Heels run cold, then hot in dumping Duke
Feb 12, 2009
North Carolina and junior guard Tywon Lawson accomplished the seemingly impossible in a 101-87 victory on Wednesday night.
The feat was not merely beating Duke on its home court for the fourth straight time, an unprecedented UNC run during Mike Krzyzewski’s 29 seasons directing the Blue Devils. Nor was the achievement notching 20 more points than any opponent had managed this year against the ACC’s top scoring defense.
Rather, the Tar Heels confounded both the elements and themselves by running hot and cold, or rather cold and hot, in sweltering Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Even with air conditioning, Cameron so resembled a steambath following a warm, humid day, the modest breeze raised by the passage of a student running along press row brought welcome relief. Yet the first-half performance by Lawson and the third-ranked Heels was downright chilling, especially for a team with championship pretensions.
The defense was stunningly indifferent in the opening period. Duke made 61.8 percent of its shots, highest for a half this season against UNC, as were its 52 points.
“I was extremely discouraged in the first half with our defensive play,” said Carolina coach Roy Williams. “We were sorry in the first half, and that’s what I told (the team) at halftime. I said, we said we were going to come over here and guard people and show a sense of urgency and we didn’t do that at the defensive end.”
Lawson, who has not always risen to the occasion at key junctures during his career, was comparably passive on offense. He tried only two shots in the opening period and had as many turnovers as assists (three of each). Even when Williams stood on the sidelines exhorting his playmaker to push the action, the Heels rarely operated at their accustomed breakneck pace.
The second half was a different story. A stiffened defense kept Duke out of the lane, making the Blue Devils a jumpshooting squad that hit 36.1 percent in the period. At the other end UNC scored 57 points, more than five of Duke's ACC opponents managed in an entire game.
Trailing 52-44 at intermission, the Heels stormed back to a 58-58 tie barely five minutes later. The game remained close until midway through the second half, when they went on a 19-4 run that essentially sealed the outcome. During the outburst, 11 points were contributed by Lawson, who shook off his earlier lethargy to repeatedly attack the basket. He finished with a game-high 25 points, a personal best this season.
“He’s a great weapon, a great weapon,” said Krzyzewski, “because he makes other weapons better. And they have a few other weapons.” All five North Carolina starters scored in double figures.
Lawson’s second-half success resulted in part from UNC adjustments that created more ball screens and wider spacing, making it easier to isolate him on a Duke guard. When that guard was Greg Paulus, the senior who regained a starter’s role on Saturday against Miami, the athletic mismatch was pronounced.
Duke also had difficulty providing aggressive help from its best post defenders when Lawson drove the lane; David McClure and Kyle Singler each was saddled with three fouls for significant portions of the game. Singler’s third personal came on a foolish technical foul for elbowing Tyler (“Taylor” according to the PA announcer) Hansbrough in the face during a scrum for a loose ball 16 seconds into the second half.
“He’s strong, quick,” UNC’s Bobby Frasor said of Lawson. “When he wants to do something, I think he has the ability to do it. When that defense was spread and Ty was making play after play, it’s just like he put us on his back and carried us. Usually where we have Tyler doing that for us, it was Tywon’s turn today.”
Lawson’s rekindled assertiveness was more than a matter of strategic adjustments and advantages. He’d been too concerned with “trying to get everyone involved” in the offense, Lawson said. But halftime comments from Williams and a few teammates caused him to shift and sharpen his focus.
“We just had to remind him that he can go,” said backcourt mate Wayne Ellington. “His man cannot stay in front of him. He came out with a whole different attitude, a whole different approach in the second half.”
Another promising feature of the victory, which gave the 22-2 Heels sole possession of first place in the ACC, was the scoring supplied in the opening period by Frasor and forward Deon Thompson.
While Hansbrough drew considerable defensive attention near the basket, Thompson smoothly popped in jumpers, layups, and a hook shot, contributing 10 points in the first half and a dozen overall. It was only the fourth time in a 12-game span the junior hit double figures in scoring.
Then there were the three consecutive 3-pointers supplied by Frasor, who last made a shot from that range on January 7. The senior had struggled mightily with his jumper for several years; only twice previously in his career, most recently at Kentucky in December 2007, had he made that many threes in a game.
Frasor's shooting travails became so pronounced that, wherever he went, well-meaning people offered encouragement, until the constant reminders become a further irritant.
“It felt good to finally get to see the ball go in. After I hit one and let the other one go, I felt that whole weight off my shoulder, like everything was normal again,” Frasor said. “Now hopefully everyone can be quiet, and I can play basketball the rest of the year.”
That additional punch from the perimeter, coupled with Frasor's solid ballhandling and spirited defensive play, can only strengthen what was already a formidable unit.
“They were terrific,” Krzyzewski said of UNC after his team dropped to 20-4. “They were really good. And we’re not that good right now. A lot of people aren’t that good. That’s why they’re one of the best teams. That’s why before the season, you all were saying they might go undefeated. The way they played tonight, that’s the team that you were talking about.”
