That is more like it.
The only real issue was the first half defense. College of Charleston shot 46% in the first half and hit 8 of 18 three pointers. Those made threes helped Charleston stay close until a small run at the end of the half gave the Heels a 12 point halftime edge. Charleston did a great job with spacing and created a lot of open looks with good ball movement. The Cougars also took 59% of their FG attempts in the first half from beyond the arc which is all bad since it is a lower percentage shot. The problem is Charleston hit their threes giving them a foothold in the game. On the offensive side UNC was far more aggressive while hitting their shots, especially in transition. Roy also shook the rotation up some shuffling in Will Graves, Ed Davis, Bobby Frasor and Larry Drew earlier than normal then afforded them more playing time than usual.
In what could be considered a reverse of the trend seen in the previous few wins, the Heels ratcheted up their game in the 2nd half on both ends of the floor paving the way for the complete destuction of the Cougars. The mode of operation for the Heels since the Michigan State game has been to play as though they were bored in the 2nd half and keep the lead in the 15-20 point range. Not this time. UNC opened the half with an 11-0 run to make it a 23 point lead then built on that to eventually run it out to a 40 point margin. This all happened with the starters playing only 21-24 minutes. The second stanza also included some lockdown defense from the Heels to the tune of Charleston only shooting 21% from the floor and worse than that from three point range. Overall it was an impressive game for the Heels, pretty much the kind of bounce back you would expect.
The question is how does the team move from this performance to taking on Wake Forest on the road Sunday night? One would hope they would use this as a springboard to build momentum really get on a roll as they move toward the Duke game in February. The danger of this group getting complacent is a real possibility unless the last loss finally was a big enough kick in the pants to move them to that upper echelon of performance on a consistent basis.
![[Bloglines]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/bloglines.png)
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[MySpace]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/myspace.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://www.tarheelfanblog.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Based on last year, you have to assume that a loss only helps this team. They played, perhaps, their best 2 games of last year after the UM game, and then Lawson got hurt. After losing to Duke, they didn’t lose again until Kansas.
How did Ginyard look?
Did not play. Roy’s post-game comments:
“I didn’t feel like playing him tonight. He’s been struggling quite a bit and he’s just not where we want him to be at this time, so I decided not to play him.”
“…you’ve seen him play, too. Have you seen the offensive rebounds? Have you seen the steals? Have you seen the kinds of plays that Marcus makes his living on? I haven’t either. So we’re trying to give him a little more time and see what happens.”
The Ginyard story has me worried. I feel we will need at 100% Ginyard when the going gets tough.
Roy’s comments strike me as strange. I guess he wants Marcus to spend more time on conditioning and practice? I would think a game like last night would have been a great forum to get back in the flow.
*I am happy to see Larry Drew playing well.
* We had several “home run” type passes that became turnovers
* Wayne is slowly looking better (at least to me)
* Deon is an enigma. He needs to play well against Wake for us to have a chance.
The BC-Harvard thing really bugs me.
I kind of see BC losing as proof of how fluky some results are, aside from the fact that I despise BC and its coach and am glad to see them losing whenever, kind of like Duke. Nobody on this site went around saying last season, “oh no, Duke lost. That will make Carolina look bad because we lost to Duke.”
I think BC’s loss actually makes the media think our upset was less meaningful than it was because it shows just how incredibly variable team performance can be, even in the top conference in America.
True. Screw ‘em then.
My only issue is the media is acting like Tommy Amaker is some kind of genius. Did they already forget how badly he ran Michigan into the ground?
I have thought that since BC came into the conference in 2006 that they were a bad fit in just about every way. It is a Catholic school among 11 other non-religious institutions. It is 8 hours away from Maryland, the northernmost school in the conference up to then, and has traditionally had a football focus–just see how the football coach controversy somewhat overshadowed the basketball team’s win.
But I really despise BC because they play excessively rough basketball in a conference which is known more for finesse and attractive play. BC seems also to have a surplus of players who engage in the tiresome histrionics of beating their chests and screaming and pointing at themselves after made shots and wins.
Somebody please tell those guys that they are not the first guys to ever make a dunk and they are not the first ones to ever get an upset on the road.
Wow. I just noticed this. Down goes Maryland: http://www.scacchoops.com/tt_Game_Box_Score_External.asp?hGame=1505
I thought our game with BC was officiated decent. There were some portions of the second half where BC was allowed to play some physical defense. The officials went missing in action against them in the Harvard game. I wonder why it is BC goes on the road against a number one team and gets good officiating, and plays a non-conference team at home and gets no help at all from them. Funny. I am not too disappointed though, as I am not a big fan of BC anyway.
Wow. The game was amazing. So much better! I was concerned with our turnovers however we can afford those against a less talented team like CofC not Wake or Dook.
But what was funny was when that guy got on Tyler’s shoulders! I was in full view of it and I was laughing my head off. The guy was like “WHAT THE? ARGH I NEED TO GET DOWNy” and Tyler was all “What is going on? What is on top of me? Get him off!” Best moment period.
Best play was the steal, the lob to Drew who threw it to Deon for the dunk! The Smith Center was on fire!
I TiVoed to game to watch it later and heard the announcers say that when Tyler and Deon went out they were given a standig ovation which of course was fine. But then I realized that Cope came in for one of them and we were yelling “Cope!” and the ovation was for him. That irked me. Can they get anymore deaf?
But it was amazing to see the the Heels win in person. Great night at the Smith Center!