Felton Named ACC Player Of The Week
If you can believe it, this week was the first all season that a Carolina player was named ACC Player of the Week. Certainly Mr. Felton deserved it.
With all the talk about how UNC has the most talented starting 5 in the entire country, tops in the ACC, and #2 in the country, how in the world could we have not had a player of the week yet? A reporter asked Coach Roy about this recently and he thought it was odd too. The next week a UNC player got the honor ;-)
ACC Race Update
Carolina has two regular seasons games left, both of which are at home: Duke and FSU. They play FSU on Thursday. I just read that FSU has lost 8 straight! I think that sucks, but in a bad way for UNC. Obviously FSU will be hungry for a win, let's hope we get McCants back just in case we need him.
Wake plays Georgia Tech in Winston on Wednesday and closes with State (@ State) next Sunday. It sure would be nice if Ga Tech or State could pull out one of those!
UNC 85, Maryland 83
This one ended up being a lot closer than I would have liked. In fact, Maryland came all the way back from a 10 point deficit to go up by 1 with 1:33 left to go. Needless to say, I couldn't sit down for the rest of the game. Chris McCray had a career high 25 points and didn't seem to miss anything he put up behind the 3-point line (he went 5 of 6). Mike Jones also got extremely hot and made 4 of 5 behind the arc.
After Maryland went up by 1, Jawad capped his huge night with a clutch 3 pointer. It is almost as if he took it upon himself to step up offensively with McCants being out. Maryland marched down the court and tied it up. Then Felton scored a layup on a beautiful screen by Sean May. I'm sure ol Gary Williams wasn't happy about the uncontested layup. Now it was a 2 point UNC lead with less than 20 seconds to go and Maryland with the ball. Maryland made a good attempt, but Mike Jones found himself with the ball as the clock wound down and didn't have time to pass. So he put it and Sean May came over to SWAT it. It was beauty in motion. The ball came down as the time expired. Close call, but UNC pulled it out.
May continued his recent streak of All-American performances with a double-double (22 points, 11 boards). Felton also had a double-double (10 points, 10 assists). Jawad was the savior offensively tonight with 21 points. Defensively, David Noel had a standup game. He ended with 12 points, 4 of those coming off dunks from steals. He even went 2 of 3 from the 3 point line. Marvin Williams had a subpar game scoring only 5 points in 19 minutes of play. Melvin Scott wasn't able to duplicate his previous outing, airballing one 3 point attempt and ending with a whopping 3 points.
UNC 47, Maryland 37 (HALFTIME)
The story of the first half was Sean May and Ray Felton. Jawad Williams had a good first half as well. David Noel finished the half with a dunk as time ran out to extend the tarheel lead to 10. For the first 12 minutes, UNC was down one to three points but turned on the defense and stopped turning the ball over. Then we took the lead. Now if we can just stop Chris McCray (16 points so far!) in the second half, the team should be able to go home with a smile tonight.
Ack! McCants Does Not Travel to Maryland Game
McCants won't suit up for the Maryland game. This isn't good news. We spanked Maryland in Chapel Hill this year and I'm sure they want revenge at their place. Let's hope Melvin Scott can keep up where he left off during the State game. 15 minutes to game time.
Friday Press Conference Quotes and Audio
It doesn't appear that Rashad McCants' condition is improving. He still has some sort of intestinal ailment. Coach Williams talks about it during the Friday press conference. At this point it doesn't sound like he'll play in the Maryland game on Sunday. That would be a big blow. Playing at Maryland is already hard enough, but without our leading scorer it will be even more difficult.
ACC Race Update
Duke beat Georgia Tech last night in Atlanta. What in the world happened to Ga Tech this year? I know Elder sat out a bunch of games, but even before that they weren't the same team as last year and they didn't even lose anyone critical. Tech's big center isn't playing nearly as good as I saw him play last year. Duke was in control for most of the game. Tech had a chance at the end to make a run, but couldn't pull it out.
Wake easily beat Longwood last night. Longwood? Yes, Longwood. They are 1-29 this year and rated 330th out of 330 teams in the RPI. Is this suppose to be preparation for the NCCA tourney?? Just in case the worst team in all of the NCAA somehow makes it in?
InsideCarolina.com: McDonald's All-American Game Rosters Announced
Carolina has 3, Duke has 3 and Kansas has 3. The McDonald's All-American game is slated for March 30th at 8pm on ESPN. Tune in and get a glimpse of Carolina's future (I hope).
Continue at source.
UNC 81, NCSU 71
The story in this game was Melvin Scott. Melvin got his second start of the year due to McCants being ill (more on that later). Melvin pulled out of his shooting slump to finish 4-8 from 3s for 12 points. He played 28 minutes and had 3 assists and only 1 turnover.
McCants is still suffering from a "intestinal disorder" that he's had since the UConn game. Let's hope he is well enough to play in the Maryland game on Sunday.
As for the game, State was able to keep it close, but UNC was never in any real danger. I'm sure Coach Roy would classify this as an "ugly game". Felton helped picked up some of the offensive slack with 21 points and had NO TURNOVERS. Marvin Williams went 10-12 from the free throw line and had 14 points. Sean May kept his rebounding torrent alive with 12.
Julius Hodge had a decent game, but Noel and Manuel did a good job in keeping him under wraps. This season has to be tough on Hodge since he likes to talk so much trash but can't really back it up. Jawad Williams said in the post game that Hodge really likes to talk and get under people's skin. He even untied Marvin Williams' shoe when they got tied up during the game!
Three more games to go: Maryland, FSU, and Duke.
ACC title is Carolina's to lose!
With the Duke defeat of Wake tonight at Cameron, UNC is the lone frontrunner of the ACC. That means if we win our last 4 games (at State, at Maryland, FSU at home, and Duke at home), we win the conference crown! But that is no small task. Each of those teams will be a challenge (as is every game in the ACC).
I must say, I was pulling for Duke tonight (a rare occurence). JJ Redick had a blowout game with a career high 38 points. As hard as it is for me to admit, he definitely deserves ACC POY consideration.
UNC 88, Clemson 56
It was more of the same in the second half. We ran the ball well and kept a comfortable lead the whole game.
McCants didn't start the second half because of an upset stomach. He would later come in and end with 9 points. Sean May had another stellar performance with 13 rebouds and 12 points. He continues to be the solid backbone for the team. Jawad Williams led all scorers with 17, but had only 1 rebound. Ray Felton had another good performance with 11 points and 9 assists.
Marvin Williams, recovering from turf toe, did not disappoint. He had a couple of highlight-reel passes and scores. On the downside, Marvin's excellent play has resulted in substantial NBA-draft talk. It is happening every game now from the commentators. I think the odds at this point of Marvin staying for his sophmore are next to slim. Forget just being a lottery pic, some people are talking about him as a top 5 pick!
UNC 43, Clemson 23 (HALFTIME)
The first half was a mix of unstoppable and messy play. Getting this late into the season, it would be nice to not see so many errand passes, but it is hard to argue with the result. Looks like it is going to be 0-51 for Clemson in Chapel Hill.
Oh, did you see where Duke lost again?? Somehow that went under my radar until today. Looks like it will be a foot race between Wake and UNC for the regular season championship. Now, more than ever, I'm going to be pulling for Duke when they play Wake.
3 McDonald's All-Americans
Good job Roy! We have 3 McDonald's All-Americans in this years recruiting class:
Bobby Frasor
Danny Green
Tyler Hansbrough
Now lets hope they don't pull a JR Smith, have a blowout McDonald's game, and leave for the NBA when they really shouldn't.
UNC 85, Virginia 61
All-around solid game. McCants finally got out of his shooting slump by scoring 23. May had another superb game. The one concern was by the only player not to play -- Marvin Williams. He had a case of "turf toe" (even though he doesn't play on turf?). Fortunately we didn't need him. Nevertheless, I don't want to take any chances on Saturday against Clemson; I hope he is back by then.
Box Score
No. 4 North Carolina Cruises Past Virginia, 85-61
Droschak: No Marvin, No Problem
Can't Slow Heels
UNC 77, UConn 70
Fortunately, the UNC guards turned things around in the second half. It didn't start off very well though. McCants actually airballed a 3 and then next time down barely hit the rim on a 3-pointer. I can't recall the last time I've seen him airball a 3, especially an open one. I found out after the game that he started feeling bad before the game. Several people on the team have caught a bug of some sort (including Coach Williams). Jackie looked like he was going to hurl on the sidelines.
Felton picked up his game a notch in the second half and hit a couple of quick 3's that gave us a boost. As soon as the guards starting playing better, we went up by 7. McCants played better in the second half, but not a lot better. He tried to force too much down low. May had another superb game with 16 points and 13 rebounds. If he keeps this up, he should definitely get some all-american attention. Jawad got out of his slump (a little) by going 3-7 from three (though just 7-17 overall).
One embarassing aspect of the game was the stuffs. UConn got an amazing 16 blocks against UNC (they are leading the country in that stat, but still). This was something I noticed several times last year--UNC players get stuffed a lot. I don't know if it is that we are undersized at many positions or if we just try to play over people, but I bet our blocks to being blocked ratio is ugly.
This game was very similar to the Duke game with one exception--our guards finally started playing. With our guards playing poorly, we are an even match against both Duke and UConn (it would be interesting to see them two slug it out), but with both our frontcourt and backcourt playing well, neither one can stand a chance. I really hope that the whole team shows up in Chapel Hill when we play Duke so they can prove my hypothesis.
UNC 31, UConn 34 (HALF TIME)
In the first half we played ok, but not great. Definitely not like a top 10 team. Our backcourt is still struggling. McCants didn't do much. Felton missed several from outside. Melvin took two deep threes and missed them both. Jawad finally got hot and hit three shots in a row. May is still playing strong. Jackie Manuel is fighting a cold and played sporadically.
UConn is playing pretty good, but I'm confident we'd have a comfortable lead if our guards would show up. As with my pre-game prediction, unless our guards start playing better, we are not going to win this one.
Duke/Maryland
Yes I watched the game. First sweep of Duke by an ACC team in 10 years. Why couldn't Carolina do it? Maryland got Duke in foul trouble and that was the decisive point. 4 or 5 players from Duke fouled out by the end of OT. It didn't matter that Duke was shooting pretty good from outside.
The key with Duke is to get Sheldon out of the game. Their remaining big men aren't ACC caliber (and I'm including Shav in that too).
Repeat after me
"We will not underestimate UConn."
I'm surprised I even need to say this, but I've spoken with 4 or 5 people in the last two days that seem to think UConn doesn't have a chance against UNC. UConn is the defending national champion. UConn has won 8 of their last 10. UConn just beat a very good #8 Syracuse team and #25 Villanova team the week before. UNC just lost to Duke in an emotionally draining game. UNC is on the road where they haven't beat a top 10 team (UConn will undoubtedly move up next week) yet.
I think this will be a tough game UNLESS the UNC guards have a strong game from the perimeter (cough cough McCants).
Vitale's nose and Coach K
I'm trying to watch the Maryland/Duke game tonight on ESPN, but Vitale is one of the commentators and he's already said Coach K should be the next Olympic coach. He said the same thing at least 3 times during the UNC/Duke game. Does he have to be so blatant about the butt kissing? Doesn't he know people get tired of him lobbying so hard for Coach K??
Choops: Perceptions, Perceptions
In a recent Choops weblog entry, Steve mentions that an Illinois fan was upset with Coach Williams for not suspending McCants for the throat slashing incident during the State game. Give me a break. It was bad enough that the announcers had to go on and on and on and on about it to the point that they said toward the end of the game that they didn't want to beat a dead horse (too late!). McCants said after the game that the gesture was a joke aimed at one of his friends in the stands.
Granted it wasn't a smart thing to do. But should he be suspended over it? Definitely not. He should be told not to do it again and if he does it again, his playing time should suffer. Other than this being McCants, why would people think he needs to be suspended? What purpose would that serve? Do people really think he intends to slash someone's throat after the game (or perhaps during)? I'd much rather see Daniel Ewing get suspended for intentionally throwing his elbow at Chris Paul during the Wake game.
A crazy 1:53
If you didn't get to see the Duke/UNC game the other night and want to re-live the agony of the final two minutes, now you can.
Connecticut Rivalry
The Connecticut/UNC matchup will show what UNC is made of. Tough loss on the road followed by another tough road game. If we can come out on top today, I like our chances even more in the post season. Our big men are going to have to come up big. UConn recently beat number 8 Syracuse and have won 8 of their last 10. Here is another article from Adam Lucas covering the Friday Coach Williams press conference. I like this quote (typical from Coach Williams): "I'm assuming Duke still has a game Saturday," Roy Williams said. "I don't think they sent them any trophies. And I think we'll still play next week. It's a barometer and a big-time game but it's not an end-all thing."
How Duke Got Punk'd
Since I'm on the topic of Duke, I couldn't pass this up. My friends over at TruthAboutDuke posted a story on How Duke Got Punk'd. Apparently, some anonymous person was able to convince the guy that comes up with the Duke student cheers to chant "Myra Piggie" at Nik Caner-Medley during the last Maryland game. "Myron Piggie" was involved in the Duke / Corey Maggette recruiting scandal several years ago. Funny (and clever!) stuff.
Lucas: Eight Perfect Seconds
Here is a good recap of the final seconds from the Duke loss.
UNC 70, Duke 71
Yes, it stings just a bit. Alright, more than a bit. Duke won and sadly, they deserved to win. They outplayed us and dare I say they even outcoached us. Where do I begin...first Felton, Jawad, and McCants all had horrible games. Felton had 8 turnovers to only 3 assist. It is fair to say that when he puts up those kind of numbers, UNC will more than likely lose. Jawad was virtually non-existent. If you look at his stat sheet, you wonder what exactly he was doing while on the court. 1-6 shooting, 3 rebounds, 2 points, 2 turnovers, and 2 assists in 21 minutes of play. McCants had an off night. 3-13 from the field including 1-8 from 3-pt line. He mentioned in some post game interviews that he felt he came into the game too hyped up; he said he felt too nervous. Happens to the best of them. Felton said the ball and court were both slippery, which impeded his play. All are dandy excuses, but don't erase the result. The reason why I think we were outcoached is because Duke telegraphed our final play. UNC had the ball down one with 16 seconds to go. Felton brings the ball up the court, has no where to go, spins around, could step up into the lane and take a short jumper, but instead passes to Noel who fumbles the ball out of bounds while time expires. Redick said after the game that they saw the play coming -- it was the same one UNC ran against UConn last year to win the game. Redick overplayed McCants so Felton had no where to throw. It shouldn't have been that easy for Duke to predict what play we were going to run. Either that or Coach Williams is supremely confident in that play (regardless if the other team knows it is coming) and we just executed poorly. On the bright side, May had an incredible game. If he didn't show up, the outcome would have been significantly worse. He had an amazing 18 rebounds, was 7-7 from free throw line, and 8-14 from the field. He did have 5 turnovers (on several sloppy passes), but overall he had his best game of the year. Jackie also did well by covering Redick pretty close for much of the night until Jackie got into foul trouble. Marvin had another solid game with 12 points, but uncharacteristically missed 3 free throws (he was ranked 4th in the ACC in free throw %). The other bright point about the game was the fact that even though we had an off night by anyone's standards and couldn't get our fast break going to save Coach Williams' life, we were only down 1 point with a minute to go. Last year, if we played like this, we'd get blown out. If McCants or Jawad would have had anything close to their season averages, the outcome would have been different. It will be really interesting to see what happens in Chapel Hill on March 6th (against Duke). Regarding all the hype surrounding Redick, I must say it is deserved. I've seen just as many Duke games this year as UNC games (because so many have been on TV). Redick is deadly from 3. Last year he struggled and didn't shoot well if not set properly. This year he is making them regardless of where he is at and how he is set. Something also has to be said for him being the best free throw shooter of all time in the NCAA. Don't get me wrong, as a player, I don't like Redick at all -- he is smug and tends to rub Carolina fans the wrong way. But when it comes to first-team ACC or all american, at this point it is pretty easy to pick Redick over McCants. Just so I don't end on a positive note for Duke :-) even though I thought the game was over half way through the second half, I think this was a "good" loss for UNC (if there is such a thing). The look on their faces after the game was one of disbelief. They wanted the game bad and they lost. This is the kind of thing that keeps a team motivated. Another big test will come this Sunday when they travel to Hartford to play Uconn. If they can beat a solid Uconn team on the road, I don't think the loss to Duke ultimately will hurt them.
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