Gin-Yard or Gin-Yurd ?
I've heard a lot of commentators butcher Marcus Ginyard's name. They either pronounce it Gin-Yard or Gin-Yurd. The TV announcers during the UCSB game pronounced it Gin-Yurd, but Woody Durham and the rest of the radio crew pronounce it Gin-Yard. I tend to defer to Woody in these situations.
UNC 64, Illinois 68
We couldn't quite pull it out. Actually, I'm very proud of how we came back after being down 12 during the 2nd half. We struggled from the outside and that was the big difference in the game. Illinois went 8-21 from 3 and we went 2-13. Even at this early stage, I think you could argue that UNC deserves to be in the top 25. It could have gone either way with the Illini tonight and we've yet to not have a very strong showing. The ACC season is going to be very interesting. Our big issue at this point is lack of a half court offense. We still struggle when good pressure is applied in the half court. We make up for it by forcing a lot of turnovers and creating fast break points, but I'm concerned that teams that control the ball better than Illinois did tonight could knock us out flat. Ginyard had a great defensive night with 4 steals and shutting down Dee Brown in many situations. He also got going offensively with 14 points. David Noel had another solid game despite fouling out in the final minute. Bobby Frasor ran the floor well and Danny Green had another standout game. All of the freshmen show poise far beyong their years. I can see this team clicking once they get a few more games under their belt. Next up is Kentucky on Saturday at Kentucky, which will be another tough test. Key stats from the game: Quentin Thomas sat out due to a stress fracture in his big toe
Hansbrough led all scorers (again) with 17 points (9-11 free throws)
UNC went 2-13 (15%) from the 3 point line
Danny Green had a game high 3 blocks
Marcus Ginyard had a game high 4 steals
Bobby Frasor played 34 minutes, mostly running the point, and had only 2 turnovers
Reyshawn Terry went 0-4 from the 3-point line and is 0-7 on the season from there
Quotes from Coach Williams during the post-game interview:
"I'm really really proud of my team."
"I told them they played harder and better than I coached."
"I just love how hard our kids played."
This is the most praise I've seen Coach Williams give his team this early in the year. He was rarely this positive after a game last year, but then again I suppose he expected more.
UNC 35, Illinois 35 (HALFTIME)
Our young tarheels are hanging in close! In fact, we were up 6 with 6:24 to go in the half, but Illinois came back to take the lead. It is all tied up at the half and it is going to be some second half. The play has been sloppy at times, but these guys are playing their hearts out. 30 of their 35 points have come in the paint! Here are a few notes I took from the first half: Hansbrough stole the ball and went coast to coast for a dunk
Frasor with a steal and easy layup
Quentin Thomas has a stress fracture in his big toe and did not play
Byron Sanders dribbled the ball off his foot
Defense has been tencious causing several steals and easy baskets
Ginyard playing very hard
Green had a great block
UNC 83, UC Santa Barbara 66
Another good win. The was the first game I got to see on TV and the team was fun to watch. They work hard and are very scrappy. They run the ball very well and had their third straight game of over 45 points for the first half. I got a glimpse of the team's main achilles heel tonight. They had a long stretch without scoring in both the first and second halves. I think we'll see a lot more of that this season. The team doesn't seem terribly comfortable in the half course set so if teams can slow down the pace of the game they'll have a much better chance. Outside we are still inconsistent without a true go-to guy. Down low Tyler continues to do well and Noel is playing strong.
Tonight I was impressed by Bobby Frasor. He ran the floor very well and despite a few unadvised passes, did a good job. He also shot well scoring 12 points on 4-8 shooting (2-4 from 3). While Quentin Thomas is a step quicker than Bobby, I think Bobby is a better floor general. Danny Green continues to play well also.
Another area of concern for the team continues to be free throws. The team went a paltry 16-30 overall tonight. Green, Frasor, and Hansbrough are the best free throw shooters so far. If this poor shooting continues, it could be the difference in several games this year.
Hansbrough had a strong second half to lead all scorers with 15 points. In fact, he tallied his first double double with 10 rebounds. They commentators said Hansbrough was selected as the ACC Freshman of the week last week. Well deserved!
Up next is a rematch of last season's NCAA championship game with Illinois at the Dean Dome. This will the Tarheels' first true test.
UNC 112, Cleveland State 55
Wow. Who would have thought we'd have enough offensive firepower to score over 100 points. I wasn't able to watch the game since it wasn't televised locally or available on CSTV (it was on ESPNU which I don't get). I was able to listen to the radio broadcast.
Tyler Hansbrough led all scorers with 18 points on 4-5 shooting and 10-15 from the charity stripe. Overall, our free throws weren't going down very well (the team was 30-46). We outrebounded CSU 60-27. That's a big number! Roy highlighted that as a key for the game. Everyone on the team scored (including 3 of the 4 walk-ons) except Thomas Wilkins. Wes Miller, Bobby Frasor, and Byron Sanders all shot much better than in the G-W game.
Coach said in the post-game that if the game had been played yesterday, Tyler would have not played because of a toe injury. He said his toe is still really sore (x-rays were negative), but it loosened up during the pre-game warmup and he was able to play. This was one reason why Byron played a little more tonight.
Some people may see this score and think everyone has been downplaying Carolina. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. CSU is definitely lacking in talent this year and they had an off night. As I've said before, some times Carolina will be really good and other times they may play really poorly (which is characteristic of a young team). We have just a week to go before we really see what UNC is made of when they play Illinois next Tuesday. I look forward to it, but I'm sure Illinois does to.
Check out the Tar Heel Radar
I'm a big fan of Clint Jackson's Tar Heel Radar. Recently they decided to get rid of the subscription service and make their content free. They have some excellent interviews with UNC recruits. Check it out!
UNC 83, Gardner-Webb 80
UNC wins on a late 3 pointer by David Noel that bounces on the rim four times before rattling through. After being tied at the half, UNC broke open a 11 point lead, but Gardner-Webb pulled it back to just 3 with a couple minutes left to go. Gardner-Webb started fouling to save the clock, but we missed 8 of the last 9 free throws. GW made a 3 to tie it before Noel made the game-winner with just 1.3 seconds to go. After going undefeated at home last year, the heels have won their last 19 games at home. Coach Williams summed it up well: "It looked like a very inexperienced team." It wasn't a pretty game with 20 turnovers, but the team showed good heart and didn't give up. Gardner-Webb won the regular season in the Atlantic Sun conference last year so they weren't a push-over. McPhee was on fire and drained several 3's. Jennings drove on us often and popped it out to McPhee. Dribble penetration is a pet peeve of Coach Williams, so I'm sure he'll be on the team about that. Reyshawn had a nice dunk down low off an inbound play at the beginning of the second half. Then he had another flying dunk off a fast break. He had a decent game. Marcus Ginyard had a solid defensive game. I could see him becoming the type of stopper Jackie Manuel was for us last year. Danny Green had a quiet game playing only 13 minutes, but scored 17 points on 4-6 shooting and 6-6 from the charity strip and 0 turnovers. Bobby Frasor was a little shaky, but his fundamentals look good. I think he had a case of the Freshman jitters. Quentin Thomas made a couple of costly turnovers late. This would have been a good time for him to step up as the floor leader, but I'd have to go with Frasor at this point. David Noel had a very good game. He looks like the leader of the team and plays with the most poise. He had 17 points including the game winning 3. But the talk around the water cooler on Monday will definitely be about Tyler Hansbrough. He may be a freshman age-wise, but he sure doesn't play like it. He has a great sense around the basket like Sean May and Antawn Jamison. He has amazing touch with his jump hook. I think it is pretty clear now that Hansbrough is the go-to guy for Carolina. Let's just hope teams don't start double-teaming him. At 1-0, we are off to a better start than last year's NCAA championship team!!! :-)
UNC 46, Gardner-Webb 46 (HALFTIME)
The first half has been a mixed bag. Carolina started off very slow. Well they were playing very fast, but committed a bunch of turnovers early (8 in the first 6 minutes). Gardner-Webb built a 7 point lead, but with 7 minutes to go Carolina came storming back on two Danny Green 3-pointers to take a 9 point lead. Noel has played very well so far and Hansbrough has been outstanding. They've played with a lot of intensity but at times are very sloppy. Their defense has been strong so far. As you might expect with a young team, they get rattled on occasion. Time for the second half....
Carolina All-Access Pass
The Gardner-Webb game isn't being televised, but I'm watching it anyway! Yep, with the Carolina All-Access Pass, you can watch the game from your computer thanks to CSTV.
NCAA bid not out of UNC reach
I'll have a better idea about our NCAA bid hopes after the Gardner-Webb tonight. But it definitely isn't out of UNC's reach.
Doherty Starts Anew at Florida Atlantic
It is good to see Doherty starting anew with Florida Atlantic. He needs to be in coaching.
Heels To Start Three Freshmen In Opener
That's right folks, with Quentin's foot ailing, Carolina is going to start three tonight!
Preseason: UNC 89, Catawba 63
Tarheels roll through the preseason by defeating Catawba. I wish the regular season was this easy! Box ScoreTar Heels Defeat Catawba, 89-63
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