The Daily Tar Heel
URL: http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2012/02/zeller_starts_big_then_stumbles
Current Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 12:55:02 -0400
Zeller starts big, then stumbles
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The North Carolina Tar Heels lost to the Duke Blue Devils 85-84 at the Dean E. Smith Center on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012.
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This story cracked like a whip, and for Zeller, it seared.
In one minute, the 7-footer went from playing possibly the best game of his career to absolute goat. And frankly, it’ll be that last minute that defines this game.
It started when Zeller went to the charity stripe with an 82-80 lead and 44 seconds remaining. The 79 percent free throw shooter hit 1-of-2. Then on the next play, Zeller accidentally tipped Ryan Kelly’s short 3-pointer into Duke’s basket. Two points, 83-82.
Zeller was fouled with 14 seconds remaining. Again, the 79 percent free throw shooter hit 1-of-2. And then Duke guard Austin Rivers hit his game-winning 3-pointer over Zeller from well-beyond the arc. Zeller would do it differently if he could.“I didn’t want to foul him and put him on the free throw line, but you can’t give up a 3-pointer when you’re up two,” Zeller said.
Thirty-nine minutes for one. Not necessarily a fair trade. And in the first 39 minutes of No. 5 North Carolina’s 85-84 loss to No. 10 Duke, Zeller was unstoppable.
“I thought Zeller and John were really big,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “I just thought we made some mistakes at the end, and that’s the bottom line.”
It’s the most memorable line, even if Zeller had a great stat line.
He entered the game averaging 15.3 points and 9.6 rebounds a game. By halftime he had 19 and 8.
It wasn’t long ago that Zeller carried around a soft label, and he certainly didn’t start shedding the soft label with Duke. Zeller has five double-doubles in his last seven games and he’s 17.4 points and 11.4 rebounds a game in that stretch.
No, it didn’t start with Duke. But it may have peaked against Duke.
“Zeller was unbelievable in the first half,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’m unbelievably impressed with Tyler Zeller. He’s just a great, great player.”
Call it ironic that UNC lost on a 3-pointer, because Duke was killing the Tar Heels with it in the first half. Zeller was everything UNC needed in a first half that UNC only led for the final 44 seconds. Without him there may never have been a first-half Tar Heel lead.
After Duke broke out to an early lead, all UNC could do was keep up. The Blue Devils shot 45 percent in the first half and made seven 3-pointers. Zeller made 7 of his 14 shots and hit 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. He grabbed four offensive rebounds. Zeller was relentless.
But his value in that half can’t be measured statistically. UNC’s leading scorer Harrison Barnes looked slow and hobbled in the first half, and UNC wasn’t getting many looks from long range.
Zeller was the offense. UNC seemed to acknowledge that, allowing the big man to take nearly half the team’s first-half shots. Duke knew it, but it couldn’t stop it.
Zeller was in line to topple his career-high 32 points last season after that half, but he didn’t put up the same numbers after halftime.
He got most of the attention in the second half, so the Tar Heels found other options. Harrison Barnes scored 19 points in the second half after shooting 0-for-4 in the first, but Zeller remained active.
On one possession that ended with a Kendall Marshall layup, Zeller tipped out two rebounds to John Henson to keep it alive.
“I just tried to get to the boards as much as possible and tried to create problems for them defensively,” Zeller said.
He did that, except for one play.
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17 comments
“Call it ironic that UNC lost on a 3-pointer, because Duke was killing the Tar Heels with it in the first half.”
That’s not irony, Alanis. It would be ironic if Duke was missing three pointers left and right in the first half and won with one.
This morning I’m still incredibly proud to call myself a Tar Heel!
Coach K ought to give Zeller a scholarship… or Zeller ought to transfer to Duke. He’s clearly Duke’s BEST player.
Zeller single handedly lost this game. He totally blew it.
He is the most overrated player on the floor.
Zellar played a great game—you can no more blame the loss on him than you can blame it on anybody else who missed a free throw or made a bad shot—or those stupid fool refs with those awful calls—-only someone with very narrow vision of the game dumps all the blame on Zellar—keep it up Z—your a great person and a great player!
“This story cracked like a whip”
???????
What does that even mean? Who writes for the DTH anymore? We used to have some of the best college sportswriting available, but this is just silly.
Guess that’s why he scored the most points of anyone on the team, Joerodney. What an incredibly stupid comment.
Jerodney – Adam Lucas effectively summarizes exactly how Tyler Zeller DID NOT lose this game and on the contrary was the main reason WE WERE in the game at all!
Please read this and educate yourself.
http://www.tarheelblue.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/020912aab.html
Joerodney,
Tyler Zeller did not blow the game. Yes, making all of his free throws would have helped, as would him defending Rivers more closely, the man carried UNC in the first half. His rebounding was outstanding! You can’t say that one person lost the game when other players missed their shots, free throws, and turned the ball over. That’s unfair to Zeller and the entire UNC team!
Why is no one discussing Rivers’ apparent travel before the three at 1:47 or, more importantly, Plumlee shoving Zeller from behind before the bizarre tap into Duke’s basket. Those are critical no-calls that contributed mightily to even the possibility of that last shot. Yes, Duke played very well and never quit as they continued to make big shots in the second half to keep Carolina within reach. And yes, the two turnovers, the missed foul shots, and not guarding Rivers more closely outside the three point line were problems in the last 2:00. But those Duke infractions were critical to keeping the comeback alive. The media isn’t even mentioning them. UNC team is too gracious? Media is too mesmerized by Rivers’ shot to consider what came before it?
C’mon people. Zeller tipping that ball in for Duke was a one-in-a-million fluke. Give the guy a break. Carolina isn’t even in the game without Z.
C’mon people. Zeller tipping the ball in for Duke was a one-in-a-million fluke. Carolina isn’t even in the game without Zeller. Give the guy a break.
Why is Zeller only getting the blame for this game. Why not blame the guards for not knowing how to defend the 3…and why not blame for them for not knowing how to shoot a 3. This game would have been over in the first half if it wasn’t for Tyler.
Zeller was the reason we were even in the game. This article is ridiculous. How can you possibly blame the loss solely on one player, even when he scored the most points? Where’s the article about how the rest of the team choked at the end? Or how Bullock, a starter, wasn’t even close to an offensive factor? Ya’ll should be ashamed. What kind of sports writers are you?
joerodney is either a bandwagon fan who does not understand the game of basketball or a dookie. either way, he should remove himself of all unc gear. zeller played an awesome game (which without him we probably lose by 20 the way they were hitting 3’s). the whole team had some end game lapses that cost the game. learn from it and move on. we play dook again just around te corner.
typo above te=the
I love watching you Tar Hole fans argue and whine. As a Duke fan I want to say a big THANK YOU to Tyler Zeller; however he does NOT deserve the scorn some are throwing at him (others above are sticking up for him). Ol’ Roy on the other hand does deserve your scorn. My pale blue work colleagues were ready to burn his effigy Thursday morning. Oh well…I look forward to another awesome game with you all in March (hopefully with the same outcome).
yo
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