Dang it, dang it, dang it, dang it, dang it, dang it, dang it.
Concerning the game, not that anyone is thinking about it at this point, it can be said the moment Ty Lawson was lost for the remainder of the contest it really became a matter of survival. UNC's offense without Lawson and Bobby Frasor for that matter is just not very efficient. Granted the FSU interior defense had something to do with that today but that defense enjoyed a greater degree of effectiveness because Lawson was not there to penetrate and run the break. And as much as Lawson has been maligned at times for his defense, the past two games he really has keyed the perimeter defense. Lawson has used his speed to generally create havoc and was doing as much in the four minutes he played in this one stealing the ball to stop FSU coming up court.
That being said, all the credit in the world goes to Quentin Thomas who came in and played extremely well in 36 minutes at the point. Obviously the offense did not work as well but nine points, six assists and only two turnovers is a solid effort from him. Danny Green was a bit turnover prone but showed up on offense with 19 points. The rebound edge UNC enjoyed was incredible at 50-25 and Tyler Hansbrough almost outrebounded FSU on his own with a Sean May-like 22 points and 21 rebound performance in 41 minutes. In the end it was an ugly but gutsy win. These Heels once more showed their toughness by finding a way to win on the road and missing a vital cog in the offense. I am not crazy about the fact they blew an eight point lead and ended up playing overtime nor does having to play such a tough game prior to playing Duke give me any warm feelings but what's done is done.
Now, as for Lawson, he told the media the high ankle sprain was "pretty bad." Roy says he will not know anything until after practice in Tuesday which is the quickest we can expect Lawson to try and practice since he will not be doing so tomorrow. In my opinion this looked worse that the tweaked ankle against BYU. High ankle sprains can be tougher to get over. At this point we wait and see if he can play versus Duke. If he does, I am not sure how effective he will be which sucks on so many levels because in the past two games it is obvious he finally found his groove. The issue is when he does come back, it will be like he is starting over and depending on what he can do with the ankle, his conditioning is going to suffer.
So we wait for Duke and if Lawson cannot go we can only hope Quentin Thomas can be King Rice circa 1989 when the Heels went to Durham and whipped #1 Duke by 20.