The win means Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor end their careers undefeated at Cameron. Duke's class of 2009 spent $160,000 for a second-rate education and never got to see Duke beat Carolina. That's what you get when your alumni number Richard Nixon, Ken Starr, Elizabeth Dole, Henry Hyde and some other right-wing boobs I probably missed.
It also means that Krzyzewski is now 32-37 lifetime against Carolina (with a lifetime losing record IN CAMERON against Dean, I might add).
Carolina got contributions from everyone. Thompson was aggressive early in scoring 10 points in Singler's grill and Frasor, who had missed his previous 12 three pointers, buried three 3s to give Carolina an early lead. I had a feeling Frasor would have a good game, a la 2006, and he did.
Late in the first half Duke got rolling and Carolina got sloppy and lost it's aggressiveness. The combo led to a Duke surge and an 8 point half-time lead. It could have been much much worse, but Danny Green hit a huge, nerve-calming three to keep Carolina's head above water.
I imagine folks noticed that instead of panicking during Duke's run Roy 1) did NOT call a time out, and 2) actually went to his bench to protect Hansbrough, who had two fouls, and give Lawson a blow. I liked the calm way the team reacted to that run. Pure Carolina; we'll take your best shot, but we are going to beat you in the second half.
And man, did they EVER beat down Duke in the final 20 minutes. I bet Roy reminded Lawson in the locker room that he was unstoppable against Duke's very weak back court. And he was, scoring 21 second-half points, mostly on lay ups as he repeatedly blew by any Duke defender assigned to 'guard' him. Lawson was completely dominant.
But it was a team effort. The second half swamping was methodical, pure, simple and total. There were a few big plays - Hansbrough's three to boost the lead back to 12 with the shot clock winding down, the steals by Green and Ellington early in the second half - but it was mainly Carolina playing smart Carolina basketball. They moved the ball, got the ball down low, got great looks, and shot more than 60 percent in the second half. Almost all of that was due to Lawson's total game.
Carolina scored at will in dropping 101 points IN CAMERON. Duke's vaunted defense had held teams to an average of 61 points a game. The Heels scored 57 in the second half!
The good-hearted liberals from Chapel Hill played great defense in the second half. They played the passing lanes, denied the ball, and kept guys like Henderson in check.
Frasor was the final piece of the puzzle. His early threes were big, but he played 27 minutes and completely dominated Henderson on defense.
Simply a great great win. As I blogged after the win at N.C. State, it is great to beat Duke, even better at Cameron in front of their spoiled capitalist-pig fans, better still to dominate them so totally. But even better than all that, it's just great to watch Carolina play Carolina basketball - running, moving the ball efficiently and moving without the ball, playing smart, staying calm, storming back, winning a big game.
The Heels were much better than Duke, and lead the lifetime series 130-97. And that gap will get wider as long as Roy is on the bench. This is Carolina's sixth win in the eight games against the Devils.
Tonight was just a great Carolina win, made sweater by the opponent and the venue.
A Few More Thoughts
- Duke showed their true, bitch-ass colors more than a few times tonight. And one instance, Singler's stupid and petulant elbow to Hansbrough's jaw, gave Carolina two free throws and some momentum early in the second half. A stupid and typical Duke play.
- But Duke's biggest scalawag is Gerald Henderson. Frasor ate him up in the second half, taking him completely out of his game. How did Henderson react? By elevating his game? No, but with two cheap shots to Hansbrough late in the game. At least he didn't elbow him in the face, so I guess that's progress.
- Hansbrough was not as dominant as Lawson, but he had a magnificent second half. He drew a charge on the perimeter, played great defense when Carolina was switching on screens, hit that big three, got some big boards - Hansbrough played smart Carolina basketball. Hansbrough hit a similar big three against Duke in 2006 (but I imagine you knew that already).
- Duke's point guards are terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if Duke limps along the rest of the season and finishes with a whimper. Book them to lose in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Go Heels!
No comments:
Post a Comment