
{"id":22993,"date":"2012-01-26T10:09:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T15:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=22993"},"modified":"2012-01-25T18:45:26","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T23:45:26","slug":"bullocks-time-has-arrived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/01\/26\/bullocks-time-has-arrived\/","title":{"rendered":"Bullock&#8217;s time has arrived"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2011\/08\/18\/support-the-players-by-filling-kenan-stadium\/landreth-mug-30\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-20318\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"landreth-mug\" width=\"100\" height=\"134\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1-84x113.jpg 84w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/landreth-mug1-74x100.jpg 74w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a>\n<p><strong>By Eddy Landreth<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Reggie Bullock, a sophomore guard from Kinston, is finally getting the opportunity he dreamt of as a youngster in eastern North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>Bullock will be in the starting lineup when the seventh-ranked Tar Heels (16-3, 3-1 in the ACC) play N.C. State at 7 tonight at the Smith Center. He will likely continue as the starting shooting guard for the remainder of this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a shooter, a rebounder and a defender,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bullock said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just have to bring that to the team. I need to do it consistently for the rest of the season.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Bullock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opportunity unfortunately arose because of an injury to junior guard Dexter Strickland. Strickland landed awkwardly during the Tar Heels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 82-68 victory at Virginia Tech on Jan. 19, the last game Carolina played.<\/p>\n<p>Strickland tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee and is out for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a big-time loss for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d coach Roy Williams said.<\/p>\n<p>Strickland has started all 19 games this season. He is tied with starting point guard Kendall Marshall for the team lead in steals with 25 heading into tonight\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game. Strickland is second in assists to Marshall with 39. His shooting percentage of 57 percent leads the team.<br \/>\nFor all his attributes though, the most difficult role to fill in his absence is that of backup point guard. His ability to move from shooting guard to the point provided Marshall with needed rest. <\/p>\n<p>When Carolina won by larger margins, Strickland often played more point so Marshall could further rest his legs.<\/p>\n<p>Freshman shooting guard P.J. Hairston of Greensboro will be Bullock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s backup. Those two are not the only ones who will benefit from Strickland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absence.<\/p>\n<p>Freshman guard Stilman White of Wilmington will get a chance to contribute more than he probably ever imagined. He will be Marshall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s official backup.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to give Stilman some time there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williams said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to try to do a little more work on the passing game, not having a true point guard, and see how that works. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to find a way to give Kendall a little bit of a break each half.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Marshall acknowledged he has his own responsibility in this new scenario.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to do a good job of taking care of my body and play more minutes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marshall said.<br \/>\nMarshall said the entire team must keep its mind on its business and stop losing its concentration.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Effort and energy for 40 minutes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Marshall said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to do as a team is live in the here and now, not look to the future, not focus on the past. We want to focus on the task at hand. So that is the main focus of our team right now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c living in the here and now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Tonight\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game will provide an excellent test. This is not the same N.C. State team that UNC could count as a sure victory in the past. First-year coach Mark Gottfried has the Wolfpack playing exceptionally well.<\/p>\n<p>NCSU is coming off a 78-73 road win over Miami on Sunday. Gottfried said it did not take his team long to turn its attention to the Tar Heels.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, I think our players will be excited,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gottfried said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been excited to play every game, but this game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s different. There is no question. It feels different to your players, fans, students on campus. So our players are very well aware of that.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For us, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a great opportunity, and I think our players view it like that. Our guys, as soon as the Miami game was over, their minds shifted to North Carolina.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reggie Bullock, a sophomore guard from Kinston, is finally getting the opportunity he dreamt of as a youngster in eastern North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":20318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[431],"class_list":["post-22993","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\/22993","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=22993"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23113,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22993\/revisions\/23113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}