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The Daily Tar Heel

UNC basketball looking to rebound in San Antonio

It didn’t matter which team popped up on Roy Williams’ living room television Sunday night.

Williams isn’t focused on North Carolina’s NCAA Tournament opposition. His attention is directed squarely on the backboard.

Rebounding woes have plagued the Tar Heels in their last two games — both losses. At Duke on March 8, they put up just 20 boards — their fewest in a game since that same date in 1987. In an 80-75 loss to Pittsburgh in the ACC tournament, the Tar Heels were outrebounded 43-35 and allowed 21 second-chance points.

They’ll face No. 11-seed Providence, a strong rebounding team in its own right, Friday.

“Without even knowing who we played, after (the Pittsburgh loss) I told our guys that we had not done a very good job of rebounding down the stretch,” Williams said at a Tuesday press conference.

“Forty-one points off of offensive rebounds against us the last two games, you can’t do that and win. Even if we were playing Providence or anybody else.”

The battle of the boards could very well decide Friday’s NCAA Tournament bout with the Friars, who compare favorably to UNC in terms of rebounding.

Providence is 34th in the country in total rebounds; UNC is 24th. The Friars average 36.8 rebounds per game; the Tar Heels average 39.8 rebounds.

But North Carolina hasn’t rebounded at that level in its last few games, which has been a key in its practices this week.

Williams said he thought Monday’s practice was one of UNC’s best of the year.

“We just got to get back to understanding we have to box out every possession,” said sophomore point guard Marcus Paige.

“We can’t just rely on size and length to get rebounds because at this point everybody wants to win the game. You gotta go make contact and try to box out better than we have been doing.”

That type of effort isn’t just limited to UNC’s forwards, J.P. Tokoto, James Michael McAdoo and Kennedy Meeks.

“You gotta have the guards help you rebound,” Williams said, adding that in defensive rebounding opportunities, he expects all five players to crash the boards.

With UNC heading to San Antonio Wednesday night, the coach hasn’t yet watched film of the Friars — he said assistant coach C.B. McGrath is in charge of scouting Providence.

But the Tar Heels have reviewed their recent performances, particularly against Pittsburgh redshirt senior forward Talib Zanna, who pulled down 21 rebounds by himself against the Tar Heels last Friday.

“At the end of the day, if he’s pulling down that many rebounds, then he wants to win the game more than we do,” Paige said,

“He’s fighting off box-outs, he’s being physical, he’s the one initiating contact and we didn’t have any of those type of plays on our side.

“So that’s really what it came down to — he wanted it more. And his play showed it.”

On Friday, the Tar Heels will show just how much they want it.

sports@dailytarheel.com

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