last year. That's why were won by double digits in each game in the tournament!

I couldn't be happier. Especially to see one of the greatest players in UNC history, Mr. Hansbrough, go out with a national championship in his last game. What a fitting end to a historic career.

I don't like seasons where UNC is preseason #1. There is only one way to go. Well not quite. There are two ways to go. Down or sideways (ie, win the national championship). It is so difficult to make it through the whole season and pull off 6 straight wins in the tourney, but our Heels did it (again)!!

The next couple of weeks will be a bit of a shock to the system as I come down off the NCAA Tournament high. To go from the National Championship game to nothing for 7 months is tough. And of course we'll have to bear through all the NBA Draft talk.

But none of that matters right now. I'm happy :-)

NCAA Basketball Stats

Villanova 69, UNC 83

2009-04-05T07:03:00.007-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

UNC continues to play its best ball of the season as we rolled over Villanova on our way to the championship game against MSU on Monday. After just a couple minutes into the game, UNC established a lead it never lost. The game got as close at 5 points at the 17 minute mark in the second half, but we had an answer every time Nova made a little spurt.

We were hitting on all cylinders with the exception of free throw shooting. Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green were knocking down their shots. When they are hitting, no one can beat us. We just need one more game. Wayne continues to be in a zone. It's a thing of beauty.

I thought the officiating was pretty bad. A bunch of little touch fouls in the first half followed by inconsistency throughout the second half. Just let the kids play! After watching Hansbrough get mauled this season I'm all for reducing hard contact, but touch fouls are a drain on a game.

Over the last few games, we've shown a great amount of poise by not letting leads slip through our fingers. Earlier in the season we'd let a 10 or 15 point lead evaporate. Recently we've done a good job of stopping our opponents' runs before they climb all the way back.

Yes, we beat MSU by 35 points back in December, but they were coming off a long road trip and didn't have their big man, Goran Suton. MSU is a different team now. They've looked very impressive in the tournament. We'll definitely need to bring our A-game on Monday!

I'm a little concerned about our legs. MSU is a deep team and while we go 9 deep (only 7 played double digit minutes on Saturday), our starters have played a lot of minutes lately. In the post-game press conference, Ty Lawson looked completely wiped out. Our free throws were off as well, which is sometimes an indication of players being tired. Let's hope they get a lot of rest on Sunday.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Oklahoma 60, UNC 72

2009-03-30T14:11:00.008-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

As many people have commented, this was an odd game for us. Ultimately, I think it showed our versatility. It was clear that OU did not want to run with us. If their goal was to minimize the number of possessions, that means they had to keep it close. After we stretched it out to beyond a 10 point lead, that was like having a 20 point lead in a faster paced game. In half-court games, each possession is that much more important than in an up-and-down game. And we showed we can flourish this way too.

Blake Griffin was as good as advertised, but we did a reasonable job keeping him under control, especially in the first half. OU's outside game was completely non-existent for about 38 minutes. That's another big reason this game never got close....OU couldn't hit the side of a barn from beyond 15 feet.

Tyler Hansbrough didn't have a great game, but fortunately we didn't need him to. Danny Green had a great game and Ty Lawson worked his usual magic.

I thought the officiating was really, really bad. Inconsistent and at times lop-sided. They called a bunch of little touch fouls that impacted the flow of the game quite a bit.

Next up is Villanova in the Final Four. Villanova is a mirror image of Duke, except better. We have an obvious size advantage. It will be interesting to see how Villanova tries to offset that. They will have a hard time matching up against us. But if they are knocking down their shots from beyond the arc, our size advantage won't help much.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Gonzaga 77, UNC 98

2009-03-28T22:00:00.002-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

Perhaps our best game of the year! 9 players scored, 4 in double figures, 6 had double digit minutes. Ty Lawson was dominate once again. Tyler Hansbrough led the team in scoring (24 points). If we play like this from here on out, we'll win the whole thing. The big question is if we can maintain this level of play and consistency in shooting. Oklahoma is going to be an extremely tough opponent. I can't wait!

LSU 70, UNC 84

2009-03-21T21:17:00.003-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

For all the people that questioned Ty Lawson's toughness, this game should put all those questions to rest. If we didn't have Ty for this game, there is a good chance we wouldn't have pulled it out. LSU came out in the second half and punched us right in the mouth. They actually took the lead after scoring on what seemed like 10 straight possessions. Then Ty decided to take the game in his own hands. He nailed a couple of threes. Had some great drives. All of this on a bum toe that continued to give him problems throughout the game. At one point he had to remove his shoe on the sidelines so the doctors could examine it. He was in obvious pain. And just when it looked like LSU might steal this one from us, Ty put us on his back and lead us to victory. He hadn't played in 2 weeks and despite a shaky first half, ended the game with 23 points, 6 assists and ZERO turnovers. There is no other point guard in America I'd rather see wearing Carolina blue.

Wayne Ellington also had a nice game scoring 23 points. His consistency lately has been critical (especially given Danny Green's slump). Our big guys played pretty well, but were far from dominant.

Next we play the winner of the Western Kentucky/Gonzaga game. I'm watching it right now and they look pretty even. I think we may have faced a tougher opponent tonight than the one we'll see in our next game.

Fingers crossed that Ty's toe isn't too bad!!

NCAA Basketball Stats

VT 76, UNC 79

2009-03-13T16:40:00.003-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

What a game! I'm not exactly sure how we pulled it off, but we did. I thought we looked pretty bad for much of the first half, but somehow we were able to go into the half with a 1 point lead. Ty Lawson didn't play (and may not play tomorrow either) and it altered the look of our team dramatically. Bobby Frasor played in his place, but it wasn't he same. We stopped being a transition style team. VT was eating our lunch in transition points. We had 5 turnovers during the first 10 minutes of the game.

You can tell we are depleted because Justin Watts came in at the 7 minute mark after Danny Green picked up his second foul. Justin has only played in mop-up duty this season (although I thought he did well while he was on the court). This is quite a change from what was potentially the deepest team in history at the start of the season.

The big story of this game was Tyler Hansbrough. I don't know Tyler sees the writing on the wall in terms of his Carolina career coming to a close, but he has been unstoppable the last few games. He's easily playing the best ball of the season for him right now. He scored a game high 28 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. If he had played more like that throughout the season, I think he would have gotten ACC POY instead of Ty. But Ty deserved it this year.

Bobby Frasor and Larry Drew II did decent jobs, but not great. Larry is still struggling a bit. I sure hope he blossoms by next season or we could have a tough year next year.

I've already seen a bunch of VT fans complaining about the refs, but it definitely goes both ways. The refs called a phantom foul at the end of the first half, which I believe resulted in 2 made free throws. They also called a tie ball that went against us in the first half much like the tie ball at the end of the game went for us. I think there were many questionable calls (at least 2 missed travel calls against VT), but it it went both ways.

Next up we play FSU in the semi-final game. This is going to be another tough one, especially without Ty Lawson. Let's see if we can pull off another one!

NCAA Basketball Stats

Duke 71, UNC 79

2009-03-09T07:08:00.003-04:00

Boxscore | Recap

Tyler Hansbrough, Bobby Frasor, Danny Green and the other seniors were not disappointed on their final game in the Smith Center. In fact, it was a good win all around. We had a very balanced attack with 5 players scoring in double figures.

Ty Lawson didn't show the effects of an injured big toe that made him questionable to even play. While forcing a few uncharacteristic turnovers, Ty came close to a triple double with 13 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. It was reported that Ty was hobbling pretty bad after the game. Let's hope he's able to recover over the next four days.

Tyler Hansbrough had a nice game as well. He was our best shooter from 3 point range...which is a little scary....going 2-3. Looked like a pretty good shot to me!

Duke was able to stay in it in the first half because they were knocking down shots. I really liked our defense for much of the game. There was good intensity. In the second half, Duke stopped making shots and that was the difference.

As much as I don't like the guy, I have to admit Gerald Henderson is a force now. Not sure why it's taken him 3 years to get here, but he's reaching the point I had feared he'd get to when I saw him play in high school. Let's hope he doesn't stick around for his senior season.

With this win, UNC wins the ACC regular season for a second year in a row and also secures a #1 seed in the ACC tourney. That means we'll be playing on Friday at noon. Let's see if we can pull off another ACC tourney championship too!

NCAA Basketball Stats

Georgia Tech 74, UNC 104

2009-03-01T07:34:00.005-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

On the back of Ty Lawson's career tying 11 assists (and only 2 turnovers), Tyler Hansbrough's 28 points and 11 rebounds, and Danny Green's 23 points, UNC bounced back from a disappointing loss at Maryland to defeat the Yellow Jackets by 30 at home. This was an impressive performance by the Heels. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Mr Hansbrough. This is the first game that Tyler has played like, well Tyler, in several games. He was back to his dominant Player of the Year form. But Ty Lawson also played like a potential ACC POY candidate as well. Ty didn't make one field goal the whole game, but he still dominated the game.

Tyler Hansbrough broke the NCAA record for career free throw's made. As Tyler put it after the game, that's a lot of fouls :-) GA Tech's Aminu said after the game that if you "touch him it is a foul", which I think is complete BS. All of the fouls in this game looked completely legit (and I was paying close attention). Many of the fouls were of the hard variety. Tyler gets mauled. And I just don't see him "initiating" contact as so many people claim. He's a low post player that gets good position. He's attempting to score. There is going to be contact. But when you hack Hansbrough, there is going to be a fouled called (or at least there is a chance there will be a foul called). There is plenty of proof this year that Hansbrough doesn't get all the calls. In fact, it is pretty ridiculous how many times he gets hacked without getting a call.

Next up is Virginia Tech on Wednesday night. If we beat VATech and Duke next Sunday, we win the regular season ACC crown again. If we lose either game, it will likely come down to tiebreakers.

NCAA Basketball Stats

UNC 85, Maryland 88

2009-02-21T19:39:00.004-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

Here is a summary of the lead we blew today against Maryland to lose in OT:
- 16 points at 14:13
- 8 points at 4:37
- 6 points at 1:37

NCAA Basketball Stats

Our offense was pretty anemic in the second half. Ty Lawson is the only reason we didn't lose in regulation. Wayne Ellington was non-existent for much of the game. Why can he not create shots for himself? He's supposed to be our best 3-point shooter and he can never get open. Tyler Hansbrough didn't have a great night, but he did get a double-double (11 and 11).

Who had the worst night? The refs!! They totally sucked (two games in a row). Danny's 4th foul. The last charge against Tyler where the Maryland fatty flopped (so clear from the replay). The two travels against Tyler. The NO-CALLS when Ty got mugged at the end of the game which enabled Maryland to send the game to OT. Sure, we didn't play well at the end, but I really hate to see the refs be a determining factor in the outcome of a game.

We have a week off before our next game and we need it.

NCAA Basketball Stats

NC State 80, UNC 89

2009-02-19T06:31:00.004-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

I heard on the radio before the game someone refer to playing NC State like playing Appalachian State in football. We expect to win so anything other than a W is a major disappointment. I feel the same. State has not been a program to be feared in many years. Tonight, they gave us a good run in the first half, but we were too much for them in the second.

Tyler Hansbrough played, well, like Tyler again. He's had a couple of rough games (figuratively and literally), but tonight he scored 20 points in the second half on his way to a game high 27 (in only 33 minutes). Ty Lawson was fabulous again with 9 assists and 1 turnover. He also scored 17 on 7-9 shooting. I really wish we could play Boston College and Wake Forest again now because I think Ty would play much better this time around. Tyler Zeller made his much anticipated return at the 8:30 mark in the first half. He scored 2 points, but had 4 fouls in 8 minutes. He ran the floor well...I'm sure it will just take time. Wayne Ellington and Danny Green had nice games going a combined 15 for 25 from the floor for 35 points.

As has been our MO this year, we came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. We had only 1 turnover in the second half and played better team ball. The game wasn't as close as the 9 point difference would indicate.

Coach Williams seemed a bit agitated for most of the game (mostly at the refs). The refs were pretty bad. They clearly missed a hack on Hansbrough which the replay clearly showed. They also missed an intentional foul on Hansbrough. In the post-game interview a reporter asked about us pressing and Roy dropped the f-bomb. Its all over the Internet now and people are making a huge deal out of it. I agree that Roy shouldn't get so agitated at journalists and fans (ie, his radio show) when they ask him questions, but sheesh, let's not blow this one incident out of proportion.

We continue to have a solid 2 game lead in the ACC with 4 games left in the regular season. Next up is Maryland at the Comcast Center on Saturday. Maryland has to play UNC, Duke and Wake Forest over the next 4 games. UNC gets a week off after Maryland.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Zeller likely back, Hansbrough and Lawson feeling better

2009-02-17T18:11:00.003-05:00

Good news about Tyler Zeller!
From Scout.com: Is there still a chance that Tyler Zeller plays on Wednesday?

Yes, it depends on how he goes through practice today… He would really like to help this team. He would really like to play. He thinks that it would really help him in the long term, and hopefully, he would help this team this year. So he and I discussed it yesterday and I told him that was the decision we would go with, unless he went home and slept on it and came back today and said he's changed his mind. So if he comes back today and says he changed his mind, then he won't play. If he hasn’t changed his mind, he probably will play.

Ty Lawson is still clogged up a little from his cold, but he said his throat is feeling much better.
Tyler Hansbrough sat out practice yesterday. He had a headache during the Miami game and some blurred vision. He's been taking a beating. Let's hope he's near 100% on Wednesday.

UNC 69, Miami 65

2009-02-16T07:48:00.006-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

Early on it didn't look like this game would result in UNC's lowest point total of the season. It was a frenetic pace, but largely due to Miami's zone defense, we scored 23 points below our average. No one on our team had a great offensive night with one big exception. Mr Ty Lawson came through big for us. Despite battling a cold since Thursday (Roy said at the half that Ty was "sick as a dog"), Ty managed to score a team high 21 points including going 5-8 from the three point land. Ty made a clutch three with 10 seconds left to give us a 4 point lead and secure the victory.

Miami went in with the game plan of shutting down Tyler Hansbrough and they did it for the most part. Tyler scored only 8 points on 8 shots from the field. He went to the free throw line only twice. But the no-calls are really starting to pile up. I wish I would have kept track of the number of times Tyler went flying to the floor. It is amazing to me when Tyler is 2 feet from the basket, goes up strong, gets mauled by 2 or 3 guys and there is no call. One of the replays showed it clear as day. I don't know how the refs could miss it. It seems just like last year, Tyler is starting to get fewer and fewer calls as the season progresses. I know the refs don't like calling so many fouls for Tyler, but he's going to get hurt one of these times if they continue to let other teams take pot shots at him with no whistle. I don't know how Tyler takes all of that abuse without getting upset.

The refs called a combined 20 fouls for the whole game when they normally average 36 per game. Maybe their whistles didn't work so good tonight?? How can there be such a disparity?

Back to the game....Wayne Ellington didn't shoot very well, but got a double-double on 15 points and 10 rebounds. He wore a wrap around his shooting arm stemming from an injury suffered at Duke when Lance Thomas got a little overzealous trying to take the ball away from Wayne. Thanks Lance. Danny Green didn't shoot well either going 3-13 from the field for 8 points. Deon Thompson wasn't much better scoring 9 points on 4-11 shooting.

Of course the big reason Miami was in the game was Jack McClinton. He went off, scoring 35 on 7 of 12 shooting from three point range. And it wasn't like they were open shots. He'd do a turnaround jumper from 3 and swoosh it. He was amazing tonight (good for hims since there were reportedly 15 NBA scouts in attendance). Miami's Jimmy Graham also had career highs in rebounds (15) and blocks (5). This game had all the makings of a UNC upset, but Miami didn't have enough weapons to finish the deal.

We desperately need more teams to play zone against us. It is clear we still aren't comfortable unless we are running and gunning. We need more games like this so our guys can get used to it before the post-season starts.

With Duke losing tonight, we now have a 2 game lead in the ACC with 5 games to go. Next up we have NC State on Wednesday. State didn't give us much of a game last time around, but they recently beat Wake and I bet we'll be a better team this time around.

NCAA Basketball Stats

UNC 101, Duke 87

2009-02-11T23:48:00.004-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

Oh Happy day. What a game. We started off extremely strong. Looked sharp. Then Duke took over and erased our 11 point lead. We were down 8 at half. But it wasn't enough for a UNC onslaught in the second half. We outscored the Dookies 57-35 in the second half!

The first half was strange. We came out playing really tough. Good offense and pretty good defense. Then Duke turned it up a notch and we couldn't match their intensity. They had 4 turnovers in the first 5 minutes and only 2 for the remainder of the first half. Duke went into the half scoring more points than they in two halves against Clemson (where they lost). They shot 62% from the floor and went on a 22-5 run to end the half. Needless to say, our defense was not looking good at that point.

But the second half was a different story. We started playing better defense and everyone started contributing more on offense. All 5 starters ended in double figures. Wayne Ellington had a rough night shooting going 4-15 from the floor, but had 15 points. Danny Green also scored 15, but didn't get many open looks. Tyler Hansbrough had 17 points including a 3 pointer as the shot clock was about to expire during one possession. Bobby Frasor even got into the action (in the first half) scoring 9 points on 3-3 pointers! He helped keep us in it during the first half. It was nice to see him finally start making some buckets. Deon Thompson was a force in the first half. He was hitting shots from all over the court.

The story of this game was Ty Lawson. Ty was a total machine on the court. He couldn't be stopped in the second half. He scored a game high 25 points. He was driving the lane unlike I've seen him do all season. Why doesn't he do that more?? Duke did not have an answer for him. If we had that Ty Lawson every game, our chances of running the table would go up significantly. It was a thing of beauty.

This fourth straight win at Cameron means Tyler, Bobby and Danny are undefeated at Duke during their career, which is pretty elite company. Tim Duncan was the last player to pull that off.

UNC is in sole control of the ACC now. Wake Forest lost again tonight and considering we don't play another ranked opponent until our final match against Duke, we are in a pretty good position (knock on wood). We play Miami on Sunday, which will be another good test, but as the saying goes, our destiny is in our hands.

Good night!

NCAA Stats

Virginia 61, UNC 76

2009-02-07T20:18:00.003-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

This game is a great illustration of why our defense has to lead us in post-season play. In a stark contrast from the last game against Maryland, we were not shooting well in the first half. We shot 28% from the field early on and ended the first half shooting 33% percent. We played pretty good defense so we went into the half with a small lead after scoring 33 points (we scored 60 points against Maryland in the first half).

In the second half, our shooting finally came around. Wayne Ellington had a nice game scoring a game high 20 points. Ty Lawson had a very nice game with 9 assists and ZERO turnovers. Tyler Hansbrough scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Danny had another good game, but he was questionable where he was going to play at all. He's been ill and was a game-time decision. Everyone is hopeful he'll be good for Wednesday's showdown with Dook.

Duke's been struggling of late, but playing at Cameron Indoor is never an easy proposition. I don't think we can have a first half like we had today and come out victorious.

NCAA Basketball Stats

UNC back at the top of ACC

2009-02-05T06:31:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Duke and Wake losses last night, UNC is tied for first at the top of the ACC.

http://statsheet.com/mcb/conferences/acc

Ginyard and Graves out for the Season, News on Zeller Expected Soon

2009-02-04T09:41:00.002-05:00

It is official, Marcus Ginyard is out for the rest of the season. This isn't all that unexpected because Marcus "still feels pain". All indications are that Marcus will be eligible to return next year for a 5th year. Let's hope his foot fully recovers.

In unexpected news, Will Graves has been suspended for the remainder of the season. He didn't play at State and didn't play against Maryland. Roy said he just made the decision in the last 48 hours. There aren't any good rumors yet as to why he was suspended, but if I hear anything I'll post it here.

Tyler Zeller returns to the doctor on Wednesday to determine if he will be cleared to play. Rumor has it that he's already been practicing with the team and there is a 50-50 chance he'll return to the team this season. Some may view this as a waste of a season for him when he could redshirt, but seriously, what are the odds that a 7 footer like Zeller that played as well as he did at the beginning of the season would want to stick around for another 4 years? Pretty much a zero percent chance. At this point, we could use another big man and it is my belief that if Zeller kept playing like he did, he may be starting right now in place of Deon who has been ineffective for much of the conference season. Cross your fingers Tyler returns!

Maryland 91, UNC 108

2009-02-04T07:54:00.006-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

I came away from this game not knowing what to think. Sure, we had our highest scoring first half of the season (60 points), but we also gave up the second highest points in a game for the year (91).

We got out to a rare fast start. Wayne Ellington had 8 points in the first 6 minutes. He went on to score a game high 34 points on 7-9 shooting from 3. He was on fire. In the second half he scored 7 points in a 1 minute span. But he didn't just do well shooting. He also led the team in rebounding including 7 offensive rebounds! Outstanding game for Mr. Ellington (I won't mention the 4 turnovers on a few bad passes, ok, I guess I did). Tyler Hansbrough had a pretty solid game scoring 24 points, but was only 7-16 from the field. Ty Lawson scored 21 points on 4-5 from 3, 6 assists, 4 steals and ZERO turnovers. Great job. Danny Green scored 16 on 4-6 shooting from beyind the arc. As a team, we shot 64% from three! That's 11 percentage points higher than our next closest game (53% against Kentucky). It goes without saying that we were on fire. After a quick check over on StatSheet, this was our 5th best three point shooting game since 1996.

While it was nice to see us shooting so well from outside, the game was ultimately a little disappointing because we let Maryland shoot 48% which is higher than any other game this season. In all honesty, there is a good chance we would have lost this game if we weren't raining threes. But a win is a win, especially in conference play, so onward and upward.

Next up is Virginia on Saturday. If you recall, we beat UVA pretty easily on January 15th. I watched a little of their game against Duke this past weekend and they didn't look good. Let's hope they don't bounce back against us!

NCAA Basketball Stats

UNC 80, Florida State 77

2009-01-29T06:51:00.003-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

This game could be called "Lawson's Revenge!" If you remember from last year, this was the game in which FSU's oaf, Ryan Reid, body slammed Ty Lawson, which caused him to hurt his ankle and subsequently miss several games. This year, Ty filled up the statsheet. Ty had the most points (21), best field goal percentage (85%), most free throws made (9), best free throw percentage (88%), most assists (4) and most rebounds (9). Wow.

This game had all the makings of our typical game. We started off slow, FSU gained the early lead, we finally got our act together mid-way through the first half and and went into half-time with an 11 point lead. FSU looked good early, but started faltering probably due to the fast face. I figured we'd come out in the second half and blow things out. But FSU's Toney Douglas wouldn't let that happen.

After 10 minutes into the second half, the game started to look like our losses to BC and Wake. Toney went off. he scored a game high 32 points and couldn't miss. FSU had the lead going into the final minutes and only after an excellent steal by Danny Green and tough defense by Tyler Hansbrough did we get the ball with 3 seconds left to go with the game tied 77. Ty took the ball, raced up the court, and shot a running 3 which went in right as the buzzer sounded! It was awesome!

Now for the not so awesome stuff. First, the referees were horrible. I haven't been too critical this season about the refs, but they were noticeably bad tonight. They were calling all sorts of nit fouls. Tyler Hansbrough got in foul trouble early and never recovered. He picked up his second with 14:15 in the first half and his third with 6:29 to go in the first. Then in the second half Tyler made a great play on the ball and was called for his 4th foul. The replay showed it was clearly a clean play, but the refs were out to get Tyler tonight.

Let's look at some of Tyler's averages:

Fouls Per Game: 1.4
Tonight's Game: 4

Free Throw Attempts Per Game: 8.5
Tonight's Game: 0

Of course fans can typically find something to complain about when it comes to the refs, but I hate it when it is so obvious like it was tonight. They impacted the game in a negative way. And don't even get me started about the additional 1 second that should have been put back on the clock after FSU's shot clock violation at the end of the game. The refs didn't even look at the replay! Maybe they thought they were too good to actually mess up??

Everyone's making a big deal about Tyler not scoring in double digits and breaking his 55 game streak. Of course this comes on the heels of my article about Tyler breaking the ACC scoring record :-/ Maybe the refs read my article and decided they wanted to do their part to stop him??

Danny Green had another good game. I won't say "excellent" game because while he had 6 steals he also had 6 turnovers, but he was as important as any player. He was 4-7 from three point range and scored 20 points. He is such a well rounded player.

Wayne Ellington's hot streak ended after going 3-13 from the field tonight. I didn't think he played bad, he just didn't hit his shots.

I was disappointed in Larry Drew. Larry only played 3 minutes and had 1 turnover and 1 foul. He got his pocket picked from Toney Douglas while bringing the ball up the court. Larry is an important part of the team and I hope he bounces back. It will be hard for UNC to play at the level we want if Ty Lawson has to play 37 minutes per game.

The good news is that we won and Duke lost tonight (yea!). The bad news is Wake beat Duke ;-) and we could have easily lost this game after having a comfortable lead. We could be sitting 3-3 in conference right now instead of 4-2. Let's hope the team learns something from this close game.

Next up is NC State on Saturday.

NCAA Basketball Stats

College Basketball Stats

Tyler will break the ACC Scoring Record

2009-01-28T09:59:00.006-05:00

Back on Dec 19th, I made the not so bold prediction that barring injury, Tyler Hansbrough will break the ACC scoring record held by Duke's JJ Redick. This isn't a bold prediction because it is simple math really. Let's see where things stand today.

UNC has 11 games remaining in the regular season (including tonight's game against FSU) . Tyler is averaging a career best, 22.7 points per game so far this season. His current point total stands at 2,509 while JJ Redick's is 2,769. That's a difference of 260.

If Tyler averages his current PPG for the remainder of the regular season, he'll enter post season play 10 points behind Redick. If UNC had the most disappointing season in recent history, they'd play at least 5 games in the post-season: losing in the semi-finals of the ACC tourney and losing in the sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney. So Tyler would need to get 10 points in 5 games.

But let's say Tyler doesn't maintain his current average and dips to a career low 18.3 points per game. 16 games x 18.3 points would give him another 292 points well above the 260 he needs. And you can see compared to last year, Tyler actually averaged more points per game in Feb and March:

Stats by StatSheet.com

So it is pretty clear that barring injury or some other catastrophe, Tyler will become the all-time ACC scoring leader. And if you compare Tyler and JJ (using the recently updated Player Comparison feature on StatSheet), you can see he did it averaging significantly fewer minutes per game than JJ. During JJ's senior season, he averaged a career high 37 minutes per game while Tyler is currently averaging a career LOW in minutes per game (28.8). Sure, Tyler's MPG will undoubtedly rise over the next two months, but it will never be close to what JJ averaged.

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Clemson 70, UNC 94

2009-01-22T07:26:00.004-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

If you would have told me that this game would be statistically over with more than six minutes remaining, I wouldn't have believed it. Last year we played Clemson three times and they were all nail-biters.

The first ten minutes of the game Clemson got the better of us. Their pressure got to us, surprisingly. Over the past couple of years, we don't do well in the first 10 minutes of a game. It takes the team a while to get going for some reason. Tonight was no different. But after we turned it on, we REALLY turned it on. Wayne Ellington followed up his 7-3s in the second half against Miami to have an excellent all-around game. I know I've been critical of Wayne over his career, but he has definitely improved his overall game. He's a much more complete player. And when he is hitting his jumper, he is a force. He scored a game high 25 points a made a career high 7 assists!

Speaking of complete players, is there any doubt that Danny Green is UNC's most complete player and best NBA prospect? He continues to shine even though he isn't the focus of the offense. He didn't have a great night shooting, but he had 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals, 3 assists and 7 points. It annoys me when all the TV commentators talk about how if Marcus Ginyard was back he'd be starting and Danny would be the best 6th man in the country (again). I beg to differ. There is no way Danny would/should not be in the starting lineup.

Tyler Hansbrough had a tough night but scored 20 points. He almost had a tooth knocked out and got hit to the floor on several occasions without a foul being called. The refs were pretty bad tonight when it comes to Tyler. Some of the replays were hard to watch. Getting demolished down low and no foul call. You could tell Tyler was getting pissed too. He was showing uncharacteristic hand-clapping and fist pumping when he finally got a call or two. And Tyler is probably the only player in the country that can have a "tough night" and still come away with 20 points and 10 rebounds!

Ty Lawson had a really nice game. He scored 16 points, collected 3 steals, and dished out 7 assists on only 2 turnovers. Ty has become a very solid shooter. He can nail a three ball if left open.

Overall I'm very happy with this performance. Sure we extended our streak at home against Clemson to 54-0, but more than that, we beat a very good team despite them coming out with a lot of intensity and shooting the ball well. A combination of our solid defense and a cold streak in the second half did Clemson in.

We have a week off before our next game against a 15-3 FSU team. They aren't going to be a push over! But then again, who is in the ACC?

NCAA Basketball Stats

Miami 65, UNC 82

2009-01-18T06:54:00.006-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

The enigma that is the North Carolina Tar Heels put on another head scratching performance tonight against previously ranked Miami. For the first 15 minutes of the game, it looked like we were going to have another BC or Wake-like game. Miami looked more aggressive and our body language didn't look good. There were two big differences though. Tyler Hansbrough singlehandedly kept us in the game in the first half by scoring 20 of his 24 points, and while Miami was making a lot of shots, we actually had a hand in their face for most of them. They weren't wide open looks.

Then around 5 minutes to go in the first half, something clicked. Ty Lawson decided to turn it up a notch. His defense on McClinton was excellent. Ty was playing faster than everyone else on the court. We forced a couple of turnovers and before you knew it, we ended the half on a 13-0 run including a Danny Green 3 pointer in the final seconds.

Hubert Davis summed it best before the game: "Why don't they play [aggressive] from the start!?!?!"

He's right. This is another example where we came out lethargic and only got it in gear after we were down by 9 points. A good example, Ty Lawson had 0 assists and 2 turnovers when we were down 9 and then got 8 straight assists without a turnover during our comeback. Ty said before the game that he doesn't think it is fair that he gets tagged as the main reason for our losses, but he does accept his responsibility as the catalyst. Sorry to say it Ty, but tonight proved the rule. When he plays well, we will be in the game and when he doesn't, well we know how that goes.

I can't believe I haven't mentioned Wayne Ellington yet. In the first half, Wayne was 0-2 and looked like he lacked confidence. He's been playing hard, but his shots have not been going down. Something clicked for him too in the second half. He hit 7 three pointers in a row. He score 11 straight pts for UNC at one point. It was nice to see him finally go off. The UNC record for 3s is 8 in a game so he was close to tying it. Let's hope this confidence booster carries over to the next game! Having him shoot well adds a much needed element to our team.

Speaking of next, we have #10 Clemson on Wednesday night at the Dean Dome. Yes, we have the 53-0 winning streak against Clemson at the Dean Dome, but they are coming off a tough loss to Wake Forest and will undoubtedly be hungry. It is going to take our best effort to ensure we go 3-2 in conference play.

College Stats

UNC 83, Virginia 63

2009-01-16T07:22:00.002-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

Where was this team against BC and Wake? The contrast is startling and again, it comes down to how much we run the floor. I don't understand how our running game completely disappeared during our two losses. Tonight against Virginia, even after UVA made a basket we were charging up the floor as fast as possible. So even if a team is packing it in and slowing the clock down, we can still push the ball. But that didn't happen against Wake and BC.

Tyler Hansbrough was unstoppable, scoring 28 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Ty Lawson also had a big night. 9 assists and zero turnovers. However, I remember one turnover at the beginning of the game where Ty threw the ball out of bounds (intended for Danny). He should have been credited with a turnover for that, but I guess not. 9-0 will definitely help his A/T ratio! He also scored 19 points going 3-3 from three point range. Glad to see him return after his mysterious absence during the BC and Wake games.

Across the board we played well as a team, although our shooting percentage is still down. I thought Danny Green had another good game, but he only shot 38% from the floor. We shot 42% as a team (our season average is 49%). Wayne Ellington shot 40% including 0-2 from three. Last year our season average was 48% from the floor, so its not like we should expect a big drop off now that we are playing conference games.

I thought we were much more aggressive on the defensive end. UVA didn't have nearly as many open shots as some of our previous opponents. Virginia still had 24 offensive rebounds (compared to our 14). They got a lot of second chance looks. Fortunately, they were having an off night shooting (a measly 30% from the floor).

So it was a nice bounce back for the Heels, but a much better test will come on Saturday against Miami. Onward and upward!

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UNC 89, Wake Forest 92

2009-01-11T22:35:00.006-05:00

Boxscore | Recap

0-2 in conference play. That's where we sit after another humbling loss. Wake Forest came in ranked #4 in the nation. They matched our aggressiveness and talent level. The big difference in the game was shooting. We shot a season low 35% from the field. We shot 33% in the first half and went 0-9 to start the second half. You aren't going to beat anyone playing like that.

No one on our side had a good game except Danny Green who has turned out to be one of our most consistent players. I'm not exactly sure why we kept trying to feed Wayne Ellington at the end of the game when he hadn't hit anything all night. Granted, Wayne knocked down two threes in the final couple of minutes so that helped, but it was too little too late. It is frustrating to see players like Jeff Teague from Wake or Tyrese Rice from BC be so prolific from outside. Wayne Ellington is supposed to be in that same class, but he's been ineffective from outside for much of the year. Wayne better be happy he didn't leave early for the NBA or he'd be sitting the sidelines at NBDL games. If the NBA Draft were today, there is no way he'd go in the first two rounds.

Ty Lawson had perhaps his worst game of the year. I know I was lobbying for him early on as the best point guard in the nation, but now that he's been outplayed by 2 ACC point guards, I can't exactly make that claim anymore. Very disappointing.

This gamed looked eerily similar to the BC game. You'd hardly think we were a run and gun kind of team. Things got so bad Roy made the team play zone defense toward the end of the game because we couldn't get stops (Roy much prefers to play man).

Our free throws hurt us again.

Shooting in general just sucked. How many McDonald's All-American's do we have and the best we can do is 35%?? We should do better than that if we did nothing but shoot three pointers all game. This is the exact same issue we had last year. Unless we are running and gunning, we aren't a very good offensive team. We just don't have the shooters.

I thought the officiating sucked too. Totally uneven from the first-half to second-half. I thought they called a lot of ticky-tack calls against us.

I'm in a bad mood now so I'm going to bed....

Ok, I'm back. I forgot to mention that we had to call 2 timeouts because we couldn't get the stinking ball inbounds! I don't think that's happened all year and it happened twice tonight. I don't know what is going on with the team...