
{"id":16179,"date":"2011-02-24T11:41:12","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T16:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=16179"},"modified":"2011-02-24T11:41:14","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T16:41:14","slug":"tar-heels-utilize-versatility-as-a-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/02\/24\/tar-heels-utilize-versatility-as-a-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"Tar Heels utilize versatility as a weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/02\/24\/tar-heels-utilize-versatility-as-a-weapon\/landreth-mug-14\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-16180\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"landreth-mug\" width=\"100\" height=\"134\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-16180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug2.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug2-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/landreth-mug2-59x80.jpg 59w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a><strong>By Eddy Landreth<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One has only to look at Carolina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two games against Boston College this season to witness UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s valuable versatility.<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 1, the Tar Heels streaked past the Eagles on their home court, 106-74.<\/p>\n<p>The Tar Heels ran with the skill and abandon shown by the best of Roy Williams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 teams at Kansas or UNC.<\/p>\n<p>When BC came to Chapel Hill for the return match on Feb. 19, Eagles coach Steve Donahue had clearly decided he was not going to watch the same jet stream blow his team off the court again. So when Boston College took a shot, frequently no one wearing a BC jersey went to the boards to fight for the rebound.<\/p>\n<p>Instead the Eagles hustled to get back on defense and did their best to force UNC into a half-court game. Donahue got the tempo he wanted, but not the result.<\/p>\n<p>Carolina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s size and improvement on defense made the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re blessed to have a defense like we have,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said sophomore big man John Henson, who is one of the cornerstones of that defense. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have so many games we have pulled out with our defense.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The Eagles acknowledged Carolina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inside superiority by avoiding virtually any attempt to go in the lane. Half of Boston College\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 14 field goals were three-point shots.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You throw [Harrison] Barnes in there at the three and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think there is anybody that big in college basketball,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Donahue said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if there is anybody in college basketball that can score over them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Heading into Wednesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game at N.C. State, only Duke had scored successfully over the top of UNC in its last nine games. And the Blue Devils did that with jump shots and free throws, not close-range shots.<\/p>\n<p>The last couple of seasons have shown there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than one way to win in college basketball. UNC demolished everything in its path in winning the 2009 national championship. No team could stop the Tar Heels from scoring.<\/p>\n<p>A year ago, Duke and Butler made it to the final game on the strength of low-scoring defensive games, and the Blue Devils\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 defense proved one stop better than Butler.<\/p>\n<p>The intriguing aspect of this Carolina team is that it can do both. If the players could find a way to finish more consistently on their close-range shots, the Tar Heels might even win with greater ease. At least now, though, they know that if they have to do it with defense, they can.<\/p>\n<p>Rebounding goes along with good defense because defensive possessions do not end until one team gets the rebound or the other team scores. Carolina outrebounded Boston College 44-30. UNC would almost surely have done so even if the Eagles had not run back so quickly.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was very difficult,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d BC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Reggie Jackson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t disappointed in our guys\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 effort. We were trying to box out. The refs let it be a physical game, which we love. But they outrebounded us 44-30. That is basically what got them the win.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Rebounding, and a defensive effort that led to the Eagles shooting 26.9 percent from the field. It was a tale of two games, and both were the best of times for Carolina. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One has only to look at Carolina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two games against Boston College this season to witness UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s valuable versatility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":16180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-16179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16179"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16236,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16179\/revisions\/16236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}