UNC 82, NCSU 69
It was back and forth most of the game until we pulled it out in the final minute on the strength of our…get this…free throw shooting! Carolina shot an amazing 93% (23-26) from the free throw line including 14-14 from Mr. Hansbrough. Even with Tyler's great game, my game ball goes to Bobby Frasor who scored a career high 17 points on 6-9 shooting and made 4 assists.
12th ranked State started off on an 11-0 run over the first 4.5 minutes. It didn't look like it was going to be a good day for Carolina blue. But we roared back starting with a Ginyard 3 pointer and a Noel windmill dunk to take a 13-11 lead with 13 minutes to go in the first half. NC State ran the floor very well and looked extremely athletic. After their run to start the game, UNC did a much better job defensively.
Two players I haven't talked about much recently stepped up big time in the first half. Bryon Sanders played with intensity and gave us some quality minutes. He had a great dunk off a give and go with Noel. Quentin Thomas also played very well in the first half. He's looked much sharper of late tallying 11 assists and only 2 turnovers in the last 2 games.
UNC faltered in the closing minutes of the first half and let State's Tony Bethel score a couple of 3 pointers. The score at the half was UNC 36, NCSU 39.
Quentin Thomas played well enough in the first half to earn a starting spot in place in of Frasor to begin the second half. With 14 minutes to go in the game, State's talented sophomore big man Cedric Simmons was called for his 4th foul which sent him to the bench (bringing a smile to my face). We crawled back to go up 48-45 with 13:38 to go. Two minutes later we were up 54-48 after going on a run highlighted by some big baskets by Bobby Frasor and key free throws by Hansbrough.
We were only up by 4 with 2 minutes to go, but then on the back of our great free throw shooting were able to push it out to an 8 point lead with 1:20 to go. Frasor made a long outlet pass to Noel for an uncontested monster dunk to seal the victory. When it was all said and done, UNC went on a 13-0 run over the final 2:15.
Whatever Coach said to Frasor at the half apparently worked because I was about ready to call for Quentin to replace Bobby as a starter. But after his second half performance, Bobby showed that he can not only be a good floor general, but score when needed.
What can you say about Hansbrough's performance except I'm glad he is on our team. He may not be the biggest player on the floor, but he has a determination to go after the ball and has solid fundamentals.
Reyshawn Terry wasn't very active in the first half, but ended up shooting 8-8 from the free throw line and 2-3 from the floor for 13 points. I'd like to see a little more aggression on his part on the offensive side of the ball.
David Noel had another monster game including 2 highlight reel dunks. He scored 14 points and made a couple of big 3s (he went 2-4 from 3) not to mention leading the game in assists with 6.
Other key stats:
+ Danny Green had a game high 7 rebounds in only 13 minutes of play
+ 3pt FG: 6-13, 46% (UNC), 8-20, 40% (NCSU)
+ Rebounds: 34 (UNC), 26 (NCSU)
- Turnovers: 18 (UNC), 15 (NCSU)
