UNC effort underwhelming
Jan 5, 2009
CHAPEL HILL - You could not fool the fans in the Smith Center Sunday night as North Carolina absorbed a loss that raised real doubts about this team.
Just look around inside the arena, the way fans watch the action with their faces so intense. Fans in the Triangle – in the Smith Center, RBC Center and Cameron Indoor Stadium – know what they are watching at a basketball game.
And no one watching Sunday night in Chapel Hill was impressed by the effort North Carolina displayed in a limp loss to Boston College.
I was upstairs in Section 214 Sunday, a great place for a journalist to be. You can get so spoiled by the press parking and seats at courtside that you forget what fans endure. So having to find a parking spot in Chapel Hill, stuff yourself into the bus for the ride to the game, hawk tickets out front and pay $5 for ice cream for the kids gives you new respect for people who do this all the time.
Those fans were underwhelmed by what they saw.
The Tar Heels have a pregame drill in which they dive on the floor, a drill intended to get them ready to do the same in games. They ran through the drill Sunday and then watched as Boston College outscrapped and outhustled them throughout this contest.
The Heels floundered after rebounds, and with the score 33-all one frustrated man in a blue oxford shirt bolted out of his seat and screamed, “Get a rebound! Come on!”
UNC’s real issue was defense, a lingering concen about this team all along. Tyrese Rice of the Eagles didn’t score 46 but he did get 25 points and eight assists in a performance that made all the talk about whether Ty Lawson would be the national player of the year over Tyler Hansbrough seem ridiculous. At one point Rice split a UNC double-team, scored, and then pointed at his chest and looked at his bench in exultation.
Despite Rice’s brilliance, defense was a clear difference in this game. The Eagles scored a stunning number of easy baskets, even when Carolina was desperately trying to clamp down. BC’s Joe Trapani scored on an open layup to make the score 74-60 and force a UNC timeout.
“Wow!” said a man behind me. “We’re getting smoked!”
And they were. Carolina struggled to get open shots and missed when it did. The Heels shot 38.4 percent for the game and 29.3 in the second half. Even more miserable was their 15 of 27 effort in the game from the foul line.
All this raised the important question of what happens when a team built on offense isn’t hitting?
The Tar Heel cheerleaders tried to get the crowd going, but fans weren’t buying it. A “Go! Heels! Go!” cheer roused all the enthusiasm of a junior varsity high school game as fans stared straight ahead with their hands on their chins.
To many, this might recall the famous quote from Florida State guard Sam Cassell about the Smith Center having a “cheese and wine crowd.”
That might be true. But it is also true that fans here know their wines.
From Section 214, you can look straight across to the banners from UNC’s championship seasons.
Sunday’s effort made Carolina fans question whether 2009 will be a vintage year.
