Unconventional swap works

You've seen it before. North Carolina coach Roy Williams upset with the energy his main unit is bringing subs out the bulk of his lineup to get a spark off the bench.

Except Sunday night against UNC-Asheville it wasn't all five starters — it was just the two biggest. With less than three minutes gone in the first half post players Deon Thompson and Ed Davis were sent to the bench in favor of guards Will Graves and Bobby Frasor.

The resulting lineup with no player taller than 6 feet 6 inches" went on a 13-1 run in slightly more than two minutes to spark a blowout win.

""I got upset at Deon and Ed starting the game after a couple possessions"" Williams said. I took them out because I didn't think they were very focused at all.""

The move worked. Shortly after checking in" Graves put back one Ty Lawson miss and then threw down another for a two-handed dunk. A few possessions later" he capped the spurt with a 3-pointer from the wing.

""Will creates a lot of mismatches because he's a big" 6-6 guy and he's still got guard speed" Lawson said.

Two 6-foot-6-inch guys, though, don't normally occupy the two biggest positions on the floor.

Danny Green, who was left as the de facto center, even needed to check his teammates twice before taking the ball out of bounds under UNC's basket.

I was looking around and I'm like"" ‘Am I the five right now?'"" Green said. ""And I was like" ‘Yeah it's me and (Graves).' And I thought ‘All right" I'll take it out then.'""

Williams said the lineup was actually the smallest he's put on the floor since he sent Paul Pierce in to play the five on an injury-plagued Kansas team. It allowed the Tar Heels to run more and trap the Bulldogs in a full-court press.

The quick run by the smaller lineup gave UNC a lead it would never come close to relinquishing in the 68-point drubbing. But it also gave the two starting forwards a chance to regroup.

The pair was effective upon returning to the game.

Davis" a freshman registered the third double-double of his young career" and Thompson tallied 17 points and nine boards. The two also combined to swat seven UNC-Asheville shots.

""When he put us back in" we gave a better effort" Davis said of the initial substitution. We just had to pick it up. We weren't bringing too much energy at the beginning.""

Williams was pleased with the change in effort from Davis and Thompson. But on a team with injuries to two key post players"" he wanted the energy to come right away.

""We don't have Tyler Hansbrough tonight" we don't have Tyler Zeller Williams said. Deon and Ed have got to bring it from the first go" and they didn't do it as well as I wanted them to do it.""



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