Weird

What a weird, hard fought game for the Heels tonight.  

It was weird in a number of ways.  Weird to see Carolina have to play at such a slow tempo.  Even in the second half, when the Heels did a good job rebounding and therefore should have been able to run, the game was slow and played in the half court.

Weird in that Kendall Marshall had his second straight lackluster game in a row.  It's the curse of CHB blog perhaps?  Jordan Taylor and Wisconsin, not Marshall, set and controlled the tempo for this game.  We did not see vintage Marshall tonight.

That lackluster play from our point guard was one reason why our offense never flowed against the Badgers.  Harrison Barnes was fantastic in the second half, but he was by and large creating his own shots. Strickland had some nice runs on offense, but they mainly came when he was bringing the ball up. The guys who rely on Marshall to set them up, i.e. Zeller, Henson, McAdoo, etc. were non-factors on offense for most of the night as a result.  Weird.

But on the positive side, it was a gut-check, hard-fought (and cliche ridden) win over a top 10 team that will give Ohio State a run for it's money in the Big 10.

I mentioned Barnes, but he was so clutch and tough down the stretch in leading Carolina to this win almost single handedly.  Loved the methodical way he went about it, too.  He was cold and confident.  Barnes also finished with 5 blocks. 

Strickland was the offense in the first half and was magnificent in disrupting Wisconsin's offense in the second.  The Dex Factor featured a little bit of Derrick Phelps tonight in containing Taylor.  Huge night for Strickland (despite that one crazy turnover late).

Finally, in addition to Barnes our best option on offense in the second half a couple times was Reggie Bullock.  His late 3 was Barnesesque - cold and confident.  His performance was also proof that his breakout game against Tennessee State was not a fluke.

Though our offense sputtered, it was reassuring to see the way the Heels defended (Badgers shot 36 percent; Taylor was worse at 30 percent), rebounded (Heels out rebounded Wisconsin 39 to 26) and made free throws tonight (19 for 24, or 79 percent).  All three of those traits are excellent and meaningful measures of a teams toughness.  Very reassuring.

So with those 3 things on the upswing, here's hoping our offense - and Marshall -  and shooting bounces back by Saturday and the tilt versus Kentucky.  Having to worry about a Carolina team's offense?  

Weird.