Yes, best half of the season.
Go back in your mind and think about all the time you considered UNC playing Duke with a healthy Ty Lawson. If you were like me you imagined Lawson getting to the basket anytime he wanted to. You could see him crossing up Duke’s guard, getting to the rim and using his strength to score at will. You were convinced that if the likes of Lance Thomas ended up on Lawson after a switch it would end with Thomas chasing Lawson to the hoop. I can honestly say that the way Lawson played is exactly what we all thought it would be. It was an incredible performance that carried the Heels from a eight point deficit to a 14 point win. The mantra on the liveblog was “all day long” because Lawson got what he wanted every time down almost in the 2nd half. Mike Krzyzewski said in his postgame that Lawson “was a pro” in this game. If he keep that level of play then I am not sure UNC is beatable.
Before Lawson got it going, the story of the game was the play of Deon Thompson and Bobby Frasor who were the offense for most of the first half. Earlier this week I said there would come a time when Frasor would finally knock down some shots at a crucial juncture and this was that game. Thompson came out on fire and provided some big points early on when the Big Four were struggling. Roy pointed out that it was 19 points in the first half they do not normally get and it would have been trouble without that production.
The other major factor was the here, then gone, then here defense from the Heels. UNC came out with plenty of good defense to start the game. After building an 11 point lead the defense slipped…badly. Actually I cannot use the words that described the Heels defense in the final 10 minutes of the half. It was horrid. Duke had open looks and made them. The end result was 52 points for an offense who only scored 19 in the first half against Miami on Saturday. Duke shot a blistering 63% which is part hot shooting and part defense which could not stop the over-40 championship team at the local YMCA. Then came the 2nd half and after what I am sure was some passionate encouragement from Roy Williams, the Heels found their legs on defense locking the Blue Devils down. Duke followed up their first half shooting with an anemic 32% shooting in the second stanza. The Heels captalized with a 14-0 run to salt the game way on their way to dropping 101 points on the 2nd ranked defense in the country.
Heading into this one I said the key would be the Heels ability to score on the Duke defense. They did that and then some in the 2nd half but the Heels’ defense was almost as crucial in the 2nd half considering what Duke was doing on the offensive end. In other words the 2nd half was a complete game from the Heels, something along the lines of what we saw in the Michigan State game. It begins and ends with Ty Lawson. If he controls the game, the rest of the pieces fall in place. It was a performance over a year in the making and Lawson did not disappoint.
Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green walk away from Cameron for the fourth and final time just like the previous three: winners. Not to be forgotten is the fact the 2009 class of Lawson, Ellington and Thompson are 3-0 as well. Nothing is sweeter than sending a group of fans home with realization they just spent a month living in tents to come away with absolutely nothing.
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Great write up THF. I mentioned in a comment on 850 that Adam Gold’s comments last year that the loss of Lawson in the game in Chapel Hill made no difference. What crap. Duke has no answer for a healthy Ty.
[...] February 12, 2009 by travism00re UNC 101 Duke 87 at Tar Heel Fan. [...]
Didn’t leave any comments but enjoyed the blog. How about them Heels?!?!?
whoa, did anyone else catch Ty’s post-game comments on ESPN? Basically, he said that Mike Copeland was so fired up (ie not happy with the first half), that he threw a chair against a locker. Ty also said that Tyler was fairly outspoken in the locker room.
Now, I have ALWAYS wanted to be a fly on the wall of a Roy Williams locker room at halftime (especially when they haven’t played well), but I think of all games, this would have to be my first choice. Especially if what Ty said on ESPN after the game really did happen.
I would really like to beat a team, yet have some mercy, but Karl Hess made me want to drop a 100 on them.
robuck,
Given what Ty said about half-time, you almost wonder if this was one of those times where the coach just said nothing and let the players do it themselves…
Ty Lawson has never lost to Duke, period.
“They were switching every screen. I could see they couldn’t guard him. He’s just too fast with the ball,” Copeland said. “He was being kind of tentative in the first half, like he kept thinking about what he was going to do. I went over to him and told him, ‘Just take the game over, man. Do what you do.’ “
Apparently Tyler Hansbrough had his share to say at halftime. It is good to hear him take a more vocal role. Also, for all the talk about K being a better game coach, this makes twice in two Duke-UNC games that Roy’s adjustments to what Duke was doing won the day.
You have to wonder, is UNC a better team when Ty looks to score first, pass second?
The problem is with his size he can only create shots in certain matchups. What is ultimately important is for him to put pressure on the defense with penetration which opens up everything. The fact he is also a reliable three point shooter means he can be a scoring threat which leaves other players open.
I don’t think it’s a size issue, honestly. Smith, Paulas, Scheyer all have several inches on Ty, and based on average height, Duke is a pretty tall team. Ty has always been remarkably adept at making shots in the lane, thanks to his one-on-one matchups with Durant in HS. I really believe with him, it is just a matter of deciding to (or being told to) do it.
Duke has had major problems guarding athletic guards for the past three or four years. With Ty already playing so well, I think everyone was excited to see what he would do with a good matchup, and he sure delivered.
THF… you need to post some “Sheyer face” pics from the game last night. There were a few times where I cracked up. Great post!
Although I was a bit nervous when we were trailing by 8 with 18 minutes to play, the one thing that was comforting was the pace of the game. Yes, Duke scored 52 points in the first half. But was that really the kind of game they wanted? I don’t think so. It is difficult to unwind the different factors of luck and effort, but Duke did have quite a few good looks from three in the second half and they weren’t going in, until garbage time, where they may have hit a couple.
The other thing that I wonder about, is why did K have has starters on the floor at the end. Didn’t he say you were supposed to pull your starters when down by double digits and there are only 30 or so seconds left? Duke kept up the pointless fouling until the 21 second mark, only to make the score even more delicious, losing 101-87, instead of 96-86.
Wow! Loving this morning. I was pretty iffy about this game all day yesterday. I knew we had the better team but it is Dook/Carolina. I can honestly say that I was not “that” nervous after half time. What a gritty performance by Lawson. I can remember in the second half Ty getting a favorable match up by the UNC bench and seeing Roy wave is arms for like a wild man for the clear out. Great game Heels.
How could I forget about another Tyler Three!!!
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=516882
Ty shows his greatness finally, or something like that….
@THF – Agree that Ty needs the right match-ups to score like he did last night in the half court, and he abused Dook in the second half. That has to be one of the better individual performances vs. Dook by a UNC player in a while.
I concur that at half I wasn’t too worried. I didn’t think Dook could hang 100 on us, but I didn’t think we’d get there, either. Guess I was wrong!
I think Sunday’s game at Miami will tell a lot. Are we locked in, or will we have a letdown? The sked really favors us down the stretch, and we could have the ACC regular season locked up when Dook comes to Chapel Hill on March 8.
And how do I not mention how well Thompson played. Literally he was on fire in the first half. Bobby with his three clutch threes and then I liked the fact that in the second half he didn’t force it with looking for a shoot.
I believe Deon can play like this at will if he can keep his head in he game. I hope bobby has found his shoot.
Agreed, as long as Clemson stays in 3rd, UNC essentially has a 2 game lead on Duke, and obviously, if Clemson were to move up to second, then UNC would also have a 2 game lead on them, as well.
It is hard to know how much effect the mental state of a player has versus mere random events. It looked to me as though Duke was playing Thompson a little looser than some other teams had, but the other thing is that Duke lacks mobile big men, unlike Florida State and Wake, who have a ton of them. That being said, Duke out-rebounded us on the offensive boards, which is disappointing. Ed Davis seemed to play pretty well, but didn’t get many minutes.
I think everyone was happy for Bobby. If he can even get back to his career averages, it will make a huge difference. I was disappointed that he made a really foolish foul for a senior, down the stretch, that ended up costing us four points and giving Duke its last glimmer of hope. But overall, even aside from his shooting, Frasor seemed much more confident with the ball in his passing and ball-handling and he played 27 minutes which was helpful in a hot arena.
ON the Bobby foul, I personally didn’t he did foul. Face kicked his leg out and that’s where the contact came from.
Kind of the same way dudley? from VT used to kick his leg for Terry to run into.
That is where being a senior comes in. The refs were looking for anything to call down the stretch. They gave an NBA continuation to Smith and there were a couple of other suspect calls.
I don’t know, you have to guard the shot and if your careful with your hands up top and the guy kicks his leg into you what are you supposed to do?
You play it the way we normally guard the three. When you are ten feet away, even bad refs can’t make a call!
Soooo your saying no D is good D?
With the Heels lead at that point and given the shooting percentage from three(with the clock also running vs not running with FTs) and the shooting percentage at the line it behooves you to play smart defense there. You can run out a bit, maybe distract but don’t get caught with a foul like that. Duke has been pulling that crap since the beginning of time. Mike Giminski likes to say..a lot..that if you do X in a certain area of the court it will be called even if you don’t actually do it. Duke takes advantage of those kinds of calls on a regular basis.
One thing I forgot to mention which was sweet. I had to broadcast a game last night so listened to the 2nd half on XM, which had only the Dook feed here in Minny. It was great to listen to them have to call that second half. Who does color for Dook? He’s terrible in a Captain Obvious sort of way. I think anyone here could offer more insight than this guy.
The K comments in the postgame were revealing. UNC’s program is definitely a cut above right now in terms of talent level, and when we execute Dook can’t touch us.
Well said. It is sort of like that matador arm sweep that officials call every single time as a foul regardless of whether or not it actually touches the guy with the ball.
The Thompson foul on Thomas was another example. Deon actually got all ball, but because Thomas fell to the ground a foul was called. The shot went in anyway, so it really didn’t cost UNC that much, and the reality is, that is going to be called a foul 99% time. The only person I ever see that called correctly (i.e. no foul) against consistently is Danny Green.
The Georgia Tech broadcasts are interesting because their broadcaster sounds exactly like Woody Durham.
The Duke color man is John Roth and he is annoying.
william, are you joking about the GT broadcasts? You do know who the play by plan guy at GT is right?
I assume that it is Woody’s son, but I don’t think I talk exactly like my father, my brother, maybe. Isn’t this kid kind of a traitor to be broadcasting for GIT?
Also, for a touch of humility here after a big victory, what do FSU, Wake and UConn all have in common? No, not experience, UConn leads UNC in that area.
All three are among the top six squads in effective height, as ranked by Pomeroy. UNC is only 64th.
http://kenpom.com/height.php?y=2009&s=HgtEffRank
Maybe, but he also does the Atlanta Falcons games too so he has a nice gig down there.
I gotta say, as much as I hate Dook, if I was offered the chance to do their broadcasts, I would do it. There are so few opportunities.
I would say Roth isn’t only annoying, he’s flat-out bad. No insight… he basically just kept saying the score and time (which the play-by-play guy should do) and said stuff like “There’s still a glimmer of hope left” or “Now there’s no hope left.”
They also cried about Ty hanging on the rim on the dunk at the end. “That was uncalled for.” I wonder how they characterized the Henderson elbow two years ago or the Singler elbow last night.
Here is some more not so good news. This guy has broken out Drew’s ACC stats: “No one, however, can compare to Larry Drew for offensive futility. Drew’s offensive rating is 62.30, good for last in the ACC. He turns it over nearly 50% of the possessions he uses, good for last in the ACC. And he’s just a 33% shooter who has yet to hit from outside in ACC play.”
http://dbdhoops.blogspot.com/
Did anyone else see Coach K screaming in the huddle with about 4 minutes to play? He was 4 inches from their faces and suddenly let out a blistering 180-degree shriek. I think he might have licked Singler by mistake.
“They also cried about Ty hanging on the rim on the dunk at the end.”
I maintain that anyone who complains about that has never dunked. I turned my knee into spaghetti in college by not hanging on the rim on a break away and will never fault someone for hanging even a moment too long.
(Now, if you pull the Chris Webber and grab your crotch while doing so, that is a different story…)
The rule says you may hang to recover your balance. If we are in the business of calling every awkward landing as a flagrant foul then surely officials will refrain from giving a player a “T” for trying to come down safely.
More humility: Jeff Teague went 2-3 from the floor last night against State. Two for three! He was 1-2 on three’s and finished with 11 points.
Anybody remember how he did against us?
Ty Lawson can split defenders better than anyone right now, and finishes well because of his strength and terrific touch with soft, high layins. He seems to be showing a more consistent ability to avoid getting stuffed inside (quickness has its virtues over height), but a team like UConn really worries me. I’ll just throw this out to everyone….who’s the most likely team to negate the type of game he showed last night?
Of course, somebody else might knock off UConn, just like George Mason did back in 2006.
Woody’s son went to Elon. I guess his only allegiance would be to his dad. Still, the Falcons and GIT wouldn’t be a bad gig if you’re a sportscaster. Beats Elon. And, yeah, he sounds just like Woody.
What a great second half by the Heels. I said that Bobby and Deon were bound to improve and they did so kudos to me! But kudos to them as well. Ty is a total beast and Tyler had a great game as well. Great beat down and I can’t wait for the next dook game!
So, he couldn’t get into UNC and thus lost his allegiance to the university that put bread on his table all his life? So typical of an Elon graduate!
@LarryS – It would take a team with either two, long rangy guards (Memphis) or one taller guard and someone to match Lawson’s strength and speed (UConn, Pitt). Also, maybe a team like Louisville that would employ an effective zone with lots of length/athleticism cold shut down driving lanes. In the ACC, I think Wake and FSU are best equipped to handle Lawson, but that doesn’t mean they do.
On the dunk, totally agree (although I have no first-hand knowledge). I thought it was sour grapes on the Dook radio guys’ part. I’m sure it felt good to hang out up there for an extra second after dominating your hated rivals in their gym and glimpse all those sad Dook students’ faces!:)
Woody Durham’s your dad and you couldn’t get in to Chapel Hill? There’s legacy admissions and then there’s LEGACY admissions. What kind of grades he must have had.