WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

Carolina turns up defense in 76-61 win over Virginia

By David Reynolds

Feb 7, 2009

The last time the North Carolina men’s basketball team appeared in the Smith Center, its up-tempo offense played to near perfection, creating a bevy of open highlight-reel dunks and three-pointers in Wednesday’s pasting of Maryland 108-91.

But Saturday, the UNC offense found itself on the opposite end of the spectrum in the first half against Virginia, as the Cavaliers utilized zone defense to put the brakes on the Tar Heels’ attack. Forced to labor in the half-court style of offense, North Carolina struggled to find its shooting touch, making just a third of its shots (11 of 33) on its way to a sloppy 33 points at the break.

“The first half was like pulling teeth, we couldn’t get a shot to go in,” coach Roy Williams said. “I thought we were doing ok on the defensive end, we just couldn’t make anything.”

Williams’ comment on his team’s defensive play might have been the understatement of the evening.

The Tar Heels’ defense – the noticeable blemish in their aforementioned victory against the Terrapins – allowed UNC to escape its poor first-half shooting display not only within shouting distance of its opponent, but with a sizable lead. North Carolina still led by eight, thanks to a commitment to defensive focus that had been lacking in several games this season.

The wake-up call in the Maryland game paid immediate dividends, as the players realized they wouldn’t be precise enough every game on offense to cover up their defensive liabilities. The 25 first-half points the Cavaliers scored were 19 less than UNC allowed Maryland to put on the scoreboard in the same period.

“Giving up 91 points is never good, even though we upped them by 17,” Wayne Ellington said. “We wanted a stop defensively, create our offense out of our defense, get in the passing lanes some and get some easy ones.”

UNC’s offense eventually came around in the second half to push the lead to a comfortable margin, but the Tar Heels’ defensive intensity didn’t dissipate until well after the game was in hand. North Carolina (21-2, 7-2) crushed Virginia (7-12, 1-7) 76-61, gritting its way through a sluggish offensive performance by inducing the Cavaliers into less than 37 percent shooting from the field.

“All games aren’t won the pretty way, when we’re making shots and running up and down the floor,” Ellington said. “It was a grind-it-out type of game, and that’s something we needed to have today.”

“For us to score less than 80 points and still win the game says a lot about our defense,” Danny Green said.

UNC forced Virginia to become more perimeter-oriented and less focused on pounding the ball into the paint. The Cavaliers drew just nine fouls in the game, and a majority of their possessions ended in long jumpers.

Even on possessions in which Virginia found itself in the paint with a makeable shot, the shot-blocking presence of Green, Deon Thompson and Ed Davis influenced several shots into drawing iron rather than finding the net. UNC finished with six blocks in the game.

“We had opportunities, but what happens with good defensive teams, the opportunities that they give you, you’re not real comfortable with,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “So what happens is you end up missing a point blank shot or something you’re normally used to making.”

One concern of the Tar Heels has been its lack of point production from the bench, and it again struggled to produce much offensively against Virginia. Non-starters only scored 8 points, and two of those came from seldom-used Jack Wooten in the waning minutes.

Help may be on its way in the next few weeks, as Williams said after the game that Tyler Zeller has participated in recent practices for the Tar Heels. Williams said no decision has been made on the freshman’s playing status, however, and that no decision would come on the matter in the next week.

Zeller averaged 10.0 ppg for UNC in two games, and he has not played since breaking his wrist against Kentucky on November 18.