An interesting note from the game: Rutgers, at every timeout, would haul five chairs - not Dean Dome chairs, but chairs they brought themselves - to inside the three point arc near the paint. There the team would sit, waiting for about a minute and a half while coach Fred Hill whispered to his assistants. Only after that consultation would he address the team, talking well into the end of timeout, while the Carolina players idled on the court, waiting for the Knights to get their act together. Of course, five guys sitting, sweating and drinking water well onto the court leaves a great deal of floor to be wiped, which required two towel kids, an equipment manager, a Smith Center employee and two members of the Rutgers staff to get the court back into playable condition, and even that didn't always work, as Ellington went down in that general area. Coming a game after Roy Williams expressed his displeasure at the work of the towel kids (hence the equipment managers at each basket) I can imagine he had to be frustrated.
Also, Marcus Ginyard toook the court for the first time this season and Tyler Hansbrough passed the 1,000 rebound mark, but neither of that is as important as the Rutgers' timeout habits.
Other thoughts:
- I can see a definite advantage to having Rutgers on the schedule as a late-December game. It exposes the team to the rough style of Big East play - and boy, was it rough - but not putting the team in to big of a risk for a loss.
- Of course, that might change, since Mike Rosario is very, very good. He has a really smooth shot for a freshman, and the 26 points he put up weren't to shabby.
- With 10 steals tonight, UNC is averaging 11.2 steals per game. That's two more a game than they were averaging at this point last season, and four more than last year in total. More on that later.