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(04/19/07 4:00am)
A few weeks ago a friend of mine introduced me to her boyfriend, mentioning that I worked for The Daily Tar Heel sports desk. Naturally, my new acquaintance had a few gripes to share about the paper - who doesn't? - including a pointed criticism of the sports section.
"I hate those columns you guys write, like the ones the seniors do," said the young man, who shall remain anonymous. "They are always like, 'I got to hang out with Roy Williams and the basketball team, blah blah blah. Aren't I cool?'"
I did those things this year, following the football and men's basketball teams and getting to jet around to exotic locations like East Rutherford, N.J., to watch them play. But this, my farewell column from the DTH, won't be filled with such self-congratulatory tripe.
Instead, it's about my biggest mistake in my four years here.
In March of my sophomore year, while I was sports editor of this fine publication, I had plans to write a big feature story about wrestling coach C.D. Mock, who had gone from one of the worst to first in the ACC in his second season. Mock was kind enough to let me interview him in his office for half an hour.
I never wrote that story, and I still regret it.
The plan was to run the article as a preview for the NCAA championships, but it got cast aside that week in favor of additional men's basketball coverage (as you may recall, that team was pretty good in '05, too).
Mock is used to that kind of thing, though.
He is the coach of a non-revenue sport that relies on a sponsorship from Rubbermaid to fund assistant coach salaries. Even though admission is free, wrestling matches rarely draw more than a few dozen friends and family to Carmichael Auditorium.
Mock also was a national champion at another unfortunate time.
In 1982 he became North Carolina's first NCAA champ in wrestling while the team finished fifth - still its highest finish ever.
When Mock came home, his girlfriend was the only person in the airport to greet him.
A few weeks later, Michael Jordan and company got a parade.
And it was happening again. To Mock's credit, he never contacted anyone at the paper to express his disappointment at giving up half an hour of his day for a story that never ran.
We strike a balance every day at the DTH between covering the sports that more people follow and giving space to the wrestlings of the world. Sometimes we get it right, and sometimes we don't.
When a reporter starts on the sports desk, he or she is assigned to a non-revenue sport beat and must work up to covering football and basketball, which are usually reserved for seniors.
This results in inexperienced people covering the sports that rely on the DTH for their only coverage, which can be unfair.
Covering football and men's hoops has been a great chance to work in a competitive environment with professional media, and excellent training for (hopefully) my future as a sports reporter.
But man do I miss wrestling.
The further up you go in the sports hierarchy, the less you get to know the people involved.
Butch Davis and Roy Williams don't give half-hour interviews to the DTH in their offices.
I don't know Marcus Ginyard like I got to know wrestler Drew Forshey. That's not Ginyard's fault, it's just because when I talked to Drew there weren't always 10 other tape recorders and television cameras in his face.
Besides the access, I miss athletes who were more than just athletes.
My favorite story in the two years I covered wrestling was about Venroy July, who graduated from UNC and went to Duke law school. July loved competing so much that he used his final year of eligibility wrestling for Duke - though he still wore his old shoes with the interlocking NC logo.
Imagine Tyler Hansbrough doing that.
This little column doesn't make up for shafting the wrestling team two years ago. And it doesn't make up for the fact that we don't cover every sport equally.
But the point is that there are far more stories on this campus than those that involve football and basketball.
Whether you actually go to games to support the non-revenue student-athletes or just happen to sit next to one in your philosophy class, remember that their stories are oftentimes more compelling than the ones that are on television all the time.
Unfortunately, I'm just now finding that out.
Contact Daniel Malloy at dpmalloy@email.unc.edu
(03/26/07 4:00am)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - A season characterized by ups and downs, runs and lapses unraveled quickly Sunday night after it looked almost certain to continue for another weekend.
The North Carolina basketball team led by 10 with seven minutes to play when its nearly flawless offensive execution failed, it couldn't keep Georgetown off the glass and it ended up falling to the second-seeded Hoyas in overtime, 96-84, in a rematch of the 1982 NCAA championship game.
In a microcosm of its season, No. 1 seed UNC (31-7) displayed efficient offense and hard-nosed defense for 33 minutes, then looked like a team loaded with inexperience down the stretch.
"We just lost focus," said sophomore Marcus Ginyard, who started his second straight game in place of the ailing Reyshawn Terry.
"You could just see that the way we were playing was just so crazy out there. We weren't getting the shots we wanted. We were just letting them get easy baskets on the other end."
The result was a 31-9 run from the Hoyas in the last six minutes of regulation plus overtime. After taking a 10-point lead with 7:19 to play, UNC came apart on both ends of the floor. The Tar Heels attempted 3-pointers on five of their last 11 possessions of regulation and missed all of them.
The change in strategy coincided with Georgetown's switch to a zone defense. With 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert clogging the lane - he finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks - the Tar Heels resorted to jumpers.
"Our game plan was to get the ball inside and they went to a zone and made us change," sophomore Danny Green said. "We didn't adjust very well at the end."
With 31.2 seconds to play, Jonathan Wallace nailed a 3 to tie the game at 81.
"Wallace hit a tough shot," UNC point guard Ty Lawson said. "I had a hand in his face and everything."
UNC coach Roy Williams then called a timeout to set up a final play. He called for Lawson to penetrate, and if it wasn't there look for Terry or Wayne Ellington for a jump shot.
Lawson dribbled the clock down to eight seconds, then went to the right wing and flipped the ball back to Ellington. The freshman, who finished the game 2-of-11 from the floor, launched a 3 that clanged off the back of the rim.
Patrick Ewing Jr. soared to snare the rebound with 2.0 seconds left. The Hoyas called a timeout, but Wallace was too late and too short with a desperation 3, and the game went into overtime.
In the extra frame the Tar Heels never stood a chance. Hoya forward Jeff Green, who finished with 22 points and nine rebounds, fed Wallace for a backdoor layup on the Hoyas' first possession, then Hibbert forced a jump ball - with the arrow to the Hoyas - on the other end with a block on Terry.
A meaningless Lawson 3 with eight seconds left were the only points UNC would earn in overtime. Before that, the Tar Heels had missed 21 of their last 22 shots.
"It's a little more than a minute to go (in regulation) and you feel like if Wallace misses a shot we can secure the game," Ginyard said.
"Before you know it you're sitting on the bench and you are watching them shoot free throws to put them up five, six, seven points and the game is away from you at that point. It's crazy how fast it turns around."
The meltdown ending overshadowed the Tar Heels' efficiency for most of the game. They steadily built a lead by feeding the ball to Hansbrough (26 points) and freshman Brandan Wright (14), and by attacking the glass for offensive rebounds (21).
They scored on their first seven possessions on their way to a 50-44 halftime lead. Hibbert was in persistent foul trouble, but he remained in the game with four fouls in crunch time, becoming the anchor in the Hoyas' deadly zone.
"We were able to slow down their transition a little bit, and we were able to stay in front of them," said Georgetown coach John Thompson III, whose team advances to play Ohio State on Saturday in the Final Four.
"We were able to make them make tough, contested shots. That's kind of what changed."
Williams has never been one for deep strategic analysis and didn't dissect the Hoyas' zone or his team's X's and O's too much in his postgame remarks. His team's collapse could be explained much easier than that.
"It gets to the point that basketball, you have to understand, it's a pretty simple game," Williams said.
"You have to get better shots than the other team does and hopefully get more of them. I think that's what happened down the stretch, is they got better shots than we did. . It's what gives coaches gray hairs. Georgetown deserved to win."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/22/07 4:00am)
For 36 minutes Saturday night, Ty Lawson pushed the tempo of the game, flying around the court with breathtaking speed.
The point guard's performance was crucial in lifting North Carolina to a victory against Michigan State and a Sweet 16 berth. And it wouldn't have been possible without his backups.
Sure Bobby Frasor and Quentin Thomas played only a combined four minutes against the Spartans, but all season they have been there to spell Lawson when he needed it. As the Tar Heels have entered the postseason, minutes for Frasor, Thomas and the rest of the backups have declined, but not because of their play.
Even 36 games into the season, UNC's starters have maintained their fresh legs, which allows head coach Roy Williams to leave them on the floor longer. As a result, in the five games in the ACC and NCAA tournaments, all five starters' minutes have risen while the seven key backups' minutes have declined, as compared to conference play.
"We stay fresh pretty much all the time," said starting shooting guard Wayne Ellington, who is averaging an extra 1.1 minutes per game in the postseason.
"I wouldn't say (the bench is) shortened. (Williams is) just playing to win even more now."
Since before the start of practice last November, depth has been a popular topic for the Tar Heels. College basketball teams that boast six McDonald's All-Americans and that can go 12 deep don't come around often.
That depth has been seen as both an asset - they have endless bodies to run down opponents - and as a hindrance - the players might bicker over scarce playing time.
So far there's been no visible bickering, and the Tar Heels have shown an ability to play at a blistering style and to bring in waves of bodies. The result has been that UNC is not as fatigued at this time of year as most teams, which is paying substantial dividends.
"We've been able to wear some teams down in the past couple of weeks," said backup guard Wes Miller, whose minutes have dropped 2.8 per game in the postseason.
"People that play big minutes still have fresh legs. Hopefully it will continue to be a strength."
It might not be as big a strength as usual when UNC faces Southern California on Friday (9:57 p.m., CBS). The Trojans play nine players an average of 10 minutes or more and can run with the best of them.
"They're probably as deep as anybody we've played," Williams said.
Yet the Tar Heels still are routinely touted as perhaps the deepest team in the nation, and that depth has been heavily scrutinized. Williams has been hearing questions about substitution patterns since the first exhibition game.
Players' minutes have fluctuated throughout the season, and finding a formula for Williams' substitutions has proved fruitless.
"I'm going to play who I want to play at that specific time," Williams said Tuesday. "It just depends."
Whatever the philosophy, it has been successful in the postseason, as well-rested starters have played more minutes. And most importantly, UNC has won every game.
"I've seen coach shorten the bench a little bit," said freshman forward Brandan Wright.
"He's doing the best thing for this team, and we're playing real well right now, so you can't argue with it."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/21/07 4:00am)
North Carolina football coach Butch Davis is undergoing chemotherapy this spring after a small growth removed from his gum was found to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The Tar Heels began spring practice Monday, and Davis, 55, has no plans to stop coaching the team, he said in an informal gathering with a small group of reporters Tuesday afternoon.
"I feel as healthy as I've ever been, as active," Davis said. "My plan is to put 100 percent total focus into this football team."
The chemo is just a precaution for Davis, because further tests in early March at the Cleveland Clinic's Taussig Cancer Center found no evidence of cancer in his mouth or anywhere else in his body, he said.
After consulting several doctors, the consensus, Davis said, was to do chemotherapy to ensure that all the cancer was removed with the initial growth.
"That's the hope," Davis said. "But there's never any certainty. The only certainty that you can ever have is, if you want to make sure, this is what you gotta do."
The coach seemed just as upbeat as in his introductory news conference Nov. 27. Davis was hired Nov. 13 after the midseason firing of John Bunting and arrived in Chapel Hill bursting with optimism.
And the coach kept the same attitude Tuesday, saying that his treatment is a minor issue that he would prefer not to speak about again.
"I know people are going to be concerned," he said. "But it's OK."
Davis saw his dentist in Cleveland for a routine checkup at the end of February, once recruiting season was over. The dentist discovered the growth and sent it off for tests.
Davis, who said he never has smoked or chewed tobacco, heard back in early March that the growth was cancerous and went to the Cleveland Clinic for a battery of tests, which showed him to be in fine health.
"My health was probably as good as it's been in four or five years," Davis said. "I passed the extensive physical and all that stuff with flying colors."
Davis completed the first round of chemo March 16 in Cleveland and has from three to six more rounds to go, depending on the success of the treatment.
He will complete the remainder of the treatment at UNC Hospitals, under the care of Dr. Thomas Shea. Davis' chemo treatments will occur once every two weeks, lasting two hours each. At the earliest, he will be finished at the beginning of May.
Davis informed the team about his treatment Tuesday afternoon, and he said they were supportive. The only thing he said might change is his hands-on style because his weakened immune system could make him more prone to illness.
"(The doctors) said there is a possibility that you might, near the end of the treatment, maybe get fatigued," Davis said.
"Right now I don't. They encouraged me to exercise. They said, 'Stay active. Do your job. Go to work.' So that's the plan."
UNC will continue to practice until the annual spring game April 14 at noon in Kenan Stadium.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/20/07 4:00am)
North Carolina football coach Butch Davis is undergoing chemotherapy this spring after a small growth removed from his gum was found to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
(02/22/07 5:00am)
View video from last night's game
For 20 minutes Wednesday night, the ghosts of North Carolina's last two losses reared their heads.
N.C. State kept the Tar Heels off the glass in the first half, mirroring the Wolfpack's rebounding prowess in its upset win in Raleigh.
And Wolfpack point guard Engin Ats
(02/21/07 5:00am)
North Carolina loves to play at a blistering pace, and when easy transition buckets come in bunches it's tough to compete with the Tar Heels.
Yet when forced to play a halfcourt game, the UNC offense often sputters as opponents collapse on superstars Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright in the paint.
So it's not hard to find a common theme in the Tar Heels' losses: When Wayne Ellington isn't stretching out defenses by hitting from the outside, the No. 5 Tar Heels are beatable.
It's no coincidence that in UNC's four losses, the freshman has shot 29 percent from the floor and 21 percent from the 3-point line. In the Tar Heels' loss at N.C. State, which returns for a rematch tonight (9 p.m., Raycom/LF), Ellington hit just 3-of-9 from the field and 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.
On the flip side, Ellington has come up with efficient performances in some of the Tar Heels' biggest wins. Look no further than Saturday night's thriller at Boston College, where the shooting guard hit 5-of-8 from the floor.
Besides the obvious benefit on the scoreboard, Ellington's outside shooting can open up opportunities for UNC's big men.
"Especially when he gets hot, it takes away the sagging and zone around the lane, the double teams inside," said Hansbrough, who used the extra space Saturday to post a team-high 17 points.
"It opens up a lot of things with penetration and in the post area for me and Brandan."
UNC coach Roy Williams also singled out the efforts of guard Wes Miller and forwards Danny Green and Reyshawn Terry in extending defenses, but there is little doubt Ellington is the Tar Heels' primary long-range bomber.
Terry is shooting at a 46 percent clip from behind the arc - the best mark on the team. But he has attempted about half as many 3s as Ellington, and Green has attempted even fewer.
Miller, a 3-point marksman last year, is shooting a shade less than 30 percent from behind the arc this year.
"When we are making outside shots, we are really difficult to guard," Williams said.
"I've been looking for that (inside-outside) balance all year, and we've found it some, but we still haven't shot the ball nearly as well as I think we can shoot it."
Ellington's shooting has leveled off a bit after a torrid start to his UNC career. Before the beginning of conference season he averaged 13.2 points per game, but against the ACC, Ellington's scoring average is 10.7.
The drop-off can be attributed to tougher competition and recognition by opposing teams that Ellington can light it up from downtown if he gets into a rhythm.
"Teams are starting to pick up on my outside shot," said Ellington, who has started every game and is shooting 38 percent from 3 for the season.
"So they have guys shadowing me a lot, and they (get physical) when I'm coming off screens."
As a result Ellington has begun to transform his game. The freshman is evolving from a one-dimensional shooter to a penetration threat.
"I just have to get to the basket a little bit more, put the ball on the floor more and open up my game a little bit more rather than (being) just jump-shot minded," he said.
But if Ellington nails a few jump-shots tonight, no one wearing Carolina blue is going to mind.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/16/07 5:00am)
For his fifth set of pull-ups, Tyler Hansbrough has decided to tack on some extra weight.
Though North Carolina strength and conditioning coordinator Jonas Sahratian told him to chain 20 kilograms of weight to his waist, Hansbrough is putting on 25 kilos - about 55 pounds added to his 245-pound frame.
Hansbrough is nearing the end of his 35-minute workout in the modestly sized Smith Center weight room as he grasps a firm hold and begins to hoist his chin above the bar.
(02/14/07 5:00am)
Twice, North Carolina freshman Ty Lawson had the ball in his hands with the chance to win the game Tuesday night.
Both times Lawson failed to execute, and the rowdy Smith Center fans went home shaking their heads at a wild 81-80 overtime loss to Virginia Tech, completing the Hokies' improbable season sweep of the No. 4 Tar Heels.
Lawson's first opportunity came at the end of regulation with the score tied at 73. UNC coach Roy Williams called a timeout to set up a play where the lane would clear out for the freshman.
But Lawson, hounded by Hokie Jamon Gordon, couldn't penetrate and instead launched a contested 3-pointer that missed just before the buzzer.
"Ty was supposed to penetrate," Williams said. "But he still is a freshman, and he didn't penetrate."
In overtime, Lawson had his chance for redemption - with seven seconds left to get down the court.
This time he did penetrate, but he went too far and was swarmed by Hokie defenders. Va. Tech forward Deron Washington knocked the ball away and back to Lawson, but then his off-balance shot was blocked by Washington from behind.
"They were clogging the lane," Lawson said. "That was our main objective, but they clogged it. I think they knew what we were going to do."
Williams put the brunt of UNC's failure in the late-game situations on his shoulders.
"I've been coaching for 19 years and however many games it is, that was the worst coaching job that I've ever done," Williams said. "My job is to have kids know what they are supposed to do."
The Tar Heels trailed for most of the first half, but a Wayne Ellington 3-pointer at the buzzer gave UNC a four-point advantage, and what seemed like loads of momentum, heading into the break.
But momentum was hard to come by in this herky-jerky contest that featured a whistle on almost every possession. The teams combined for 44 fouls and attempted a whopping 67 free throws between them.
It was fitting, then, that free throws played a big role in the final.
With 36.4 seconds to go in regulation, Hokie reserve Nigel Munson missed his first free throw but made the second, helping to send the game to overtime.
In overtime it was Tar Heel center Tyler Hansbrough - who had team highs of 22 points and eight rebounds - on the charity stripe with 13.9 seconds to play.
The sophomore also made just one of two, ending UNC's lackluster 25-of-37 night at the line.
In addition to free throws - and 33 points from senior Zabian Dowdell - the Hokies' toughness and experience down the stretch enabled them to deliver the Tar Heels their first home loss in 18 games.
Va. Tech now has played nine games decided by five points or less; the Tar Heels have played just two.
"I just feel like every time we lose these close games it's always like somebody else wanted it more, somebody else can take the bump that much better, somebody else was shoving us, and we're just backing off from it," Marcus Ginyard said.
"It's difficult to say, really, what it's going to take. But we have to get it together some way, somehow."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/12/07 5:00am)
Reyshawn Terry couldn't help looking. The North Carolina senior's eyes - along with every other pair in the sold-out Smith Center - were fixed on a certain 6-foot-6 fan making his way to section 117, row I.
Michael Jordan had just entered the building, but Terry's moment of awe was interrupted when his name was introduced in the starting lineup.
There was, after all, a game to play.
And Terry didn't disappoint His Airness, posting game-highs of 23 points - on 7-of-8 shooting - and eight
rebounds, leading the No. 5 Tar Heels to a 104-67 dismantling of Wake Forest.
Jordan was in town for the reunion of UNC's National Championship teams from 1957 and 1982, and Terry's performance meant that much more coming in front of Jordan, James Worthy, Lennie Rosenbluth and company.
"It's definitely special to have those guys come back and see me perform like that," said Terry, who managed to put together his impressive stat sheet in a mere 17 minutes of playing time.
"It gives me a little bragging rights."
No one was bragging early on when the Tar Heels - perhaps trying too hard for M.J. - sputtered and briefly trailed.
"Coach got on us," UNC point guard Bobby Frasor said.
"We turned it over like three out of (six) possessions, gave them easy baskets. No one was running back. After that we kind of turned it up. The switch just went on."
Indeed, after Wake point guard Ishmael Smith hit a layup to give his team a 23-22 lead with 7:44 to play in the first half, UNC launched a 29-9 run to close the frame.
North Carolina (22-3, 8-2 in the ACC) shot 11-for-13 during that stretch, and seven different Tar Heels scored.
"We did not have the wherewithal to make stops," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said.
"The resulting carnage is something you all witnessed."
UNC shot better than 60 percent for most of the contest until a late cold streak pushed the Tar Heels down to 53.1 percent for the game. They topped 90 points with more than nine minutes to play and reached the century mark on a Wes Miller three-pointer with more than three minutes remaining.
"It was like that snowball effect," said UNC coach Roy Williams, who was honored as an assistant coach for the 1982 champions.
"It started rolling, and it got bigger and bigger and bigger for us."
The same can be said of UNC's play after falling at N.C. State on Feb. 3. Since then, the Tar Heels have pulled off an impressive comeback at Duke and dispatched the Deacons (11-13, 2-9) with ease.
And the player most indicative of that turnaround is Terry. Against the Wolfpack, the senior, Williams joked, had as many rebounds as the coach's wife.
He responded with 10 boards and 10 points at Duke and came back from a sore tailbone that limited him in practice to put on a show against Wake.
Terry is the player on this year's Tar Heels whose game most closely resembles the high-flying Jordan. He executed several acrobatic plays, including a double-pump and-one play in the second half that elicited an excited fist pump from Jordan.
But Williams' opinion means even more than that of UNC's most famous alum, and the coach praised Terry's improvement - especially on the defensive end.
"He was big-time today," Williams said.
And when Terry is big-time, the Tar Heels are hard to stop.
Having past champions in town was a poignant reminder of what the 2007 Tar Heels are capable of, especially when Terry is playing to his potential.
"I felt like I had to step it up a little bit more as a senior leader," Terry said.
"I had been kinda, I wouldn't say assertive, just too passive. And I just feel like I have to step it up. This is the time."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/30/07 5:00am)
TUCSON, Ariz. - On the first possession of Saturday's game, the North Carolina basketball team worked the ball around the perimeter until point guard Ty Lawson found fellow freshman Wayne Ellington in the left corner.
Catch, release, follow through, swish.
Such a sight was all too infrequent during the start of conference play for Ellington.
The freshman began the year blistering hot from the outside, drawing comparisons to the stellar freshman season of Rashad McCants. But in his first five games in the ACC, Ellington was just 6-of-23 from the 3-point line.
(01/29/07 5:00am)
TUCSON, Ariz. - Deon Thompson and Alex Stepheson frequently are mentioned in the same breath by followers of North Carolina basketball.
They often play side-by-side off the bench, spelling UNC's superstar frontcourt. They are both used as examples of UNC's prodigious depth. They are both freshmen from southern California, whose parents attended Saturday's semi-close-to-home game.
And they didn't disappoint their families, as both put up career highs in points to pick up the slack for the ailing Brandan Wright and help the Tar Heels whip Arizona, 92-64.
"It was huge," UNC coach Roy Williams said of the duo's play.
"Alex had 10 points. Deon had 14. You usually get some points from them and usually about 14 or 15 from Brandan, so I don't think we slipped. .
"I don't think depth is all that important over the course of one game, but over the course of a season it is important. That's what it was for us today."
The duo usually provides solid minutes off the bench, but was called in for major duty Saturday after Wright and guard Marcus Ginyard caught a stomach bug.
Wright was throwing up most of the day Friday, and the coaching staff decided at shoot-around Saturday morning that he wouldn't play.
Thompson got the start, his first, because he runs the '4' position in practice - where Wright plays - and because of one of the few differences between him and Stepheson.
"Deon does slide his feet a little better than Alex," Williams said. "We knew he was going to be guarding (Arizona's leading scorer) Marcus (Williams)."
The Tar Heels caught another break when Marcus Williams sprained his ankle in the first half. Though he did return, Williams scored just 4 points - 14.1 below his average.
With Arizona's biggest star rendered ineffective, Thompson and Stepheson went to work.
Thompson played a career-high 23 minutes, and Stepheson saw 15 minutes of time before fouling out with 10:54 left in the game.
He entered four minutes into the first half and quickly rattled in a hook shot on the right baseline, starting a remarkably efficient day for the pair. Stepheson hit 5-of-7 from the field and Thompson made 7-of-8.
"People needed to pick up their games and step up," Stepheson said. "Coach just told me to be more ready than usual to just produce."
That went for both of them.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/29/07 5:00am)
TUCSON, Ariz. - The CBS cameras were in place, along with 14,596 screaming fans in the McKale Center, when word spread shortly before tip-off that North Carolina freshman phenom Brandan Wright and defensive stalwart Marcus Ginyard would not be playing Saturday.
Both were suffering from stomach ailments. Wright watched from the bench in street clothes, while Ginyard chose to lie down in the locker room.
Before long, though, it was Arizona fans who started feeling sick to their stomachs.
The No. 4 Tar Heels didn't just win, they delivered a resounding message to fans watching in the arena and tuning in across the country with a 92-64 shellacking of the No. 17 Wildcats.
North Carolina proved it was more talented, more poised and - most importantly - far deeper than the Wildcats, who suffered their worst home defeat in coach Lute Olson's 24 seasons in Tucson.
Statement game? You bet.
Freshmen Deon Thompson (14 points) and Alex Stepheson (10 points) both registered career highs, filling Wright's large Nikes and dominating Arizona in the paint.
After the game Stepheson struggled to find the answer to what seemed like a simple question: Why did it look so easy?
"Just good practice, I guess, working hard," he said, and then began to chuckle at his own response.
Such words would make UNC coach Roy Williams proud, but there was much more to it.
The Tar Heels (19-2) applied pressure on defense, were patient on offense against Arizona's 2-3 zone and caught the Wildcats (14-6) on a horrid shooting day - they hit just 1-of-23 from the 3-point line.
"I don't ever remember anyone playing any better against us," Olson said. "But then on the other hand, I don't remember us playing any worse against anybody."
The game's first two possessions were a harbinger of things to come as North Carolina's Wayne Ellington drained a 3 and Arizona's Ivan Radenovic threw the ball away on the other end for the first of the Wildcats' 20 turnovers.
Arizona kept it close for much of the first half, but UNC closed out the frame with a 20-4 run, and had an 18-point halftime advantage. Arizona would get no closer than 13 for the rest of the game.
Williams said the dominant effort might have come because the team was missing Wright and Ginyard - not despite it.
"Not having two of your important players made everybody else get on a little bit of an edge," Williams said.
"For the most part, every time that I've coached a game, that's what happened."
The focus started at the point, where freshman Ty Lawson continued his emergence as a scoring threat, dicing through the lane at will on his way to game highs of 18 points and eight assists.
"They gave me some times to drive and I took advantage of it," said Lawson, who also had four steals and just one turnover. "(Arizona) wasn't helping out when I was driving so the lanes were much more bigger."
Lawson's aggressiveness has emerged during the past two games when Williams has urged him to take it to the hoop.
"At the beginning of the season I didn't want to mess up the team chemistry, because I knew the main focus would be on Tyler (Hansbrough) and Brandan," Lawson said.
"So I just, like, passed, tried to be more like a regular point guard - not scoring. So now, coach told me to score, so I just play like I did in high school."
For the record, Lawson scored 30 or more points nine times last year at Oak Hill Academy.
Still, the Tar Heels showed remarkable offensive balance Saturday, with six players in double figures. Hansbrough overcame a rough first half to put up 14 points, two of which came on a thunderous one-handed dunk late in the second half that prompted a Psycho-T yell from the sophomore.
The home crowd - which had yelled some unprintable things about Hansbrough's mother earlier - responded with a chorus of boos.
Yet many of those fans started heading to the exits early, sick of the Tar Heels' dunks - they had seven in the second half - and the Wildcats' ineptitude.
"I basically told the guys that this was a nightmare and that we are not even going to look at the tapes," Olson said.
The silver-haired coach fittingly delivered his postgame remarks in a classroom, just a few steps from the court where his team had just been schooled.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/26/07 5:00am)
TUCSON, Ariz. -- North Carolina will be without freshman forward Brandan Wright and sophomore guard Marcus Ginyard today against Arizona because of sickness. Both players were throwing up much of last night.
Wright, one of the best freshmen in the country, is averaging 15.2 points per game and has started all 20 of the Tar Heels' games this season. Ginyard averages 4.1 points per game, and provides strong defense off the bench.
The Tar Heels and Wildcats tip off at 1 p.m. eastern time on CBS.
(01/22/07 5:00am)
Tyler Hansbrough came into Saturday's game with a bull's-eye on his amply sized back.
Georgia Tech's retribution for the North Carolina sophomore's 40-point explosion in the Smith Center last year was a swarming defense and a barrage of hard fouls.
Yellow Jackets were called for intentionally fouling Hansbrough twice, and another time he was hacked so hard that one of his contact lenses popped out.
Hansbrough only got 24 points this time - shooting 14-of-15 from the free throw line - but he also helped score the No. 4 Tar Heels' second straight win, 77-61.
"Tonight was a little more physical but I think I handled it well," Hansbrough said. "I'm fine with what happened. It's college basketball."
Saturday's performance proved again why Hansbrough is one of the best big men in college basketball. His ability to absorb constant punishment even has ceased being remarkable to his teammates - it has become expected.
"I know what type of kid he is," sophomore forward Danny Green said. "He's a strong kid. He's strong mentally and physically. So we know he's going to come back regardless of what happens."
With the teams combining for 40 turnovers and 34 fouls, the game was at times as painful to watch as it was for Hansbrough to participate in.
"It was an ugly, sloppy, bad game in some ways for both teams," UNC coach Roy Williams said.
Both teams ended the first half on a three-and-a-half minute scoring drought, and eight of the half's final 12 possessions ended in turnovers.
But the Tar Heels (17-2, 4-1 in the ACC) had amassed an 11-point halftime advantage that never would get back to single digits thanks to a strong defensive effort.
The Jackets (13-5, 2-3) were hitting less than 40 percent from the field for most of the night, though a few garbage-time baskets got them to 41.7 percent for the game. It was quite a feat, considering that Ga. Tech entered the game shooting better than 53 percent against the ACC.
Yet Williams' high standards still were not quite met.
"I was not that displeased at all in the first half with what we did defensively," he said. "(In the) second half I think we allowed them to penetrate the lane a bit too much."
Of course, the team that gave up 101 points in an exhibition game against Pfeiffer has come a long way.
"We really started to make commitments to do the right thing on defense," said freshman Brandan Wright, who failed to score in double figures for the first time in his UNC career Saturday.
"We know we're not going to be the type of team that we need to be until we learn to defend."
That effort started at the point, where Ty Lawson and Javaris Crittenton did battle. Williams' defensive plan was to have his big men come out and pressure the talented Crittenton on high screens.
That tactic, along with Lawson's defense, resulted in a rare off-night for Crittenton, who headed into the game averaging 18.8 points per game in ACC play. On Saturday he shot just 2-of-10 from the field and had as many turnovers, seven, as points.
"I wanted to slow (Crittenton) down, make sure he didn't get into the lane and score like that," Lawson said. "And don't let him run the offense."
Lawson reclined on a couch, sporting ice packs on both knees and his right wrist, the price of the game's physicality.
"They are a big strong team and they tried to bully us," Lawson said.
"We just didn't back down, kept going, playing our game."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/19/07 5:00am)
Sometimes it's easy to forget the "college" part of college basketball.
At big-time schools, college hoops is seen as a glorified audition for the NBA, where talented players head as soon as possible to make their millions.
As of this year players must be 19 to enter the NBA draft, forcing big prospects to attend college for a year.
Georgia Tech freshman forward Thaddeus Young - whose team faces North Carolina at the Smith Center on Saturday (9 p.m. ESPN) - would seem to fit the bill. He has an NBA-ready perimeter game and could have been a lottery pick already if it weren't for the new rule.
So during Georgia Tech's game at Miami in early December, the television announcers commented that Young looked like he was trying to impress pro scouts.
Young heard the comment while head coach Paul Hewitt was breaking down the game tape and took offense.
"I'm just a freshman trying to get better," Young told Hewitt. "I'm not thinking every second about going to the NBA."
What the Fox Sports Net announcers didn't know was that they were talking about a kid who went to Taft College in Connecticut for an academic camp - shunning the basketball summer camps that get players noticed.
They were talking about a kid who was a member of the National Honor Society in high school and cited the strong academics as a big reason that he went to Ga. Tech.
"(Young's family members) were all bothered by the perception that he was only a basketball player," Hewitt said Monday at a teleconference. "They were looking for a situation that would make him more well-rounded."
Plenty of coaches would have loved that chance. Ranked the No. 6 overall prospect in his class by Scout.com, Young could have gone just about anywhere.
And he almost was a Tar Heel.
"(UNC coach) Roy Williams told me on my visit day that it was between me and Brandan Wright for the last scholarship," Young said in a phone interview Thursday.
"I told him I needed time to think about it and Brandan committed early. It made my decision a lot easier."
Now Young will have a chance to show UNC fans what they're missing. He presents matchup nightmares by having the size (6-foot-8, 217 pounds) to battle inside but the range (he's shooting 41.2 percent from 3) to hit from outside.
Wright knows those qualities well - after playing against Young several times in high school and AAU ball in Tennessee.
"I know him. We're pretty cool," said Wright, who is pouring in 15.7 points per game himself.
"He's pretty versatile, but I guess I would say I'm pretty versatile myself. That's a big advantage on the court for me."
The pair will be in the spotlight Saturday, in another big matchup in The Year of the Freshman.
Just don't assume Young's freshman year will be his last.
"I'm here for games like this," Young said. "Right now I'm just in college and enjoying the college life."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/18/07 5:00am)
CLEMSON, S.C. - The Smith Center's "Q" chant was replaced by Littlejohn Coliseum's "boo," but North Carolina junior Quentin Thomas continued his ascent Wednesday night.
After a nightmarish freshman season and an injury-riddled sophomore campaign, little was expected of Thomas this year - especially considering UNC's backlog of talent in the backcourt.
The quiet Oakland, Calif., native just continued to improve while no one was watching, and after missing nine games with a stress fracture in his left foot, he has handed out 15 assists to five turnovers in the past five games.
On Wednesday night Thomas helped ignite a 16-5 run late in the first half by solving Clemson's full-court press. The result was a 13-point halftime lead that would never dip below 11.
Gone is the skittish colt of two seasons ago who lost his backup point guard duties late in UNC's national championship run to converted two-guard Melvin Scott.
In his place a solid contributor has emerged, one who can be a spark rather than a liability.
"It was crazy. It was like a new world when I first got here," Thomas said. "I'm kind of used to it now - I'm definitely used to it."
He's getting used to backing up Ty Lawson, too, with sophomore Bobby Frasor sidelined indefinitely with a sore foot. Thomas has filled that role well, even picking up Lawson's slack on an off-night for the usually fantastic freshman.
Lawson had a career-high seven turnovers Wednesday - as the team racked up 22 - and Thomas made a point of whispering encouragement in the freshman's ear as he replaced him on the court midway through the second half.
"I know what it's like to go through things," Thomas said. "I have played in a game where I had seven turnovers. Ty is a great player and a great leader for us. I try to just keep encouraging him and give him confidence."
And it's Thomas' own confidence that is the biggest reason for his improved play. Now in his third time through the ACC, he knows how to tune out a crowd like Clemson's. Littlejohn was rocking before tipoff and deafening as the Tigers scored the first four points of the game.
Thomas provided a steadying hand in that difficult atmosphere, something he might not have done in years past. Senior Wes Miller said he has seen this side of Thomas all along, though it is just now making its ESPN debut.
"The difference is that Quentin is playing in games the way we see him play in practice and in pickup games in the summer every day," Miller said.
"If you come to a pickup game in the summer or you see Quentin in practice, there are times when he is the best player on the floor. I don't think everybody got to see that over the last two years."
Still, Thomas had three turnovers to go with his four assists, and missed all three shots he attempted. But his ability to rally from such mistakes has become his greatest strength.
"He's not letting things fluster him as much," sophomore Marcus Ginyard said. "After a turnover last year, he would be down. This year he would come over to the bench after a couple of turnovers and just try to understand what he's doing wrong. I think his attitude towards it is just totally different."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/17/07 5:00am)
After a loss, especially one in which he thinks his team played poorly, Roy Williams' demeanor changes.
The next practice is more intense. Little mistakes are magnified in his eyes.
So when the North Carolina basketball team reconvened Monday after its 94-88 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday, extra effort was expected from the Tar Heels.
When Williams didn't get it, the result wasn't pretty.
"Some guys were slacking off and weren't into it as much as we should have been after a loss," sophomore forward Danny Green said.
"He got mad at a couple of points in practice and threatened to run us a lot more. After practice we ran a good amount. . I was a little exhausted afterwards from competing all day."
Williams and the No. 4 Tar Heels can't afford to let up.
The game in Blacksburg, Va., started a stretch in which UNC will play six of eight games on the road. Tonight brings another test away from home, as the Tar Heels travel to No. 19 Clemson (7 p.m. ESPN).
In basketball the Tigers usually are more punching bag than power, but this year's veteran squad won its first 17 games before falling at Maryland on Saturday.
Most Tar Heel fans can recall that Clemson is 0-52 in Chapel Hill. But in a testament to the perils of going on the road in the ACC, North Carolina has lost three of its last five in Littlejohn Coliseum.
The difficulty of playing on the road became clear against Virginia Tech, which led UNC by as much as 23 in the second half and was propelled by a raucous crowd.
The Tar Heels' three starting freshmen got their first taste of life on the road in the ACC - and there were plenty of lessons to be learned.
"When you go on the road you've got to go in there and grind it out," freshman forward Brandan Wright said.
"Especially when you know the crowd's going to be against you. When you go into another team's place, they want to protect the home court, so it's always going to be tough."
The result was a lack of energy that was tough for sophomore Marcus Ginyard to watch when the team broke down the tape after Monday's practice.
"Two minutes into the game everybody was standing straight up," Ginyard said. "We were walking around on defense. It was absolutely pitiful. It was embarrassing to watch the tape."
One Tar Heel who didn't show up much on film was point guard Bobby Frasor, who played just six minutes Saturday before aggravating a stress reaction in his right foot. An X-ray confirmed it's not broken, but his status remains uncertain - just like it was for most of December.
"We have no set timetable whatsoever," Williams said in a teleconference Monday. "We'll just have to back off a little bit and see what happens."
Though freshman Ty Lawson has excelled in his absence, Frasor's contributions are key.
"He's a leader on the court," Green said. "He picks us up a lot when we're down."
And after suffering their second loss, the Tar Heels are down.
Yet the team's furious comeback, which cut the deficit to three, showed what the talented Tar Heels are capable of. Even with the loss - and the additional conditioning - their confidence remains intact.
"We have the potential to be a great team, but we have a lot of letdowns," Green said.
"We don't focus or play as intense as we should. If we just do the things that coach asks us to do and play the way we're supposed to play, we know that not many teams can play with us."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/10/07 5:00am)
In the seven games before Sunday's date with Florida State, the North Carolina basketball team had steamrolled its opposition by an average of almost 34 points per game.
Such success could be dismissed as a byproduct of a cupcake-heavy schedule, so as fans settled in for the start of ACC play, they could be forgiven for expecting a bit more competition.
Florida State shouldn't be confused with Florida Atlantic
- the Seminoles boast one of the best players in the nation in Al Thornton and a win against defending champion Florida.
So when the dust settled on yet another blowout, this one an 84-58 decision that ceased being competitive midway through the second half, the questions turned to a topic no coach wants to entertain in January: Is UNC the best team in the land?
The pollsters think so - the Tar Heels were awarded a No. 1 ranking by the Associated Press on Monday for the first time since 2001.
UNC (14-1, 1-0 in the ACC) earned the ranking with its eleventh straight victory Sunday night, leaving FSU coach Leonard Hamilton in awe.
"This team is one of the better teams that we've faced in the years that we've been in the ACC," Hamilton said.
"I think they will continue to get better as the year goes on. This might be the year where we're glad we're not playing them but one time."
North Carolina fell behind early Sunday and had an uneven first half. The Tar Heels led just 36-30 at the break, shooting an uncharacteristically low 41 percent from the floor.
The halftime adjustment was simple - get the ball inside.
FSU's starting frontcourt of Thornton and Uche Echefu are better known for their outside prowess than their ability to bang around down low. And in Tyler Hansbrough and Brandan Wright, UNC boasts a powerful duo in the paint.
So on a night when the outside shots weren't falling - UNC shot just 4-of-17 from 3 - Wright and Hansbrough had to do the heavy lifting. The result was a blistering 48-point second half. Hansbrough ended up with 25 points and 13 rebounds, while Wright scored 20.
But it was their passing that most impressed UNC coach Roy Williams.
"Tyler and Brandan do a nice job of looking for each other," Williams said.
"Now when they double (Hansbrough), Brandan goes to the front of the rim. And when they double Brandan, Tyler goes to the front of the rim."
Florida State had no answer for the duo, though Thornton made a valiant attempt to carry the Seminoles on his shoulders. He finished with a game-high 29 points, scoring eight of his team's 10 field goals in the second half.
But UNC's size and depth wore down FSU, as the Tar Heels broke the game open in the second half. When Wright and Hansbrough weren't wreaking havoc down low, freshmen Alex Stepheson and Deon Thompson were contributing quality minutes.
"Thompson and Stepheson didn't have great stats, but their minutes were valuable because they were very physical and aggressive. We were battling them and it took its toll," Hamilton said.
It was the same formula that produced so many Winter Break blowouts - dominant inside play and depth that allows Williams to substitute in waves.
And, at least for now, it's produced the No. 1 team in the nation.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(11/30/06 5:00am)
It's still November, but a clear trend has developed for the North Carolina basketball team: As Tyler Hansbrough goes, so go the Tar Heels.
In UNC's loss last week to Gonzaga, the 6-foot-8 monster put up just nine points. Wednesday night, he had just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting in the first half.
But the Tar Heels rallied from a halftime deficit to post a 98-89 victory against No. 3 Ohio State, and it was Hansbrough's dominance in the second half that got them through.
"He's our motor," said point guard Bobby Frasor who didn't start because of a foot injury but played 18 minutes.
"We have other options, but when he's playing well, everything's clicking for us and it means we're getting the ball inside."
No. 7 UNC trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, and went into the locker room behind by four.
But Hansbrough - a popular preseason choice for National Player of the Year - opened the second half with consecutive baskets to tie the score, and a rejection of Mike Conley Jr. on the other end for good measure.
The Buckeyes (6-1) fought back with their specialty - hot outside shooting. Senior forward Ivan Harris hit 5-of-8 3-pointers and Ron Lewis poured in 30 points to keep the game close.
UNC (5-1) managed to build a cushion, though, with a 13-2 run punctuated by Hansbrough taking Buckeye Matt Terwilleger to the hoop off the dribble for a layup to give the Tar Heels an 80-70 advantage with less than seven minutes to go.
"It wasn't anything I did in particular," said Hansbrough, who made all five of his shots in the second half. "A little more moving without the ball, and I got open looks."
Yet it was more than Hansbrough, who finished with 21 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, that gave UNC the win. The Tar Heels had an incredible reversal on both sides of the ball from the first to the second half.
After watching the Buckeyes bomb away from deep in the opening half, UNC did the same in the second, hitting 65.5 percent from the floor. Freshman Wayne Ellington - who was celebrating his 19th birthday - scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half, with three 3-pointers.
"In the first half I was a little tight, I didn't get into a good rhythm," Ellington said.
"But in the second half, I finally knocked down one. And I think that's what it takes for me, to knock down one, get some confidence and get into a rhythm."
The icing on Ellington's birthday cake came with a minute-and-a-half to play and OSU still lurking. Ellington picked off a Buckeye pass and raced the length of the floor, converting an and-one play to give UNC a 93-83 lead and all but put the game away - drawing an ear-splitting roar from the sold-out Smith Center crowd.
"It's no surprise to any of us to see Wayne score like that," senior Wes Miller said. "But I thought he did a great job of getting down and defending. He has made tremendous strides in the last month or so defensively."
There were plenty of defensive lapses and mental errors to keep UNC coach Roy Williams' sideline histrionics in full force, though.
The Tar Heels shot just 22-of-34 for the game from the free throw line and committed a few dumb fouls down the stretch.
But it was still a win against a top-five team. And when freshman center Greg Oden - the likely No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft - returns from his broken wrist, the Buckeyes could be even better.
When asked about the prospect of facing the Buckeyes again, Ellington cracked a smile.
"They're a real good team and they play well together," Ellington said.
"And I think we're on our way to being a better team, so it's a possibility we could meet them again down the stretch."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.