Taking care of business.
I thought this was a solid effort. It was not the dismantling that happened in Chapel Hill last season, the Wolfpack actually showed up at tipoff in this one. It also was not the 2nd game from last season where the Wolfpack laid down for the Heels. For all their flaws NC State put forth some serious effort to make this a game. The problem is they had no answer for Ty Lawson who will begin renting out Farnold Degand and Julius Mays next week since he owns them now. NCSU was also under the impression that a double team was not necessary to handle Tyler Hansbrough. That did not work out so well since Hansbrough decided to balance out his single digit performance from Wednesday night by posting 31 in this one.
Overall this was a very balanced effort. The Heels had five players in double figures, shot 56% from the floor and held NC State to 41%. More importantly, UNC absorbed multiple attempts on the part of NC State to cut into the Heels lead. Once UNC opened up a double digit lead NC State could never draw closer than 7 or 8. Every time the game looked like it was swinging the Pack’s way, there was a Danny Green three point play, a Ty Lawson drive and score or some other crucial basket to suck the air out of the building. That ability to stop the bleeding and inflict damage back on the opposing team was lacking versus FSU. The Heels handled it much better in this outing.
In the end the Heels took care of business on the road versus a rival. There is really not much more you can ask than that.
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On paper, the next two look fairly pedestrian. UNC will have to take care to not not pull a “Wake” against UVA and Maryland.
good effort all around..I was hoping for a beating of biblical proportions, but a win is a win. still wish roy would have pressed the state guards full court all day…wonder what the score would have looked like then,..oh and I’ll be suprised if copeland gets off the bench, even if the heels are ahead by 40, for awhile anyway.
I thought Drew had a respectable outing. Davis–just getting better & better.
yeah. drew had a respectable game providing relief for ty. frasor just can’t effectively guard a guy faster than him. i would’ve liked to have seen some danny on fells.
i hope cope really gets back to good standing with coach as soon as possible. i surely would like to see the guy start on senior day.
I too am impressed…mainly by the posts thus far. However, with regulars such as 52 and CMichael, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ll wait ’til some others chime in with their take on why the Heels didn’t win by 50 (before I post again).
Great win tonight.
Agree Phillip, I don’t think we’ll see Copeland anytime soon. 52bgJ, Drew looked pretty good, and heeled soul, Green would’ve probably done a better job guarding Fells than Bobby.
Anyone else concerned about Raycom’s coverage or lack there of. They really need to get with the times and figure out how to broadcast in HD!
The Raycom comment is in reference to the game airing now BC/VT.
I think the Heels played great. Only problems were ball handling and that old problem of rebounding. Tyler had a great game so did Ty. I didn’t see Wayne and Danny as much as I would have thought but Drew and Davis had good games. Overall great win for the Heels.
Hope Cope (haha that ryhmed) will be ok. Hope Roy realizes it was a spur of the moment thing and he wasn’t thinking. Would love to see him play if not start on senior night.
HEY ALL. I THINK THAT’S JASON CAPEL DOING COLOR COMMENTARY ON RAYCOM FOR THE VT-BC GAME!!!
GO JASON!
(i agree about the HD thing, H2T)
Yay for Jason!
I have to say, Roy is one of the only coaches in america that would even think about benching the reigning player of the year. Amazing that Roy benched Tyler.
I don’t think Bobby could have played Fells any harder on the ball– Fells was in the zone with his shots. Denying him the ball would have been more effective defensively, but I don’t think Bobby could have done that against the quicker Fells. Maybe Danny could have done that better. Otherwise, Bobby was busting it on defense.
At some point, Bobby’s shots have got to start falling. Maybe he’ll have a Wayne type of moment that a few baskets in a row will fall that can be a breakthrough for him. State was daring him to take shots today. It was obvious that he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in his shot right now.
Man, I really feel for the guy. I hope he gets it straightened out. He’s hit some real daggers in the past.
I still don’t know what to make of this team. Such great plays sometimes, and pretty average at others. I am sure the same could be said about any team in the top 10 right now, maybe last year just made me used to near excellence. Good bench play can probably erradicate any negative thoughts though. THF, what do you make of this team at this juncture?
Also, what was that stat that was used in comparison to championship teams involving front court/back court points and percentages?
Did anyone else notice this stat line that the broadcasters put out?
They were basically saying that our stats in this regard are very similar to championship’s teams stats.
From Roy:
On why William Graves did not play:
“I didn’t want him to play.”
Ouchy… can anyone say doghouse???
Yeah and if you heard the postgame he said that in a very terse way as to cut off any further discussion of it.
I am happy the Heels won this game, especially because of how intolerable the State fans are. The State fans are getting what they deserve for being so hateful towards Herb Sendek, who is a great coach and a great man.
Now that I have that thought out of the way, I hope the Heels keep their focus for the next 2 games, because February 11 is not so far, far, away.