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UNC Notes

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Staff

Frank Heath

Heels halt skid, tame the ’pack

The UNC men’s basketball Tar Heels received big-time contributions from nearly everyone who saw court time on Tuesday night at the RBC Center, bringing home a 77-63 victory over the N.C. State Wolfpack, and breaking a three-game losing streak.
It was midway through the second half, though, before the Heels took off.

With 17:04 left in the game, State point guard Javier Gonzalez followed a missed shot by teammate Dennis Horner to give the Wolfpack a 43-38 lead. Gonzalez, who has improved significantly this year, had lit up Carolina for 15 points in a 4 1/2 minute stretch, and the Tar Heels appeared to be on the edge of a dangerous precipice they have come to know all too well this season.

Then, for an agonizing 2 1/2 minutes, the score remained at 43-38. State missed four shots and committed a foul and the Tar Heels missed four shots from the floor and clanked a pair of free throws.

At the media timeout, with 15:55 remaining, Carolina was 0-5 from the floor in the second half, and with 14:36 remaining – after State guard Scott Wood deflected a Will Graves jumper out of bounds to give the Tar Heels possession underneath – UNC still did not have a second-half bucket.

It was at that moment that guard Dexter Strickland, along with fellow freshman Travis Wear, checked into the ballgame for the Tar Heels. Ten seconds later, off a swing pass from Strickland, point guard Larry Drew knocked in a three-pointer from the right wing to end the drought for Carolina and pull the Heels within two.

Less than a minute later, following a missed three by State’s Wood, UNC forward Deon Thompson dropped in a short jumper off a setup pass from Drew.

Another 50 seconds later, Strickland scored on a driving layup in transition to give the Tar Heels back a lead they would not relinquish.

By the time Strickland checked out of the game with 7:31 remaining, the Tar Heels held a nine-point lead, 56-47. The freshman guard’s line during that stretch was seven points, a steal and an assist, and he also helped hold Gonzalez, who had been hotter than a pistol minutes earlier, without a basket for a crucial seven minutes. It was an 18-4 UNC run while Strickland was in the game.

Carolina extended its dominating stretch to 28-6, for a 66-49 lead with 3:57 remaining, and the outcome was for all intents and purposes settled.

Along with Strickland’s 14-point night, Thompson put together his best game in weeks, Drew had perhaps his best performance ever (18 points, 7 assists, only one turnover) and Ed Davis gutted out 12 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes on a bum ankle.

Graves pulled down nine boards, and even freshman John Henson – a non-factor through the Heels’ first 19 games – left his mark on the game, blocking three shots, grabbing two rebounds and scoring on a driving layup during a four-minute stint in the second half.

But with all that said, Carolina’s guard play – which had been hurting during the team’s ugly 1-4 January swoon – was the catalyst for this win, and it will be critical if the Tar Heels expect to crawl the rest of the way out of the hole they find themselves in. One of the biggest keys to Carolina’s improved play against the Wolfpack was that the Tar Heels limited their turnovers, committing just 10 for the game, while remaining aggressive from the perimeter.

Over Carolina’s recent rough patch, Strickland, Drew and the other UNC guards have been dangerous to the team, erratic at best, committing turnovers in large batches that inevitably led to crippling runs by the opposition. On Tuesday night against State, the UNC backcourt, especially Strickland and Drew, showed that it can also be dangerous to opponents. 

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