70 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(03/25/10 4:06am)
GREENSBORO — Let no one say that the No. 17 North Carolina baseball team doesn’t have a flair for the dramatic.The Tar Heels had hits in every inning, but it wasn’t until well after night had fallen in Greensboro that UNC (16-6) made its move. After trailing the entire game to UNC-Greensboro, the Tar Heels jumped out to take the lead in the eighth and hung on for a 4-3 win.UNC’s Jesse Wierzbicki started the eighth inning with a solo home run high over the left field wall to bring the score to 3-2. Following the homer, the Tar Heels created a walk and a hit, then scored the tying run off a wild pitch. They finally took a 4-3 lead on an error by the second baseman.“We talked about starting the game on a good note, and not giving a team that we’ve beaten some confidence,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “We really had to fight hard for this one.”UNC-G jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but as the night wore on, the game turned into a grinder.Spartan Colby Hyatt allowed just a single run in six innings, but his teammates couldn’t find a way to add on to their lead. The Spartans (11-9) didn’t have another hit until the sixth inning.And despite seven hits of their own, the Tar Heels managed just one run in the first seven innings. UNC left 12 runners on base in the game.Garrett Davis, who pitched five innings of a 12-2 rout of UNC-G on Feb. 23, had the start Wednesday. The right-hander’s second outing against the Spartans didn’t begin nearly as smoothly.A pair of infield hits and a walk loaded the bases in the first before UNC-G had its first out. Davis then gave up a sacrifice fly and three more hits, giving the Spartans an early 3-0 lead.But Davis quickly made the inning seem like a fluke. He pitched three more innings and didn’t give up another hit, giving the Tar Heels an opportunity to get back into it.“A couple things didn’t go my way, but I think that’s one of the biggest steps I’ve taken the past couple years, just not panicking and not overthinking,” Davis said.Davis gave up four hits and three earned runs in four innings, with three strikeouts and a walk.His relief pitchers struggled as well. Left-hander Zach Bernard came in, walked a batter and was promptly replaced with freshman Chris Munnelly.Initially, Munnelly wasn’t much better, but he regained his poise and managed to get out of the inning without allowing a run.All-in-all, UNC placed six pitchers on the mound on Wednesday night. “We had to use too many guys, and we used some of them we didn’t want to with Georgia Tech coming in here Friday,” Fox said. “But that’s the nature of it.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/22/10 4:15am)
STARKVILLE, Miss. — On Jan. 16 against Georgia Tech, after Larry Drew II’s layup rolled harmlessly off the rim with seconds to play, coach Roy Williams told him not to sweat it. He’d get another chance to hit a game-winner.
(03/18/10 4:32am)
No. 17 North Carolina didn’t quite match the dominant pitching or hitting Wednesday that it delivered in a 25-1 spanking of Princeton the day before.With a bit of St. Patrick’s Day luck, though, the Tar Heels (14-4) still had plenty to put away the Tigers for a 12-5 win.A series of Princeton errors in the first three innings led to five unearned runs that gave the Tar Heels an early 6-1 lead.“We got a break,” coach Mike Fox said. “We didn’t play our best, but that helped give us a little bit of a cushion.”With the bases loaded in the first, Tigers second baseman Alex Flink let a ball that could have been a double play bounce off his glove, letting a pair of runs score.Two more errors sandwiched around a walk in the third inning set up another three runs for the Tar Heels. After that, the UNC bats managed to keep up the production and keep the lead for the second win in two days against Princeton (1-8).Fox warned the team against letting the large margin of the first game give them a false sense of security.“Coach was drilling into our heads, ‘We won big yesterday, but today’s a new day. We’ve got to come out and play,’” said Jesse Wierzbicki, who had an RBI triple.Dillon Hazlett led the Tar Heels with four RBIs as UNC scored six more runs the old-fashioned way to put away the Tigers.UNC freshman Parker Thomas went for 3 1/3 innings in his first career start, giving up four hits and four earned runs. The right-hander showed some potential with his fastball and allowed just one run in the second after a dangerous one-out, bases-loaded situation.“I thought he did real well,” freshman pitcher Zach Bernard said. “He’s one of the hardest workers on our team.”Thomas, who finished with three walks and three strikeouts, made an early exit soon after giving up a two-run homer to the Tigers’ John Mishu that made the score 6-3.Fox said he could tell Thomas was “really nervous” but that it’s all part of being a rookie.“We all remember our first college game, at-bat, whatever, playing here, and it’s understandable,” Fox said. “He’s got a good arm. He wants to be good. He’s not quite there yet, but most freshman pitchers aren’t.”The game also saw a pair of Tar Heels end hit streaks of double-digit games, despite productive outings.After hitting three doubles and drawing four walks on the previous night, freshman Brian Goodwin got on base in his first two at-bats. But both of those came off Princeton errors, and his 12-game hit streak came to end.Ryan Graepel walked in his first four at-bats and popped up in his fifth, ending his streak at 11 games.Mike Cavasinni made a brief return from a nagging right shoulder to pinch hit in the eighth inning but struck out. The injury still on his throwing arm still kept him from fielding, but Fox said he was optimistic about his chances for returning to play this weekend.“He’s our spark plug, and we definitely need him,” Wierzbicki said.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/15/10 3:33am)
DURHAM — No. 11 North Carolina and Duke combined for 56 runs while splitting the first two games of their annual series, so a pitching duel wasn’t exactly what they expected in the deciding game on Sunday.But that’s what they got, as UNC starter Colin Bates and Duke starter Dennis O’Grady prevented either side from jumping out to a big lead like in the two previous games.The result was a 5-3 Duke victory on Sunday, giving them the win in the series at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.“Like most ACC games, if it’s close it comes down to one pitch or one swing of the bat, and they got it today,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. This time, it was two swings. With two outs in the eighth inning, Duke’s Eric Brady hit an RBI double to tie the game 3-3, and teammate Brian Litwin knocked in two more runs to give the Blue Devils the winning edge.Duke won two straight after the Tar Heels blasted them 21-9 in the opener. The Blue Devils had an eight-run sixth inning to take the 15-11 win Saturday.In the finale, Bates was in total control for the first four innings. He faced just one batter more than the minimum during that stretch while forcing Duke (11-4, 2-1) into plenty of flies and ground outs.“I just tried to be efficient,” Bates said. “I felt like I had a pretty good slider today, and (the Blue Devils) were putting themselves out a little bit.”After the near-perfect start, Bates started to get into some trouble in later innings. In the fifth, he gave up a two-run homer to Will Currier that tied the game at 2-2, and he got into another tight spot two innings later.The junior had managed to get two outs, but with runners on second and third, Fox decided that Bates’ 81 pitches were enough and sent in closer Greg Holt.Holt temporarily preserved the Tar Heels’ one-run lead, forcing a fly ball to wrap up the seventh. But Duke managed three runs off of three hits and a walk in the eighth, giving Holt (0-1) the loss.After a Levi Michael double, Jesse Wierzbicki hit a home run in the top of the third to give UNC (12-4, 1-2) the early advantage. Michael scored again in the sixth off of Ryan Graepel’s single, but apart from that, the Tar Heels didn’t have any other runners in scoring position until a last-minute rally attempt.UNC had a promising start to the ninth inning with a bunt, a walk and a sacrifice bunt to move the tying runners to second and third with just one out. But the Tar Heels couldn’t manage another hit, finishing with eight for the game.Graepel is riding a 10-game hit streak and freshman Brian Goodwin — who hit 4-for-4 in Friday’s blowout — extended his to 11 games. Those are both career bests, but that’s no consolation. Given the offensive showcase that made up the first two games of the series, Fox’s biggest frustration was the lack of production from the Tar Heels’ bats.“We were going to have to score to win this game, we knew that,” Fox said. “And we didn’t.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/05/10 4:01am)
In a season that’s been big on expectations and short on experience, John Henson exemplifies both sides of the Tar Heels.The 6-foot-10 freshman, who came in as the No. 3 ESPNU 100 recruit in the country, once blocked two layups by Duke’s Jon Scheyer on the same possession and sent the Smith Center into a frenzy. But the inexperienced Tar Heel was so pumped that he didn’t chase down either of the loose balls, and on the third try, Duke finished with a basket.It’s hard to blame him. In his first year, the 195-pound Henson — for whom “lanky” is an understatement — hasn’t had much stability. He switched positions at the start of the season, only to switch back later. And he’s been everywhere in coach Roy Williams’ rotation, from first off the bench to finishing games with the walk-ons. Now he’s a starter, taking opening tip-offs while eye-to-eye with the ACC’s best.And with North Carolina on the tail end of an underachieving season and eyeing a difficult ACC Tournament challenge ahead, Henson’s development is a major concern for the Tar Heels — both present and future.Don’t expect to be able to tell it by talking to him, though.“He’s goofy, joking around, laughing,” sophomore Larry Drew II said. “You walk around, you see some of the guys smiling in here. He’s part of the reason why.”Henson has been a bright spot on the court and an even brighter one in the locker room. And even in one of the more trying years for North Carolina basketball, he still says he enjoys the atmosphere.“You can’t be pessimistic, because then things really won’t go your way,” Henson said.Swapping rolesIn what Henson said was a “mutual decision” between himself, his family and Williams, Henson agreed to switch from his natural power forward to small forward at UNC. He didn’t expect the move to be easy, but given his build and his skill set, they all thought it was the right move for his future.But for someone who had spent most of his playing career in the paint, being a small forward in Williams’ offense required a lot of changes.Not only was it a different offensive role, but it was one that was often totally antagonistic to his instincts. Perimeter scorers need to stretch the defense out, so they need to move to open spots on the 3-point line — while Henson was used to crashing the boards and going right into the middle.“It was difficult, just learning the offense and learning what to do as a perimeter player,” Henson said. “My mentality is to run to the front of the rim.”The result was inconsistency. Given limited minutes to get a feel for his new position, Henson went back and forth between old and new. He’d lurk in the paint one possession, then circle around the outside on the next.“He had a difficult time remembering the plays, knowing when to be in certain spots,” Drew said.Sometimes he would even start out a play in one role and finish it playing another. Against Georgia Tech, he once ran out to the 3-point line, received a pass, then gave up a wide-open look and drove back into traffic for a dunk.Taking refuge on defenseWhile his play is far from polished, it’s hard to underestimate Henson’s impact on defense. His long reach and jumping ability have been on showcase all season, providing spectacular highlights for fans and nightmares for opponents.It’s been good for his mental health, too. His furrowed expression relaxes into an easygoing smile when the subject switches from offense to defense.“I love blocking shots,” said Henson, who’s averaged the most blocks per minute of any Tar Heel. “I’m going to try to go get anything that’s thrown up there soft.”In front of a crowd of nearly 40,000 against Texas, the easily excitable youngster clearly benefitted from a rush of adrenaline. He swatted a 3-pointer within 10 seconds of entering the game, and had two more blocks by the time he sat back down on the bench.“An opportunity”The announcement that Davis would miss six weeks with a broken wrist was grim and sudden news for the Tar Heels. Henson didn’t have time to dwell on the negatives for the team — he had to get ready to fill Davis’ spot and move back into the position he’d being trying to unlearn all season.Since he’s entered the starting lineup, Henson has looked much more comfortable while playing at his old position, power forward. He’s also shown immediate promise: he averaged 10.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 52 percent shooting in his first five games after moving into Davis’ spot — numbers comparable to some of the better players in the conference.More importantly, playing long minutes shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Gani Lawal of Georgia Tech and Al-Farouq Aminu of Wake Forest has given Henson an idea of the work it takes to be successful in the ACC.“He didn’t have a lot of experience at getting into that game-type mentality,” Tyler Zeller said. “So he’s gained a lot.”Not all the results have been good, though. His inexperience in crunch time has sometimes hurt the team, like in a road loss to Boston College. As the Tar Heels cut the lead to single digits in the closing moments, Henson missed three crucial free throws — including the front end of a one-and-one opportunity — and got called for goaltending when trying to block a layup.Still, that’s to be expected for a freshman who doesn’t even have a dozen starts under his belt. He undoubtedly would have rather gotten big minutes to get a feel for his role back in December, when the stakes weren’t quite so high. And maybe it would have been easier if he could have stayed at power forward instead of trying to switch to the outside.But Henson isn’t the type to have regrets. He’s happy to have playing time, eager to keep learning and motivated more than ever to improve his game — and his muscle — during the coming months.“I can’t even explain how much more appreciative I am of the opportunity,” he said. “Nothing was given to me here … and I pushed through, had my rough days, things started turning around a little bit and hopefully we can start winning and getting back to the Carolina way.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/03/10 6:15am)
Tuesday night might have been all about North Carolina’s past, but nothing came easy for the Tar Heels of the present.After Miami battled back from an 18-point deficit early in the second half to cut the lead to one, it took inspirational play from UNC’s seniors to put the Hurricanes away.Deon Thompson overcame an ailing back and hit one of his signature turnaround jumpers to put the Tar Heels ahead 61-58.And Marcus Ginyard — who, in five years, had never put together a double-double — pulled down two crucial rebounds and hit three late free throws to secure the 69-62 win on Senior Night.Ginyard was tenacious on the glass in leading his team to a 51-27 rebounding edge.“I introduced him in the locker room tonight to the freshmen at the end of the game,” Williams said. “I said, ‘That’s the Marcus that we’ve known in the past, that you guys have not been able to see.”While also garnering five assists, the fifth-year senior finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds to finally get himself into double-double territory.Just as importantly, Ginyard had the confidence to shake off mistakes that might have bothered him at other times this season. He got called for a charge at one point and took it right back into traffic to draw a foul on the next play.The Tar Heels might still return to the Smith Center if they were to have a home game in the NIT tournament. But you couldn’t tell from watching Ginyard, who went after every loose ball like it was his last.“He played like a man,” freshman John Henson said. “I haven’t seen Marcus play like that.”For awhile, it looked like a full-scale celebration was in order. The Tar Heels held a 10-point lead in the first half for the first time since Dec. 30, and a 21-3 run spanning halftime put them ahead 44-26.But Miami’s Durand Scott was the latest in a long line of ACC guards to scorch the Tar Heels for big numbers. He had 29 points while leading the Hurricanes’ comeback.It didn’t help that UNC was back to its usual self in the turnover department. The Tar Heels turned the ball over 17 times, prompting Williams to give his team yet another lecture.“I told them in the locker room that we’re going to go take a eye test and make sure that everybody knows that the good guys are the ones wearing the same color we are,” Williams said. “Turnovers kill you.”The other upperclassman on the court — junior Will Graves — rose to the occasion with a team-high 16 points and four 3-pointers. “That’s one thing that Will does,” Henson said. “When the pressure’s on, he hits shots.”In the end, Thompson and Ginyard could both leave the court to standing ovations and big smiles on their faces. And Ginyard, with 35 rebounds in the past three games, was overjoyed to be finally finishing his career the way he wanted to.“I don’t think it could have happened any better for me tonight,” he said.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/03/10 1:56am)
After the Hurricanes stormed back from an early 12-point deficit to tie the game at 23 apiece, the UNC went on a 13-0 run to take back control. The upperclassmen lead UNC as Deon Thompson has eight points, Marcus Ginyard has six and Will Graves also has six on a pair of 3-pointers.
(03/01/10 5:28am)
WINSTON-SALEM — Roy Williams did something Saturday he has rarely tried all season. He went small.Right around the time Wake Forest took its only lead of the second half, Williams moved swingman Will Graves to power forward and put in a three-guard lineup of Leslie McDonald, Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew II.And guess what? It worked. With three dribblers, plus Graves as a spot-up shooter, the Tar Heels got great ball movement out of their half-court offense and repeatedly found the open man. Five minutes later, North Carolina had leapt to a 57-47 lead.“I have a rule, I’m going to do what I think’s best at that specific time, and it was good for us today,” Williams said.That backcourt (Graves, McDonald, Strickland and Drew) combined for 31 points in the second half to lead the Tar Heels to their first win against a team not named N.C. State in nearly two months.No one thrived more than McDonald, who had his best game of the year and a career-high 16 points to lead the Tar Heels. The freshman was averaging just 3.2 per game off the bench but showed energy on both ends of the court against the Demon Deacons.During a stretch starting when the score was tied at 41, McDonald drew a charge, hit a 3-pointer to take the lead, fed John Henson for a wide-open dunk off an inbounds play and made a layup after grabbing his own miss.“I’ve been waiting for a performance like this, because Leslie and I go at it every day in practice,” Graves said. “He’s a scorer, and he has a scorer’s mentality.”Later, when Wake Forest cut the lead to 71-68 with only 59 seconds to play, it was McDonald and another freshman guard who delivered the dagger. Strickland took the inbounds pass and streaked up the sideline, then tossed it back to a trailing McDonald for a layup.Seconds later, McDonald was flattened by Wake Forest’s C.J. Harris at the 3-point line. He literally took that one on the chin — he had to get stitches after the game — and Harris was called for a charge. The Demon Deacons didn’t score again.“I have told (McDonald) in practice that I think he’s working harder, he’s being more aggressive, he’s being more attentive,” Williams said. “I said, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing, and it’s going to pay off for you.’”Williams went with the three-guard lineup partly out of necessity and partly out of the flow of the game. Foul trouble kept Tyler Zeller on the bench, and the Demon Deacons’ Ish Smith was pushing the ball so much that UNC didn’t need to match Wake’s size inside with big defenders.“We know that we can do it, this just gives us that example,” McDonald said of the win. “We’re still here, we’re still going to battle, and we’re not giving up.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/22/10 4:36am)
CHESTNUT HILL, Ma. — Coach Roy Williams looked at a road game against Boston College and was more than confident about North Carolina’s chances of making a run into the postseason.“In my own opinion, I thought we were going to win today and get on a great run and we’d be in the NCAA Tournament,” Williams said on Saturday.“I said (before the game), ‘Alright, we’re 3-8, let’s win five in a row and that’ll get us in.’”It wasn’t just optimism; it was blind faith. But after a 71-67 loss to the Eagles that guaranteed the Tar Heels will have their first losing conference record in seven years, it’ll be hard to even be hopeful. Now, desperation seems more appropriate. Despite the return of forward Tyler Zeller from injury, UNC (14-13, 3-9 ACC) couldn’t manage a win against a ninth-place Boston College team that had lost four in a row. “We’ve got to win the ACC tournament,” John Henson said. “That’s the only way. Right now it’s life or death.”In his third start of the year, Henson managed 11 points, second only to Deon Thompson’s 17 on the Tar Heels. But the freshman committed a crucial goaltending violation right after UNC had rattled off seven straight to cut the lead to 63-60.That killed the momentum and gave Boston College (13-13, 4-8) just the breathing room it needed to hold on for the win. The two squads traded baskets until Thompson’s missed jumper in the final minute ended in a jump ball in the Eagles’ favor.“We just didn’t get a stop,” said Thompson, who also led UNC with nine rebounds. “It’s as simple as that.”Thanks largely to a 5-of-11 mark at the three-point line, Boston College led 37-36 at halftime. But guard Reggie Jackson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second period to help Boston College eventually take control of a back-and-forth game.He matched the Tar Heels’ assists total (seven) by himself, illustrating that even though the game was competitive, there wasn’t much for UNC to be proud of.At least the Tar Heels can look forward to Zeller getting back to form. In his first game since an ACC-opening win against Virginia Tech, he struggled to find a rhythm but finished close to his season averages. He swished his first look, a hook shot from the high post, but was 1-for-8 for the rest of the game — including a couple of bad misses right next to the basket.Zeller did manage to get to the free throw line more than any other player on the floor. He finished with nine points and seven boards, in what Williams called an “OK” effort.But with Ed Davis likely done for the season and Travis Wear still nursing a badly sprained ankle, the Tar Heels will need a lot more production from their 7-footer — especially if those aspirations of making a late-season surge are anything more than a pipe dream.“Right now we got a lot of holes we’re trying to fill, and we don’t have enough fingers,” Williams said.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(02/20/10 9:31pm)
CHESTNUT HILL, Ma. – North Carolina made a game of it, but another conference game turned into another conference loss for the Tar Heels (14-13, 3-9).
(02/11/10 6:34am)
Inconsistency has been a plague upon North Carolina this season. The 64-54 loss to Duke was no different, whether you look at the whole roster or just at one spot.Against the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels received good 3-point shooting and solid defensive play from their small forward — but just not at the same time, and not from the same player.Will Graves provided the scoring boost the Tar Heels needed. He hit a pair of 3-pointers early to keep the game close and led the team in scoring with 13 points.John Henson mostly stuck to what he does best: help defense near the rim. He finished with four blocks in just 20 minutes and forced several turnovers in the paint.But neither was able to contribute on the opposite end. Henson shot just 2-for-8 from the floor, and Graves found himself unable to keep position on defense.“The big men were going to block shots, and so that leaves their man open,” Graves said.“And I did a poor job of getting down to box out, and to help them out when my man was on the outside.”So, despite meaningful performances from each player, UNC (13-11, 2-7 ACC) suffered from Duke’s late run and found itself facing its fourth straight loss.“Their kids played their hearts out, and unless we got a few buckets there, the game could have gone the other way,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.Despite a long quiet stretch in the middle of the game, Graves hit several crucial jumpers to keep the game close. As UNC started to fade in the closing minutes of the second, just as it had in previous ACC play, his 3-pointer from the wing cut Duke’s lead to one and kept the Tar Heels’ chances alive.And Henson, while still showing his youth with a couple off-target layup attempts, helped Ed Davis (six blocks) establish a punishing presence in the paint early.With Duke leading 26-24 late in the first, Henson swatted away two of Jon Scheyer’s layups on the same possession. By halftime, enough seemingly open layups at the basket had been cruelly sent back by Henson and Davis that the Blue Devils were thinking about a challenge every time they went to the post.While Duke (20-4, 8-2 ACC) relied more and more on difficult runners and jump shots, their field goal percentage stayed low — very low. Duke was shooting below 30 percent well into the second half.But UNC couldn’t do much better. The Tar Heels shot under 40 percent for the fourth straight game, as the No. 1 and No. 3 scoring offenses in the ACC settled into a slow grind.And after that Graves shot cut the lead to one? A couple of bad possessions and a couple easy layups given up to Duke, and it was all over. Consistency — just for the last five minutes — would have given UNC a shot to win it, but then again, that’s easier said than done.“I feel like we’re into it, but we’re so anxious,” Graves said. “(We) probably don’t need to use our brain as much — it’s just a matter of putting everything together to get a win.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/27/10 6:22am)
RALEIGH — N.C. State wasn’t the toughest opponent North Carolina has faced this season. But re-creating coach Roy Williams’ winning formula of tough defense and aggressive offense after a three-game losing streak might have ended up being the Tar Heels’ steepest challenge.UNC (13-7, 2-3 ACC) put the pieces back together to earn its first true road win of the season Tuesday night. The 77-63 victory was far from perfect — in both halves, there were long stretches where neither side could find the basket — but it had all the classic elements of Williams’ coaching style.A quicker offense led by the guards helped UNC outscore N.C. State 19-7 on the fast break. A stronger post presence helped the Tar Heels double their opponent’s free throw opportunities. And a return to physical defense held the Wolfpack (13-8, 2-5) to just 29 percent shooting in the second half.“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” senior forward Deon Thompson said. “We just had to win this game.”Much of the early offense ran through Thompson. Two runs, 7-0 and 9-0, helped the Tar Heels gain an edge early, and they entered halftime with a lead for the first time in five games.But at the start of the second half, N.C. State gained the lead on a pair of free throws by Javier Gonzalez — and for a moment it looked like the Tar Heels were beginning to unravel again.Sophomore guard Larry Drew II threw the ball into the stands on the next possession, and Gonzalez continued his one-man run with an open trey from the corner and a tip-in to make the score 38-43.That turned out to be Drew’s only turnover of the game. The sophomore was determined this time not to let the same mistakes happen again.“When we stepped out on the court, we said, ‘This is either when we’re gonna grow as a team and fight back, or where we’re gonna fold,’” Drew said.From there, the Tar Heels took off on a dominating 28-6 run that put the Wolfpack firmly behind them. Drew (18 points and seven assists) and Dexter Strickland (14 points on 6-of-7 shooting) struck quickly in the lane and handled the ball efficiently.But UNC also kept N.C. State on the ropes on the other end, showing the kind of lasting defensive resolve that had been lacking in the losing streak.It helped that sophomore forward Ed Davis was back from an ankle injury, but contributions came from all around during the run. Thompson and freshman John Henson had blocks, senior Marcus Ginyard drew a charge deep in the paint, and all the Tar Heels were moving their feet quicker than they had all game.The only open looks the Wolfpack could manage were when they kicked it out from a double-team to the 3-point line, as they were held to just 29 percent shooting in the second half.It was the kind of dominating, game-breaking run — on both offense and defense — that UNC had been lacking.“You hope it’s a big boost,” Williams said. “The whole season is a journey. Each and every day you’ve got an opportunity to learn something.”The Tar Heels, who came into the game averaging a league-high 17.5 giveaways in conference play, were also able to keep their turnover demons in check. They had only three in the first half and finished with 10.With games against conference-leading Virginia and Maryland just around the corner, the Tar Heels will have to keep stay keep Williams’ formula intact — something Thompson was quick to point out. “Don’t settle for this,” Thompson said. “This is just the beginning, hopefully.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/19/10 5:15am)
Will Graves fell one shot short of having the game of his life on Saturday.
(01/14/10 5:55am)
CLEMSON, S.C. — They might have been picked to win the conference, but if North Carolina doesn’t change something soon, they’re not going anywhere in the ACC.The Tar Heels (12-5, 1-1) were dismantled by No. 24 Clemson in their first ACC road game, losing 83-64. An early 18-4 run put the Tigers in control, and well before the end, the Tar Heels stood with heads down, hands on hips.Sure, Clemson coach Oliver Purnell’s full-court defense forced plenty of turnovers (26, tying UNC’s season high), but it wasn’t the only problem. More than once, the No. 12 Tar Heels got into scoring position only to throw the ball into the stands. They also failed to get good looks for their big men and broke down on defense, leaving a bounty of open 3-point shots.In short, they were rattled.“They’re always doing the same press defense, we’ve just never played this bad against it,” Marcus Ginyard said. “We just didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.”The turnovers turned into easy scores and open 3-pointers for the Tigers (14-3, 2-1), who shot 58 percent in the first half.Deon Thompson and Ed Davis had only one field goal between them in the first period. UNC’s best sources of scoring early were guards Dexter Strickland and Larry Drew II driving to the basket.The guards didn’t shoot poorly for the most part, and Strickland led the team with 17 points, but even that played into the Tigers’ hands.“We felt like we were the quicker, faster team, so the faster the game went, the better,” Purnell said.The Tar Heels weren’t much better in the second half.No possession was more futile than the three-offensive-rebound disaster with 12 minutes to go. UNC had just given up a runner from Booker at the other end to make the score 64-43, and seemed determined to be patient and not just throw up the first chance they got for a tip-in.But it just wasn’t their night. Despite good looks, Will Graves missed a pair of 3-pointers on the wing, and Travis Wear got one shot blocked and the other missed from the low post.The Tar Heels briefly cut the deficit to 11 with six minutes to go on a nice feed from Thompson to Drew, but Demontez Stitt came right back for a layup on the other end to make the score 71-57.Stitt finished with 20 points and forward Trevor Booker had 21 to go with nine rebounds for the Tigers. “Guys who are leaders on this team didn’t contribute well tonight, like myself, and we turned the ball over like it was going out of style,” said Thompson, who finished with four points. “We definitely have to do better.”Ginyard lost several passes out of bounds early, and apart from one steal for a breakaway dunk, was a non-factor in his second game back from an ankle injury.The Tar Heels are now 0-3 in true road games and 1-2 at neutral sites. If they still hope to finish in the top of the ACC, they’ll need those upperclassmen to teach them how it’s done, and quickly.“Clemson showed what aggressive means,” coach Roy Williams said. “They had a great sense of urgency and poise and we need to play with that.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(01/13/10 5:45am)
Deon Thompson goes up for a rebound in North Carolina’s 94-70 blowout win at home last season against Clemson. Thompson scored 15 points in the win, which kept UNC perfect all-time in home games against the Tigers (54 games). Tonight’s game is on the road.
(01/11/10 6:03am)
For once, North Carolina was able to close out a game strong. The Tar Heels had allowed late leads to evaporate in their last two outings, blowing double-digit leads in a loss to College of Charleston and letting Albany finish on a 23-2 run the game before — but not this time.
(12/31/09 2:10am)
After a Roy Williams tongue-lashing, North Carolina showed it wasn’t satisfied with Monday’s messy outing against Rutgers.
(12/20/09 12:31am)
ARLINGTON, Texas – The matchup was huge. The venue was massive. But Dexter Pittman’s performance was biggest of them all.
(12/19/09 10:24pm)
ARLINGTON, TX – A searing run to close the first half put No. 2 Texas in control and No. 10 North Carolina couldn’t make up the deficit in the second half, falling 103-90 to the Longhorns.
(12/19/09 1:23pm)
UNC-Texas Live Blog