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Tar Heels Seek Offensive, Defensive Consistency

Dec 18, 2006

Chapel Hill, N.C. — North Carolina may be 8-1 and ranked No. 3 nationally, but the team is far from satisfied with its play.

The Tar Heels blew out the University of North Carolina at Asheville Saturday night, 93-62, shooting 48 percent from the field.

But with five games left before they start Atlantic Coast Conference play on Jan. 7, coach Roy Williams and the players said they have more fine-tuning to do on both offense and defense.

"We made some dumb mistakes, like turning the ball over and not moving," freshman guard Ty Lawson said.

"We're not doing what we need to be doing on offense. Coach was talking about passing the ball out. We're taking shots where there are two or three defenders," sophomore guard Marcus Ginyard said.

"We're playing a little selfish," Ginyard said. "There are teams we're not going to score 93 points on, and it's going to come down to how we're scoring those points. That's going to be the difference in the game."

UNC has been averaging 90 points a game and has been focusing on defense in recent practices. But freshman guard Wayne Ellington said the defensive play is too inconsistent for a team with national championship aspirations.

"We play great defense for the first 12 minutes of the first half. Then, the last eight minutes, we fall into a slump and let them get some easy buckets," Ellington said. "We've got to turn around that intensity."

• Reporter: Jason Jennings
• Web Editor: Matthew Burns