If last night's overtime win over Ohio is not the definition survive and advance, I don't know what is.
Kendall Marshall's injury was the biggest thing to overcome. Marshall did not dress for the game, and is unlikely to play on Sunday, too. Last night the Heels also had to survive:
- Harrison Barnes having the worst basketball game a Tar Heels player can EVER have; he missed tons of shots, turned the ball over half a dozen times, and repeatedly made bad decisions
- The team had 13 turnovers at half, more than the total number of turnovers in the previous 4 games, and finished with 24 for the game. Carolina won a game in which it turned it over 24 times!
- Every Carolina fan's worst nightmare, a team that can bomb away from 3. In the words of Jay Bilas, the Bobcats were 'good, I mean really, really good.' They made shots, at least everyone except Cooper did.
- Overcome is too strong of a word to describe 'freshman Stillman White's first ever start' but that certainly was a challenge. I think this angle has been underplayed: how many freshman point guards - arguably the toughest position in hoopdom - get their FIRST ever start in a sweet 16 game? Has that ever happened before?
But the Heels did overcome all those challenges, and gutted out a tough and important win. This game was so tough and difficult that it frankly felt like a loss - and I'm just talking about the fans. I can't imagine how exhausted and relieved the students and coaches must have been when the game finally ended.
Like I said, it felt like and certainly was a case of survive and advance. Barely.
How did Carolina manage that?
Reggie Bullock and Tyler Zeller, with some clutch shots from John Henson, White and even Barnes.
Bullock was the reason Carolina won that game. Period. In a game where Zeller was virtually unchallenged and finished with a visionary 20-20 double-double, Bullock hit the biggest shots and made the biggest plays. His 3s in the second half were all killers, and each of the 4 he made came with the score tied or the lead at one, and he picked up some key boards. For the game the Kinston native was 5 for 10 from three, had 10 boards for another double-double, and had 5 assists, too.
Another great sign from Bullock: in 3 NCAA games he is 10 for 21 from deep. He's playing fantastic basketball.
Fantastic basketball certainly describes Tyler Zeller's night. Carolina was much taller than Ohio so it figured that our front line would excel. Zeller dominated the first half in particular and was big late, too. In addition to the 20 points and 23 boards, Zeller had 4 blocks included two athletic ones where he also kept the ball in bounds. It's funny to think that the ACC Player of the Year is somehow underrated, but he is. Ol' Roy should have drawn up that last play in regulation for Psycho Z, too.
Of course that last play went to Barnes, who lost the ball going up. Hard to figure out Barnes, isn't it, despite having played seventy-plus games in Chapel Hill? Last night he was simply terrible for 43 of the 45 minutes.
Of course, in those two minutes he may have saved the game and season. His four-point play that tied the game at 57 with less than 3 minutes to play - yes, the Heels trailed Ohio by 4 late - has huger than huge. And his one-minute take over of overtime in effect ended the game. But how does one explain his waxing and waning concentration? Or is that it? I don't know.
Early in the game he was aggressively taking the ball to the rack. But once again Barnes had trouble finishing, and so the rest of the game he wandered the perimeter missing shots. When he wasn't doing that, he was losing the ball off the dribble - his ball handling skills have not improved much - or making lazy passes.
But for a few game-winning plays, the concentration was there and Barnes made big plays. To me, concentration equals finishing so I think it must be that, or it could have simply been Marshal being out. After all, Barnes' play vexed many a Tar Heels fan when Drew II was running the point.
But I don't want to even hint that White's play was like Drew's. White played 32 minutes, made 6 assists against no turnovers in his first ever start. And as I mentioned before, his first start was not against Elon or Mississippi Valley State it was in the 'frigging' - or is it 'flippin' - sweet 16.
Defensively, Roy kept White - not Bullock - on Cooper, Ohio's best player for most of the game, and it worked. It was probably a combination of good D and boneheadedness that contributed to Cooper's Barnes-esque 3 for 20 night, but give White credit. He kept Cooper in front of him, pushed him out past the 3 point line, and effectively kept him off balance all night.
The one downside to White's night was his passes inside to Zeller and Henson. Too often, especially in the second half, White tried bounce passes instead of going over to the top to Carolina's bigs. So though he finished with 0 turnovers, I imagine a few of Zeller's and Henson's were a result of catching some sloppy passes from White and Justin Watts. Some of that is Ohio's fault; they did a great job of making up for being shorter by clogging and overplaying the passing lanes. Against Kansas on Sunday, White needs to to a better job feeding the post.
So led by Bullock and Zeller, the Heels survived and advanced. This game said volumes about those two, but let's also give it up for Carolina's toughness. It would have been easy to get down and feel sorry for yourself in a game like this, even though it's an opponent from the Mid-American Conference. But the Heels did not fold when the game looked bad. When we were down four I had my doubts and fears.
Luckily, Carolina stayed Carolina, the Heels ran a great play out of the boxed set to get Bullock that open 3 that he calmly drained to start the overtime, and the Tar Heels made enough smart and tough plays to win that game - and of course survive and advance.
GO HEELS!
A few hoops notes:
- Tough loss for the Wolfpack last night; they did not get down or back down late either and had two excellent chances to win or at least tie that game. But a great bounce back season for NCSU, who finally seems to have found the right coach in Mark Gottfried. He seems to be a great combination of Lowe's charisma, Sendek's basketball know-how, and Sloan's competitiveness (and if he's Jewish, even some of Valvano's ethnicity!).
- Anyway, I relish the return of the Carolina-State rivalry that I grew up with.
- That rivalry may return to center stage next season if as rumored Duke's Austin Rivers opts to leave early for the NBA. Duke only has one recruit next year coming in and may not be as good with a Curry-Plumlees-Kelly-Thornton-Dawkins line up.
- I thought all the teams that won last night looked pretty good, especially Kentucky and Ohio State. This weekend's Elite 8 games all look like good ones, except Louisville versus Florida (I have the Gators winning that one). There are few things worse than watching Pitino coach (watching Calipari is one), but I'd add watching a Pitino protege match 'wits' with his mentor.
- I'm going with a Kentucky - though Baylor looked impressive, too - Florida, Ohio State and Carolina final four.
