I will have more later on some of my impressions of the Heels after seeing them live. This game was everything we expected with UNC going on a 22-1 early in the first half after being down 7-5. The freshman trio of Wright, Lawson, and Ellington continues to chip in major offensive production and also sounds like a law firm. Tyler Hansbrough had a quiet 15 points as UNC-A was content to keep the ball away from him by fronting him on defense. Of course the defense got high marks in this game and rightfully so, they played well forcing consecutive shot clock violations in the first half and generally playing with a lot of intensity. Eric Montross said on the Tar Heel Radio Network after the game that this was a building block game looking forward to the rest of the season. I would agree and I think there were a lot of postives.
The one interesting not from the Bulldogs' side of the game was the play of 7-6 Kenny George. I don't know the whole story about him but it was obvious he struggles with his size. He was extremely slow to the point Hansbrough drove the baseline, sidestepped him, and dunked the ball while George did not even move. He was unable to run up and down the court more than about 2-3 times before he had to sit down. In some ways I felt sorry for him and it goes to prove that sheer height and size do not necessarily translate to basketball and I wonder how much he is being pressured into playing basketball since it is obviously physically trying to do so. It also a huge red flag when you are playing an opposing player at the Smith Center and the crowd cheers when you get the ball wanting you to shooting. That sort of thing means you are more of a novelty than an opposing player people respect.